Integrated Approaches to BRT Deployment

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Integrated Approaches to BRT Deployment
Lessons from Bogotá and London

• Alasdair Cain
• National Bus Rapid Transit Institute
• Center for Urban Transportation Research
• University of South Florida

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The National Bus Rapid Transit Institute (NBRTI)

• Housed at the Center for Urban Transportation
  Research (CUTR), University of South
  Florida (USF) in Tampa
• Established in 2001 to work in partnership with
  the Federal Transit Administration to support the
  development of BRT in the U.S.
• Core Program Areas
• Clearinghouse and Outreach www.nbrti.org
• Technical Assistance and Support
• Research and Demonstration

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TransMilenio - Bogotá, Colombia
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The Traditional Bus System

• Private operators relatively unregulated
• Penny war competition for passengers
• Low bus occupancies
• High accident rates
• Poor service quality
• Long travel times
• High pollution levels
• Inefficient use of road space

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The Bogotá Model

• Enrique Penalosa elected Mayor of Bogota in 1997
• Elected on a mandate to transform transportation
  within the city
• Developed the Bogotá Model, based on the
  concurrent application of two sub-models
• Mobility Model
• Business Model

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The Mobility Model An Integrated Strategy
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Centerpiece of the Mobility Model The
TransMilenio
Bicycle way
Sidewalk
5m
7m
10.5m
1-3m
3 - 8m
7m
10.5m
1-3m
3 - 8m
Busway
Busway
Sidewalk
Lateral Sep.
Lateral Sep.
3 general purpose lanes
3 general purpose lanes
Central Separator on-TM Stations
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Business Model

• TransMilenio S.A established as public sector
  company
• Private operators offered opportunity to bid to
  operate service on specific routes
• Contracts based on km of service provided, not
  per passengers carried
• Long term (10 year) contracts

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The Bogotá Model - Impacts
Traditional System (1999) Bogotá Model (2001)
Capacity Up to 25,000 pphpd Up to 45,000 pphpd
Av. peak hour vehicle occupancy 60 - 75 80 85
Pax per vehicle per day 320 1,600
Boardings per vehicle km 2.4 5.3
Average transit commercial speed 9.3mph 16.6mph
Average travel time Transit users - 16 mins/trip All trips - 13 mins/trip
Mode share - Private auto - Transit - Non-Motorized 18 64 8 11 70 15
Safety Collisions Injuries Fatalities Robberies 1060 720 66 212 220 180 5 112
Air Quality (TM corridors only) - Sulphur dioxide - Nitrogen dioxide - Particulate matter Daily average ppb 6.8 24.0 50.8 Daily average ppb 3.9 19.7 44.8
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Urban Renewal / Mobility Program
Before
After
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TransMilenio is now a major city icon!
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The TransMilenio Masterplan
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The Colombian National BRT Program
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But, Big Differences Between Developed and
Developing World
Bogotá, Colombia U.S Cities
Urban form Population of about 8 million in greater Bogotá Population density 9,629 persons/sqm CBD-focused urban form Lower income groups live on the city periphery Urban form Only a handful of US cities gt 5 million population Av. Pop Density (urbanized area) 2,169 p/sqm Decentralized activity centers Lower income groups live near the CBD
High demand for transit (gt65 of mode share) Car travel is expensive Majority do not own cars, many captive riders Low demand for transit (lt5 of mode share) Car travel is relatively cheap Majority have access to a car
Fare box recovery ratio gt 1.0 Transit service operated by private sector, regulated by public sector Private sector responsible for vehicle purchase Fare box recovery ratio lt 1.0 Transit regulated and operated by public sector Service operations are subsidized
Labor costs lt 20 of total operating costs Labor costs 35 75 of total operating costs
Capital cost of transit infrastructure requires public sector subsidization Capital cost of transit infrastructure requires public sector subsidization
Private vehicle travel subsidized by public sector, resulting in increasingly severe traffic congestion Private vehicle travel subsidized by public sector, resulting in increasingly severe traffic congestion
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Transit has a different rolein the Developed
World

• Developing world
• Typically have a large captive transit markets
• Low labor costs and high farebox returns
  encourage private sector involvement
• Developed world
• Challenge is to facilitate mode shift by
  providing high quality transit services capable
  of retaining choice users and attracting
  potential users
• Some form of disincentive to private auto use is
  still required to facilitate mode shift
• Private sector still has an important role to
  play.

