Planning, Implementation, and Operation of Bus Rapid Transit Systems : Cases of Quito, Bogotá, León, México City, Jakarta, and Beijing

This paper provides a review of planning, implementation, and operation of bus system’s improvements in six cities in Latin America and Asia, with a focus in problems and shortcomings. Cities selected in this review greatly improved transport conditions in selected corridors and areas of the city with the introduction of Bus Rapid Transit. The reviewed systems show high performance (3,000-45,000 passengers/hour/direction) and good perception by the users, with relatively low capital investments (USD 1.8 million/km - USD 8.2 million/km) and small or no operational subsidies. Nevertheless, many things could have been done differently: implementation was rushed, financial and institutional sustainability was not necessarily assured, and integration to the rest of the transport system and between some components was incomplete. There were also some problems with pavement and segregation devices and unsolved bottlenecks and conflicts with the general traffic. User education was also an issue, especially at systems initial operation and large scale expansions. The paper provides some recommendations for planners and decision makers of such systems, especially in developing cities.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Hidalgo PhD, Dario
  • Custodio, Paulo Sergio
  • Graftieaux, Pierre
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 86th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2007-1-21 to 2007-1-25
• Date: 2007

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: CD-ROM
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: 22p
• Monograph Title: TRB 86th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers CD-ROM

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bus rapid transit; Highway operations; Implementation; Public transit; Transit operating agencies; Transportation corridors; Transportation planning
• Geographic Terms: Asia; Beijing (China); Bogota (Colombia); Jakarta (Indonesia); Latin America; Leon (Mexico); Mexico City (Mexico); Quito (Ecuador)
• Subject Areas: Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Research; Terminals and Facilities;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01046158
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 07-0938
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Feb 8 2007 5:31PM