Bus Rapid Transit

The Online Tool for Comparing Bus Rapid Transit Data

A tool from EMRARQ Brasil allows users to compile and compare data on the use and growth of bus rapid transit around the world, including in the United States, where 18 cities now use BRT or bus priority corridors.

December 28, 2014 - The City Fix

Op-Ed: Put Chicago on a Road Diet

"The city should consider road diets for all streets with excess car capacity, although they're not always politically easy," writes John Greenfield.

December 23, 2014 - Crain's Chicago Business

Bus Rapid Transit Key To Improving Urban Transport in India

Buses are the backbone of urban mobility in India. Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is the key to creating efficient and attractive bus services that attract increasingly affluent residents.

December 16, 2014 - Bus Karo 2.0 – Case Studies from India

Report: Bus Rapid Transit Up 383 Percent in Ten Years

Jarrett Walker shares news and analysis of a recent study by the Institute for Transportation & Development Policy (ITDP) finding explosive growth in the construction of bus rapid transit lines around the world in the last ten years.

December 5, 2014 - Human Transit

Bus-Friendly Signaling, Bulbouts Coming to Haight Street in San Francisco

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority approved a collection of changes to San Francisco's famous Haight Street. The proposal provoked political debate that expresses the complexity of multi-modal transportation planning.

November 26, 2014 - S.F. Streetsblog

East Bay BRT Project Receives $81 Million in Federal Grants

Don't confuse East Bay Rapid Transit with Bay Area Rapid Transit: one's a bus, the other heavy rail. But calling it a bus does not do justice to what will be the Bay Area's first bus rapid transit (BRT) line composed primarily of dedicated lanes.

November 13, 2014 - San Francisco Chronicle

Bus Rapid Transit Proposed for Queens to Rockaways Route

New York implemented bus rapid transit with the Select Bus Service, but has yet to develop the kind of busways found in Bogota or Guangzhou. Will a route in Queens deliver the full BRT experience?

November 9, 2014 - Capital New York

Grand Rapids The Rapid

How Grand Rapids Became a Transit Success

Rachel Dovey shares some of the secrets to the success of Grand Rapids, Michigan after a year of transit improvements in the small city.

November 2, 2014 - Next City

Nashville Mayor Puts Bus Rapid Transit Proposal on the Shelf

The controversial, $175 million Nashville bus rapid transit project will be up to the city's next mayor.

October 30, 2014 - Nashville Post

Expo Line

The Koch Brothers vs Transit

Two of the more famous examples of the economic interests of the fossil fuel industry, Charles and David Koch, are battling transit projects, by any means necessary, all over the country.

October 7, 2014 - Streetsblog USA

Ottawa Transitway ROW

Ottawa Offers Lessons in Transitioning from BRT to Light Rail

Nour Aoude examines the planning efforts behind Ottawa's new Confederation light rail line, which will replace sections of the over-used Transitway bus rapid transit line.

August 31, 2014 - Global Site Plans

Quito BRT

BRT and the Future of Transit

A Guardian Cities article examines bus rapid transit—especially of the variety delivered by the likes Jaime Lerner and Enrique Peñalosa—on its merits as an "urban panacea."

August 28, 2014 - Guardian Cities

Projects to Watch in Nashville's Transformation

The Architect's Newspaper featured a suite of "new urbanism" projects underway in Nashville—everything from BRT, to convention centers, to bikeshare.

July 19, 2014 - The Architect's Newspaper

Why BRT Needs to Go Downtown

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is controversial all over the country. Controversy can often lead to compromises, such as mixing the buses into traffic. A recent article makes the case for overcoming controversy and committing to BRT in downtowns.

May 10, 2014 - Atlantic Cities

Details on the Drastic Legislative Efforts to Block BRT in Nashville

Although other states prohibit the use of state funding for public transportation projects, Tennessee state legislators are moving toward an outright ban of bus rapid transit projects anywhere in the state.

April 16, 2014 - Wired

Quito BRT

Controversies Compared: Rail vs. Bus Rapid Transit

A common perception says that rail is the most politically difficult transit investment. Yet a recent article examines the examples of Nashville and Cincinnati to claim that sometimes, political opposition is just about transit, period.

April 10, 2014 - Greater Greater Washington

Bus Rapid Transit on Track in Albuquerque

Following three years of study, Albuquerque Mayor RJ Berry declared a “tipping point” in the city’s BRT plans. The city will require a federal matching grant to proceed.

March 7, 2014 - KRQE.com

How Would the Movie Speed Look in Today's Los Angeles?

Twenty years after the movie Speed, which took place on the Big Blue Bus, Metro rail system, and other transit facilities, Keanu Reeves and crew might not recognize L.A.'s current transit system. L.A. County planner Clement Lau surveys the changes.

March 2, 2014 - UrbDeZine.com

How the Ashland BRT Would Change Chicago

The proposed Ashland Bus Rapid Transit line in Chicago, the latest effort in an ambitious multi-modal transportation investment plan by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and former Chicago DOT Commissioner Gabe Klein, is a game changer for an already unique city.

February 28, 2014 - The Atlantic Cities

The Case for Bus Rapid Transit

Bus rapid transit (BRT) is well known among planners as a cheap method to improve bus service and provide an alternative to rail, but BRT projects around the country have met resistance from an array of status quo interests.

February 26, 2014 - Atlantic Cities

FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?

After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.

Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold

The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.

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Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

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