MAXIMIZING THE AIR QUALITY BENEFITS OF BUS RAPID TRANSIT

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MAXIMIZING THE AIR QUALITY BENEFITS OF BUS RAPID
TRANSIT

• Walter Hook,
• BAQ Conference
• Agra, India,
• December, 2004
• Funded by the US Agency for International
  Development

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The Air Quality Benefits from Bus Rapid Transit

• Mode Shift from Private Vehicle to Bus
• Fewer buses moving the same bus passengers
• Cleaner buses

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Because BRT is Much Cheaper than Metros, the
Modal Shift from private vehicle to transit from
BRT is potentially much higher per dollar of
public investment.
Catchment Area for Bogotas TransMilenio Compared
to JICA-proposed Metro, Same Capital Investment
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To Get People to Switch from Private Vehicles to
Buses, a New Busway Must Increase Bus Speeds Over
Current Levels. The Capacity of the busway
must be sufficient to handle the demand at a high
speed. The busway needs to be designed
carefully based on the projected demand for bus
passengers. The Quality of Bus Service Must
also Improve
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If you put a busway where there are no bus
passengers, nobody will use the system.
Inaccessible elevated ring roads with no bus
routes do not make good BRT corridors.
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US BRT Systems handle 5000 passengers per day,
and the highest has 5000 per hour per direction.
Hence, US Busways do not have to worry about
bus congestion. The big conflict is taking lane
space away from private motor vehicles.
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Bogota had Serious Bus Congestion.
Bogotas TransMilenio
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First, Bogota put the old buses onto a two lane
busway,

• Speeds were lt15kph, slower than before the busway
• Further congestion and concentration of polluting
  old buses made air pollution in the corridor
  worse.

Former Standard Busway on Ave. Caracas in Bogota
before TransMilenio
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With Bus Volumes Like These, Even three exclusive
bus lanes may not decongest the corridor unless
the system is fundamentally reorganized
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In a situation like this, pedestrian conflicts
ensure that bus speeds will be and should be
slow. Pedestrianization should be explored with
reasonable BRT access
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CURB-SIDE BUS LANES Cannot get speeds up
significantly even at very low demand levels.
Guangzhou
Jakarta bus lane before TransJakarta
CONFLICTS WITH TURNING TRAFFIC, STOPPING TAXIS,
PEDESTRIANS
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Delhis Curb Lane bus lanes are bus restriction
lanes, not bus priority lanes. They do not
increase bus speeds.
Area of Conflict in Delhi
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Most Successful BRT Systems Use the Center Lanes
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Bus Shelter Can be On the Right or On the Left
but
Quito Line 2
Quito Line 1
Here you need two Narrow Stations and Two
Medians. Passengers cannot transfer from one
direction to the other
Putting Station in the Middle Consumes Less Road
Space and Eases Transfers
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CONSTRUCTING BUSWAYS IN MEDIAN
SAO PAULO
BOGOTA

• No conflicts with right-hand turns, pedestrians,
  cyclists, and stopping taxis
• No road space taken from taxis
• Pedestrians must reach median area
• Conflict with right-hand turns remain

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Open Systems versus Closed Systems
Open Systems
Feeder-Trunk technique
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Open BRT systems

• Cheaper to build
• No New Buses Required
• No Changes in Bus routes Required
• No Regulatory Changes Needed
• Passengers dont have to transfer

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Problems with Open systems

• People dont appreciate them
• Bus Cueing at Intersections
• Low speed
• Low capacity
• No improvement in bus operational quality

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Newly renovated open BRT System in Sao Paulo
has cues 23 buses long. Speeds are only 12kph
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Closed BRT systems have much higher capacity
but require a feeder system with transfers
Quitos Ecovia Line
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Advantages of Closed Trunk and Feeder Systems

• Very High Capacity
• Very High Operating Speed
• Paying at the Station Rather than On the Bus
  Reduces Boarding Time
• Special Buses Can be Used
• Reduces the Total Number of Buses on the
  Corridor, Decongesting Mixed Traffic Lanes
• Allows for Fast Free Transfers in a Safe
  Comfortable Place
• Makes Possible Self-Financing and Privatization

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Quito and Bogota cut the old bus lines and
reallocated passengers onto 1/3 as many much
cleaner and larger buses, reducing air pollution
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Bogota Banned All Old Buses on the BRT Corridor
and Removed old bus routes. The Mixed Traffic
lanes became LESS congested.
Bogotas TransMilenio
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Quito, Bogota, Curitiba all have free transfer
from Feeder Buses operated by the same authority
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TransMilenio60 of the demand comes from feeder
buses

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Free Transfer Station, Quito
Feeder-trunk transfers in Quito, Ecuador
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Closed Terminals Can Create Free Transfers for
feeder buses even on open systems.
Sao Paulos transfer station between busway and
Metro
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Jakarta built Asias first closed BRT system
It just breaks even. Why? No feeder system
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TransJakarta did not cut parallel buses and does
not have free transfers from feeder buses. Only
5500 out of 12,000 passengers take the BRT. The
rest are on normal buses.
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Larger capacity vehicles can add capacity when
lane width is not available
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TransMilenio buses have 4 doors 1.1 meters wide.
This reduces avg. boarding time per passenger
from 3 seconds to .3 seconds
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Long Buses Require Long StationsMost
TransMillenio Stations are 48 meters long.
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Multiple stations serving different lines that
can pass one another was the key to
TransMilenios high speeds and high capacity
Split buses by origin and run express and
stopping services
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Minimizing Long Term Emissions from the Bus
Requires

• Private procurement and ownership of buses.
• The technical specification should be as clean as
  possible without compromising the feasibility of
  private investment into the buses
• The competitive bidding process should give
  incentives to firms to exceed the minimum
  environmental standard
• Bus Operating contracts within the Busway should
  include emission standards
• The bus operations should be contracted in a way
  that allows the public authority to fine
  companies that fail to comply with this standard.

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 TRANSMILENIO S.A.
Planning, Management and Control

• Operation (Private)
• Companies
• Buses
• Employees

• Infrastructure (Public)
• Corridors
• Stations
• Garages
• Complementary Infrastructure

• Billeting (Private)
• Equipments
• Smart Cards
• Trust Fund

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Division of Responsibility and Financing Between
Public and Private Sectors

• Private Sector
• Bus acquisition, operation and maintenance
• Fare collection system implementation and
  operation
• Resources management (trust fund)

• Public Sector
• Infrastructure construction (IDU)
• Planning (City, TM)
• Development contracting service provision (TM)
• Control (TM)

Contracts
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Conclusion Air Quality Benefits of BRT Systems
Will Be Maximized If

• The BRT system provides a faster, higher quality
  service than existing buses, and can attract
  passengers out of private vehices.
• The buses used are cleaner than traditional buses
• Fewer buses are needed to handle the same transit
  passengers
• The buses are properly maintained
• A system of penalties is put in place for poor
  service or air quality violations
• Many of these measures can be implemented without
  BRT but BRT creates an opportunity to negotiate a
  better deal for bus passengers and air quality.