Shared-Use Bus Priority Lanes on City Streets: Case Studies in Design and Management

This paper examines the policies and strategies governing the design and, especially, operations of bus lanes in major congested urban centers. It focuses on bus lanes that operate in mixed traffic conditions; the study does not examine practices concerning bus priority lanes on urban highways or freeways. Three key questions addressed in the paper are: 1. What is the physical design of the lanes? 2. What is the scope of the priority use granted to buses? When is bus priority in effect, and what other users may share the lanes during these times? 3. How are the lanes enforced? To answer these questions, the study developed detailed cases on the bus lane development and management strategies in seven cities that currently have shared-use bus priority lanes: Los Angeles, London, New York City, Paris, San Francisco, Seoul, and Sydney. Through the case studies, the paper examines the range of practices in use, thus providing planners and decisionmakers with an awareness of the wide variety of design and operational options available to them. In addition, the report highlights innovative practices that contribute to bus lanes’ success, where the research findings make this possible.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AP050 Bus Transit Systems
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Agrawal, Asha Weinstein
  • Goldman, Todd
  • Hannaford, Nancy
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 91st Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2012-1-22 to 2012-1-26
• Date: 2012

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: References;
• Pagination: 15p
• Monograph Title: TRB 91st Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers DVD

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bus lanes; Bus priority; Bus transit operations; Case studies; Traffic flow; Urban transit; Vehicle mix
• Subject Areas: Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01369926
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 12-4447
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: May 16 2012 3:05PM