Bus rapid transit in the U.S. is often touted as a cost-saving alternative to light rail. We cover the history and context of both systems in depth: light rail arose as a cost-effective way to reconstruct the rail systems of yore in a modern era of government. Bus rapid transit has a rockier history, starting in the U. S. but only really getting off the ground in South America; it then came back to the U. S. in cost-cut form. We explain what has gone wrong with modern American BRT and ask the raging question: should the competition between light rail and BRT even be a competition at all?
CORRECTION: LRVs are in fact manufactured in the U.S., at the Siemens plant in Sacramento!
Links and stuffs
Timestamps
- 00:00 Light rail vs. bus rapid transit, or should it even be a battle?
- 03:03 Theme song
- 03:33 Welcome & what we're talking about
- 04:24 Light rail transit (LRT) {{ref|3|5|6}}
- 17:21 Bus rapid transit (BRT)
{{ref|12}}
- 17:59 What is BRT? {{ref|9}}
- 19:08 Origins
- 20:00 Failures in ridership
- 20:42 Modern BRT (Brazil)
- 22:05 BRT enters the United States
- 23:06 Interests pushing for BRT {{ref|7}}
- 24:07 South America loves BRT: TransMilenio
- 25:10 New York subway
- 25:50 Explosion of BRT, nothing wrong with excellent bus service
- 27:45 Flexibility of BRT
- 28:12 Iconic stations
- 28:58 Bendy buses, double-decker buses
- 29:53 Branded as different and faster than normal buses
- 31:06 LRT vs. BRT {{ref|8|14|16|17|22|26}}
- 52:34 We are pro-improved bus service
- 54:02 Summary
- 54:18 Spotify, YouTube, website, Twitter, and Patreon plugs
- 54:53 Bye!
References
- [1] Light Rail Now: Light Rail's Stunning Track Record in Meeting – and Exceeding – Ridership Projections
- [2] Light Rail Now: Light Rail's Besieged With Riders! This is a Problem?
- [3] USDOT Nat'l Transportation Library: Light rail transit systems : a definition and evaluation
- [4] Bloomberg CityLab: Out of Darkness, Light Rail!
- [5] Wikipedia: List of United States light rail systems by ridership
- [6] Wikipedia: Light rail § Revival
- [7] Dissent: Big Philanthropy Takes the Bus
- [8] Reason Foundation: Surface Transportation Innovations #97
- [9] ITDP: What is BRT?
- [10] Greater Greater Washington: How to tell the difference between streetcars and light rail
- [11] Wikipedia: Bus rapid transit creep
- [12] Wikipedia: Bus rapid transit
- [13] The National Transit Database
- [14] Breakthrough Technologies Institute: Bus Rapid Transit and Transit Oriented Development
- [15] The Boston Globe: 'Little Dig' in danger
- [16] The Transport Politic: The Silly Argument Over BRT and Rail
- [17] Light Rail Now: Top "Bus Rapid Transit" Lobbyist Lobs Barrage of Baloney Against Rail
- [18] Light Rail Now: "BRT" - You Can Build it ... But Will They Come?
- [19] Greater Greater Washington: "BRT creep" makes bus rapid transit inferior to rail
- [20] ITDP: BRT Rankings
- [21] Greater Greater Washington: The US has only 5 true BRT systems, and none are "gold"
- [22] The Journalist's Resource: Bus versus rail: Costs, capacities and impacts
- [23] Calculations
- [24] "BRT creep" makes bus rapid transit inferior to rail
- [25] ITDP: BRT Planning Guide: Why BRT?: Costs
- [26] National Transit Database: National Transit Summaries & Trends