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Optimizing the Level of Private Sector
Participation
Operating Efficiency
Bogotá's TransMilenio
Single Public Monopoly (U.S transit industry)
Bogotá's traditional system
Private sector involvement
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Londons Mobility Model
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PPPs and Bus Operations in London

• London bus operations privatized in the 1980s
• Shows that concession contract approach can be
  successfully employed in locations were farebox
  recovery ratios are less than 1.0
• Public sector regulator (TfL) defines the bus
  routes, service characteristics, and fare levels
• Private contractors invited to submit bids,
  stating the fixed annual subsidy payment required
  by them to provide service
• Contract awarded to the lowest bidder, who makes
  a profit by keeping the cost of service provision
  below the fixed annual subsidy given to them by
  the regulator
• As with the Bogotá Model, operator revenues not
  linked to passenger fares

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..examples of successful competitive contracting
in the U.S
Operating Cost per Vehicle Hour () Operating Cost per Vehicle Hour () Operating Cost per Vehicle Hour () Operating Cost per Vehicle Hour ()
Public Operation Contracted Operation Cost Difference Competitive Contract Savings ()
Denver 80.72 43.23 -37.49 46
Houston 67.56 50.00 -17.56 26
Los Angeles Foothills Transit Zone Los Angeles City DOT LA Metro Contracted 91.38 91.38 91.38 53.11 56.03 55.24 -38.27 -35.35 -36.14 42 39 40
San Diego MTDB RTS 56.25 56.25 39.25 35.27 -17.00 -20.98 30 37
Average (unweighted) 76.42 47.45 -28.97 38
Source Savas, E.S. McMahon, E.J. (2002)
Competitive Contracting of Bus Service A Better
Deal for Riders and Taxpayers. Civic Report No.
30. Center for Civic Innovation at the Manhattan
Institute.
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The USDOT Congestion Initiative

• 1 billion in federal funding
• Integrated approach
• Tolling
• Transit
• Technology
• Telecommuting
• Urban Partnership Agreement (UPA) sites
• San Francisco
• Seattle
• Miami
• Minneapolis
• Congestion Reduction Demonstration (CRD) sites
• Los Angeles
• Chicago

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BRT systems in the U.S. areattracting
potential riders

• Pittsburgh West Busway 34 previously used
  a car
• Miami South Busway 40 previously
  used a car
• Oakland San Pablo Rapid 18 previously used
  a car
• Los Angeles Orange Line
• 18 previously used a car for similar trip
• Over one-third of current riders have car
  available
• Reduced average time spent on parallel roadway by
  14 percent
• Peak hour congestion started 11 mins later in the
  morning

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New ideas for making more efficient use of
existing infrastructure

• The Virtual Exclusive Busway
• Makes use of existing grade separated
  infrastructure to provide high commercial speeds
  and service reliability
• Provides alternative to the private auto
• Toll revenues may be used to fund transit
• Intermittent Bus Lanes
• Provides exclusive transit access to specific
  lane segments for finite time periods using
  signaling technology
• Currently seeking an industry partner for U.S.
  demonstration
• Bus-Toll Lanes
• New CUTR research project
• Investigating the feasibility of Toll and Transit
  Agency Equity Sharing

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Concluding Remarks Problems and Solutions

• Emerging themes in both the developed and
  developing world
• High economic and social cost of restricted
  mobility due to inefficient infrastructure use
• Lack of public sector resources to supply
  additional capacity

• Emerging solutions from abroad
• Mobility models based on an integrated approach
• Business models designed to involve private
  sector with appropriate regulation
• Network approach to rapid transit provision

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Thank you for your attention

• Alasdair Cain
• Senior Research Associate
• cain_at_cutr.usf.edu
• Tel [phone]
• National Bus Rapid Transit Institute
• www.nbrti.org
• Center for Urban Transportation Research
• www.cutr.usf.edu
• University of South Florida
• Tampa, Florida, USA