Land Value Impacts of Bus Rapid Transit: The Case of Bogotá’s TransMilenio

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) went from being a fringe transportation option used in a handful of Brazilian and Australian cities to becoming a prominent mass transportation alternative for local and national governments.

Arguably the BRT concept with highest recognition is the provision of an exclusive right-of-way for bus transit coupled with high-frequency service. In South America, BRT systems in Curitiba, Brazil, and Bogotá, Colombia, feature networks of dedicated lanes designated for exclusive use by large-capacity, articulated buses, with expedited boarding and alighting.

"Twelve Latin American cities, three Australian cities, seven U .S. cities, eight Asian cities, and eighteen European cities have BRTs in place. Some are complete systems while others are single lines. Systems actively under construction also span the globe, including Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, Jinan in China, Bologna in Italy, Mérida in Venezuela, and Auckland in New Zealand."

From the conclusion: "Overall our results paint a mixed picture of the appreciation of prices due to BRT extensions. On the one hand, the evidence suggests price appreciation for properties already served by BRT, since they also benefited from the extensions. The estimated asking price premium is between 15 and 20 percent, although the appreciation began one year before the extension was inaugurated. This is significant, given that we know little about the potential magnitude of these effects. By contrast, we found limited evidence of asking price increases for properties along a corridor that previously did not have a local BRT station, but that now is served by the extension."

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