Emily Badger profiles a new web-based information resource on all things BRT, launched this week by EMBARQ, with the International Energy Agency and the Bus Rapid Transit Centre of Excellence.
Not only is the new Global BRT Data website fun to play with, it's also the most comprehensive compendium of BRT-related information on the web. According to Badger, "The site has information from all 134 international cities, on 95 individual metrics ranging from the length of BRT corridors to the mode of buses used on them, and even the fuel type in their gas tanks."
With BRT quickly expanding across the world, and cities such as Chicago looking for guidance and best practices from those who have come before, no other site had previously compiled information on the successes and challenges faced by the wide range of cities that have implemented systems of their own. That is until this week.
According to Aileen Carrigan, a senior associate with EMBARQ, "The objective of the data set isn't to say that BRT is a superior mode to other public transit modes. But we do think that the 134 cities in the data set have found a reason for BRT in their particular city, and I think some of the data can help people thinking about implementing a BRT to understand what role it could play in the public transit services in that particular city."
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