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Bus rapid transit - a review

Author

Listed:
  • S. C. Wirasinghe
  • L. Kattan
  • M. M. Rahman
  • J. Hubbell
  • R. Thilakaratne
  • S. Anowar

Abstract

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) has been demonstrated to provide efficient and effective public transport that can even increase transit ridership and attractiveness within defined urban corridors in both developing and developed countries. The merit of the BRT system lies in its ability to provide a high quality public transit service with limited infrastructure and at a relatively low capital and operating cost. In this paper an attempt is made to review BRT characteristics in some detail. An overview of the elements of BRT systems: the running ways, vehicles, stations, as well as operational control, fare collection and passenger information systems is presented. This paper also discusses how these elements allows BRT services to achieve the speed, capacity, reliability, accessibility and operational safety characteristics that distinguishes such systems from regular express bus services. Each built BRT system is unique and depends on how these basic elements are designed and integrated. Environmental, social and economic impacts, users' perception and modal shift towards BRT have also been critically reviewed. With the presence of local land use and transport policies that support high-density and mixed developments, BRT has been found to attract potential developments around stations and along its corridor, increasing land values and promoting sustainable development. As reported in the literature, the infrastructure costs vary greatly depending on the costs of land acquisition, station design, degree of separation from traffic, technological features and material, labor costs. Thus, BRT capital costs cannot be generalized and must be transferred carefully based on the changes of the input costs that vary from one place to another. The barriers to BRT that block the achievement of significant success in customer satisfaction and ridership gains are mentioned with specific case studies. The review of BRT indicates that in some cases it has similar performance to higher order public transit; however, it still has its unique characteristics that set it apart.

Suggested Citation

  • S. C. Wirasinghe & L. Kattan & M. M. Rahman & J. Hubbell & R. Thilakaratne & S. Anowar, 2013. "Bus rapid transit - a review," International Journal of Urban Sciences, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 1-31, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rjusxx:v:17:y:2013:i:1:p:1-31
    DOI: 10.1080/12265934.2013.777514
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Rabinovitch, Jonas & Hoehn, John P., 1995. "A Sustainable Urban Transportation System: The "Surface Metro" In Curitiba, Brazil," Working Papers 11886, Environmental and Natural Resources Policy Training Project.
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    Cited by:

    1. Singh, Harpreet & Kathuria, Ankit, 2023. "Heterogeneity in passenger satisfaction of bus rapid transit system among age and gender groups: A PLS-SEM Multi-group analysis," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 27-41.
    2. Filippova, Olga & Sheng, Mingyue, 2020. "Impact of bus rapid transit on residential property prices in Auckland, New Zealand," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    3. Proboste, Francisco & Muñoz, Juan Carlos & Gschwender, Antonio, 2020. "Comparing social costs of public transport networks structured around an Open and Closed BRT corridor in medium sized cities," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 187-212.
    4. Acton, Blake & Le, Huyen T.K. & Miller, Harvey J., 2022. "Impacts of bus rapid transit (BRT) on residential property values: A comparative analysis of 11 US BRT systems," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    5. Wu, Irene & Pojani, Dorina, 2016. "Obstacles to the creation of successful bus rapid transit systems: The case of Bangkok," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 44-53.
    6. Levine, Jonathan & Singer, Matan & Merlin, Louis & Grengs, Joe, 2018. "Apples to apples: Comparing BRT and light rail while avoiding the “BRT-Lite” trap," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 20-34.
    7. Gibson, Jaime & Munizaga, Marcela A. & Schneider, Camila & Tirachini, Alejandro, 2016. "Estimating the bus user time benefits of implementing a median busway: Methodology and case study," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 72-82.
    8. Olesen, Mette & Lassen, Claus, 2016. "Rationalities and materialities of light rail scapes," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 373-382.
    9. Márquez, Luis & Pico, Ricardo & Cantillo, Víctor, 2018. "Understanding captive user behavior in the competition between BRT and motorcycle taxis," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 1-9.
    10. R. S. Thilakaratne & S. C. Wirasinghe, 2016. "Implementation of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) on an optimal segment of a long regular bus route," International Journal of Urban Sciences, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(1), pages 15-29, March.
    11. Ela Babalik-Sutcliffe & Elif Can Cengiz, 2015. "Bus Rapid Transit System in Istanbul: A Success Story or Flawed Planning Decision?," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(6), pages 792-813, November.
    12. Donghyung Yook & Kevin Heaslip, 2015. "The effect of crowding on public transit user travel behavior in a large-scale public transportation system through modeling daily variations," Transportation Planning and Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(8), pages 935-953, December.
    13. Sung, Hyungun & Choi, Keechoo & Lee, Sugie & Cheon, SangHyun, 2014. "Exploring the impacts of land use by service coverage and station-level accessibility on rail transit ridership," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 134-140.
    14. Mohammad Hadi Almasi & Ali Sadollah & Seungmo Kang & Mohamed Rehan Karim, 2016. "Optimization of an Improved Intermodal Transit Model Equipped with Feeder Bus and Railway Systems Using Metaheuristics Approaches," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-27, June.

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