Bus rapid transit
The English term Bus Rapid Transit ( BRT for short , also Busway ) stands for a number of public transport systems that try to achieve a higher quality standard than normal bus routes through improvements in infrastructure and timetable. The bus rapid transit systems can have different approaches here, even if many improvements are used by the majority of the systems. The aim of the improvements is to approximate the quality standard of local rail transport systems, but to use the cost advantages of the road-based bus transport. Above all, this can result in higher profit creation than with rail-bound transport.
The term busway is mainly used in America. In Europe, express bus connections have been established for a long time (1950s) , with which a travel time advantage is achieved by deliberately omitting stops. Priority was given to individual traffic, which increasingly hindered local public transport , by setting up bus lanes . Since the 1980s, further measures such as traffic light priority switching and bus locks in connection with computer-aided operations control systems (AVMS) have been accelerated . So-called " Metrobus " lines are primarily used to market the main bus routes without any special additional technology. Measures such as real-time departure times at the stops were preferably installed at the bus stops on these lines, but they also serve the other lines.
history
The pioneer of the busway systems is the city of Runcorn in England , which created this modern local transport concept in the 1950s and implemented it in the 1960s. It was characterized by an elevated road on which the buses drove into a shopping center , which could then be converted into a pedestrian zone .
The city of Curitiba (Brazil) can claim to have implemented this concept in 1968 as the first nationwide in a large city, or it was virtually "reinvented" and continuously improved there. The successes with this made the express buses and traffic planning of Curitiba a model system for other large cities.
Bus rapid transit systems can now be found all over the world, and particularly consistent implementations have also been carried out in Adelaide (as a track bus ), Brisbane , Bogotá , Ottawa , Jakarta and Istanbul .
Description of other bus rapid transit systems
France
The first Bus Rapid Transit route was set up in 1993 in Île-de-France.
Île-de-France
Today four of these lines with a total length of around 60 kilometers are in operation in Île-de-France. Five more are to follow in the next five to six years. About 15 more lines are on the wish lists of the municipalities. Whether there is a need and whether funds are available for their construction is still being examined.
Nantes
In November 2006, a seven kilometer long bus rapid transit system was introduced in Nantes under the name “Busway” . This comprises 15 stops and initially carried 26,500 passengers a day. By 2015 the number of passengers had doubled. Since the bus sequence cannot be further compressed, it was decided in 2015 to use electric double articulated buses with a length of 26 m from 2019.
Metz
Since 2013 buses have been operating in Metz and Woippy under the name Mettis on two Bus Rapid Transit lines.
Angoulême
From 2016, the French city of Angoulême will receive a bus rapid transit system which will consist of four lines.
Strasbourg
On November 30, 2013, the bus-à-haut-niveau-de-service line G from the main train station to Espace Européen de l'Entreprise in the Schiltigheim district was opened to supplement the tram network . As with the tram, much of the street space has been rebuilt.
Bogota
Bogotá has had a bus rapid transit system since November 2000 (see TransMilenio ). Today this has a length of 84 km and includes 114 stops. 1.4 million passengers are transported here every day. 57 buses per hour run here at peak times.
Istanbul
In September 2007, a bus rapid transit system with its own lanes was set up in Istanbul , which bears the name Metrobüs . On large parts of the route, which leads in a semicircle around the actual city, these lanes are located in the middle of multi-lane motorways and are operated on the left because of the central platforms that can be reached by passengers via stairs and sometimes elevators without crossing.
In 2012, the system was 41.5 kilometers long and served 34 stops, but is to be expanded further. The transport company İETT uses a total of 250 Mercedes-Benz CapaCity articulated buses , 50 VDL Phileas double articulated buses and some Mercedes-Benz Citaro articulated buses on the Metrobüs system. On weekdays 600,000 passengers take these buses, at peak times it is 30,000 per hour and direction. During the day, the busiest section of the route has a cycle frequency of 45–60 seconds, during rush hour the average distance between two buses is 20–25 seconds. There are then 80 buses per hour on these lines, which inevitably leads to mass formation. Due to the length of the stops, several buses can be processed at the same time. So it happens that even with groups of four articulated buses, the last bus is still fully occupied.
Due to the relatively large distance between the stops (an average of just under 1.28 kilometers) and the rapid acceleration of the vehicles, the travel speed is 40 km / h. The maximum speed was reduced from the original 80 km / h to 70 km / h for safety reasons and to reduce wear and tear on the heavily used buses. The mileage of the CapaCity buses is up to 800 kilometers a day, depending on the route. The Phileas double articulated buses are only used during peak times, as there are technical problems due to the constant overuse and overcrowding (220–300 passengers per bus) and the congestion on the long inclines on the route.
Lucerne
The Luzern mass transit system operate on three lines of the overhead line bus network a BHNS system with double articulated cars . Almost 20 million passengers are transported on the RBus lines every year.
Ottawa
The local public transport company OC Transpo operates a BRT system with the Transitway , which consists of a trunk route through the city center and four outer branches.
Santiago de Chile
Santiago de Chile has a 60 km long bus rapid transit system. It comprises a total of 326 routes with a line length of 10,000 kilometers.
Vilnius
The Lithuanian capital Vilnius has a bus rapid transit system with express buses. It comprises a total of six routes with a line length of 164 kilometers. The expansion is planned.
Zhuzhou
In 2018, an Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit was put into operation on a test track in Zhuzhou in the Chinese province of Hunan .
Characteristics of bus rapid transit systems
Typical features for BRT systems are:
- Separate bus lanes separated from the rest of the traffic (these can also be designed in sections as elevated roads or in tunnels)
- Articulated buses or double articulated buses with high transport capacity
- a large number of doors to reduce passenger switching times
- Raised bus platforms which - analogous to the elevated platforms in rail transport - enable quick boarding even with high-floor cars or, alternatively, low- floor vehicles that also allow level entry
- a tight schedule with vehicle intervals of a few minutes throughout the day
- Ticket sales outside the vehicle already at the stops
- Traffic signal priority control or appointment of traffic lights ( LSA-emption )
- Crossroads and road junctions ( bus locks ) specially secured against individual traffic
- Electronic travel control devices for greater travel comfort
- Separate bus routes in the city center, which lead as directly as possible through the shopping areas
- Platform locks for ticket control
- Platform screen doors
Special bus models
Although BRT systems can in principle also be operated with regular city buses, various manufacturers have developed special models adapted for BRT traffic. Leading the way are South American body manufacturers such as Busscar , Marcopolo and CAIO Induscar , which each offer special high and low-floor BRT bodies for various manufacturer chassis. However, European manufacturers have also developed BRT versions based on their city bus models:
- Iveco Crealis (based on Iveco Urbanway)
- Mercedes-Benz CapaCity ( Citaro base)
- Solaris Urbino BHNS
- Van Hool Exqui.City ( NewA base)
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ 20minutes.fr of December 15, 2015: Nantes: Feu vert aux busways géants et 100% électriques ; accessed on November 4, 2016 (French)
- ↑ Paths to Success . In: Omnibusspiegel . 34th year, issue 12-4. Verlag Dieter Hanke, 2012, ISSN 0724-7664 , p. 10-14 .
- ↑ Verkehrsverbund Luzern: Trolleybus Luzern: Trolleybus Strategy (PDF) , February 12, 2013
- ↑ Vilniaus metro ir tramvajaus kovoje nugalėjo trečias žaidėjas ( Lietuvos rytas )