From Buses to BRT
			How can agencies deploy high performance features throughout a network? A good way to grow transit ridership quickly is to improve an existing bus system.  Revising routes, schedules, stop spacing, and transfer points for faster door-to-door trips, along with adjusting traffic signals and lane markings to provide priority for buses can enhance performance and image, leading to higher ridership at affordable cost.  These steps also can be part of a broader, longer-term strategy to implement bus rapid transit (BRT) or other forms of high quality rapid transit. What are the best practices in improving bus systems?  How much have these improvements cost and what are their benefits?   Where has the funding come from?  Can productivity improvements be a source of resources for frequency or span improvements?  Are there special considerations, especially if the bus improvements are part of a broader plan to implement full BRT? The Breakthrough Technologies Institute (BTI) is conducting a research project to answer these and other questions.  Through case studies and anlysis of data from cooperating transit agencies, we will explain the key elements of incremental bus improvements and the experience to date in several North American cities. Our goal is to create an overview that will help transit agencies, public officials, and others evaluate the potential for bus improvements in their communities. BTI will be joined in this effort by John Niles, a senior transportation systems and policy analyst for the Seattle-based consulting firm Global Telematics. The project began in 2007, and will continue through the end of 2009.  A phase 1 report with case studies will be released in early 2009. A preview of our initial framing as presented to the American Public Transportation Association in May 2008 can be viewed at the following link:  Incremental BRT: Seizing the Opportunity.  Further development in a January 2009 briefing can be viewed here:  Assessing the Benefits of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Elements.  Guest presentations from the January briefing are below: Benefits of Bus Rapid Transit: Lane Transit District's EmX Project, Tom Schwetz, Lane Transit District Performance Measures of BRT Program in Los Angeles, Kang Hu, City of Los Angeles   Metrobus Priority Corridor Network, Tom Harrington,  Washington Metropolitan Area Transit  Authority      We seek your help. We are actively seeking input and welcome your suggestions or comments.   Here is how to reach us: Emails sent here reach all the researchers simultaneously. Sandra Curtin and Bill Vincent are in Washington, DC at 202-785-4222. John Niles in Seattle is at 206-781-4475. This research is supported by the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University in San Jose, California, and by the Federal Transit Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
					Please give us your input on incremental BRT.  Contact the project researchers by sending an email to us here or by calling: Bill Vincent or Sandra Curtin Breakthrough Technologies Institute 202-785-4222 John Niles Global Telematics 206-781-4475