Extended BRT Case Study | The Red Line - Indianapolis
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- čas přidán 20. 03. 2023
- This comprehensive study explores the all-electric Red Line BRT corridor in Indianapolis, which operates north and south through the heart of downtown while connecting various types of neighborhoods with varying lane treatments and station designs. Go in-depth to learn how the cost savings of BRT has allowed for construction of a much longer transit line while having resources to improve pedestrian connections and corridor improvements to serve the entire community. See how IndyGo and the city have worked together to drive transit-oriented development around the BRT stations as well.
Learn more about BRT here: itsmarta.com/brt.aspx
As a former red line rider, it was great. I could ride it downtown for $1.75 and not have to worry about parking. Smooth ride, frequent headways, just a great rider experience. IndyGo is building 2 more lines and I can’t wait to use them.
Expand MARTA heavy rail
The thing is MARTA won't do anything with the cost "savings" and "shorter time frames" that supposedly come with BRT (I mean look at how long they are claiming at this point, and you know they'll miss that target). You can seek out 5 people to repeat the same points about how great BRT is but it is not going to make people forget about the promises you've failed to deliver. I want MARTA to succeed so badly, I really feel it could be a world-class system with some true investment, but it never will because even when people do vote to fund transit, that money disappears into thin air and we end up with inferior products. Look at the systems in the US that are actually widely used and make an impact: NY subway, DC Metro, Chicago L. They are all heavy rail. What do we have in ATL? Heavy rail! But there hasn't been an expansion in over 20 years and instead we're stuck with promises of BRT that aren't even guaranteed to come to fruition. MARTA please stop with the shortcuts and listen to what people actually want.
LRT can reroute, see Toronto. But none of BRT, LRT, or, heavy rail is a one size fits all solution. Glad to see zoning and reduced parking mentioned!
I think BRT (if done right) is actually quite nice and cheeper than light or heavy rail. You can treat it like a bus, but at the same time, you can treat it like a light rail system, but only difference being it’s on rubber tires. I kinda wish Rochester NY did this. It’s a big enough city with some traffic trouble now. They tore out a subway in the 1950s to replace it with cars and freeways and now they just got rid of the Inner Loop freeway which is forcing more cars onto the streets and clogging up the other few freeways the city has. So BRT could definitely work in Rochester.
Sadly many Canadian and American cities removed their transportation systems to make way for highways in the city.
Buffalo could be getting a bus rapid Transit line soon running down Bailey Avenue
BRT is a great add-on to a system, but shouldn't be the go-to excuse for not enhancing and developing high capacity rail in our region. Indy has 3 million in their metro area; we have almost triple that in metro Atlanta, and MARTA rail was designed as a BART-line commuter/heavy rail system. You don't throw a 4 lane collector down where an 8 lane freeway should go, and we shouldn't be putting BRT vehicles where trains are needed.
BRT makes sense in our suburban areas and it's a hope that Ride Gwinnett can implement BRT on trunk lines between Norcross, Gwinnett Place and Lawrenceville and another along 78 between Park Place, Snellville/Grayson, Lawrenceville, and Buford. Ideally commuter rail would make more sense since there's already railways that actually run between those places through the county but of course CSX/SP/BNSF aren't giving up any of their ROW for that.
The next question is throughput-- No one questions even LRT being able to have over 100 passengers per vehicle minimum and adding cars to increase that amount. BRT vehicles used here in the US are just normal NABI/New Flyer articulated models that crush load maybe 100. We need to get Euro/South America/Asia developed buses that handle more passengers if we are to take BRT as a light rail option replacement seriously. Remember, the biggest cost will already be the operator/driver so being able to place more passengers per vehicle saves money in the long run.
Brisbane's new Metro pilot test vehicle is also a good example of combined Rubber tyred Tram/Train and Bus Rapid Transit system. And it is battery-powered, so it is Eco-Friendly. Once the project is fully complete and all the vehicles are rolled out, there will even be flash chargers at the end of every route/line that can charge one whole unit in under 5 minutes. Its design allows it to be expanded anywhere at a lower cost, as it can run on any road, ranging from Bus lanes along a busy road to brand new fully dedicated Transitways and even de-clog existing Transitways by using their right of way. In Brisbane, once complete, the Metro will use existing Transitways (or Busways, as locals refer to them) will focus on going into the city and getting buses out of the city, making more space for pedestrians and Bike infrastructure. In addition, this allows for brand new Circular Bus routes radiating around the city between different suburbs, allowing better connections to both major Bus Station, the existing Queensland Rail System and even the new metro.
I think many U.S. cities can adopt systems similar to Brisbane's new metro, as it is very cheap and easy to convert car based infrastructure and the vehicles can even run on Roads which only require bus priority upgrades.
Dislike for dismissing rail transit altogether
The state has banned light rail and they now want to ban BRTS
Indianapolis is rated as the worst metropolitan transit out of 100 U.S. cities. Why on earth are you using their transit system as a selling point for your own undercooked aspirations? Is MARTA trying to race to the bottom? No wonder the Atlanta City Council is auditing you. MARTA is an embarrassment to Atlanta. We need bold plans and MARTA doesn't have them.
Indy's public transit is brutal, but the red line is still pretty new and is the only rapid transit line in the city. 1 line does not make a good transit network, hence the rating as the worst out of 100. With that said, the red line is a pretty pleasant ride, and they're planning to expand 2 new lines (1 opening in 2024) that will create what I see to be an actually pretty decent network. All that to say, Indy public transit is bad, but the Red Line's pretty good, and they're improving.
People like Rail because it's roomy. BRT is still a cramped bus. I didn't see room for bikes or wheel chairs
More MARTA propaganda
As someone who lives in Indianapolis I can say this line sucks. Our streets used to have more lanes near the urban areas, but these buses have taken those extra lanes. Which make it tighter than it should be. On top of that certain neighborhoods have this long concrete bumps which cut off access to certain streets.