Bus Rapid Transit, Design and Engineering of

History

The term bus rapid transit (BRT) emerged in North America and Europe. Around the world, the concept has been described by different names, including Metro-Bus, surface metro, express bus systems, busway systems, high-capacity bus systems, and high-quality bus systems. The origins of the BRT concept date back to 1937 when the city of Chicago outlined plans for three inner-city rail lines to be converted to express bus corridors. In the first few postwar decades, exclusive busway plans were prepared for several cities in the United States, including Washington, D.C., (1955–59), St. Louis (1959), New York City (1963), and Milwaukee (1970). In Europe, the first exclusive bus lanes were implemented in Paris in 1964. The first dedicated median busways appeared in Belgium (in Liege) in 1966. The first developing-city busway was built in Lima (Peru) in 1972. The creation of the first “bus-only” street was also in 1972 in London, with the closure of a city center corridor to private car traffic.

However, the development of busways did not gain momentum until the early 1970s, when the first oil crisis pressured governments to improve public transport and customers to reduce car use. Curitiba's (Brazil) system opened in 1974, marking the modern era of BRT development and contributing to the city's global reputation as an urban success story.

[Page 322]With the abatement of the first oil crisis, interest in public transport diminished. While the 1980s did experience the advent of the first “guided busways,” mainly in western Europe, the concept saw relatively little further adoption due to the comparatively high infrastructure cost.

In the late 1990s, the explosion of private motorization and congestion and declines in public transport ridership in developing cities, combined with the low quality of transport services provided by informal-sector minibuses, motivated the search for quick and cost-effective public transport solutions. BRT's profile became more widely known, especially in Latin America and Asia but also in the developed world.

In 1996, Quito (Ecuador) opened a BRT system using electric trolleybus technology. In 1999, Kunming developed the first median busway system in China. Taipei (Taiwan) also developed a median busway system, with the first corridor put into place in 2001. In 2010, the largest BRT system in Asia was implemented in Guangzhou (273 kilometers, 800,000 passengers/day). In developed nations, new BRT systems were put in place in Vancouver (Canada) in 1996, Miami (United States) in 1997, and Brisbane (Australia) in 2000. In France, technological innovations produced highly sophisticated vehicles (that is, with rounded body, covered wheels, and optical guidance systems), which minimized the distinction between BRT and light rail.

...