You made a TRAIN out of a city BUS?
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- čas přidán 1. 06. 2024
- Trains are wonderful but too expensive for most cities. A bus operating like a train may help smaller places afford quality mass transit.
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In this video, I chat with three mass transit experts: Victoria Perk of the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) at the University of South Florida. Jennifer Flynn of the National Bus Rapid Transit Institute (NBRTI at CUTR). Mary Delamare-Schaefer of the Utah Transit Authority who operates a BRT route in Utah.
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Fast forward:
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Introduction: (0:00)
Utah Valley Express: (1:46)
Runcorn Busway: (4:05)
Los Angeles G Line: (6:12)
Emerald Express: (8:14)
Where Buses Go: (8:48)
How People Board: (10:01)
Transit Signal Priority (10:49)
Don't Cheap Out (12:17)
Conclusion: (13:25)
Ridership: (14:30)
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Sources:
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Metro Orange Line BRT Evaluation, USDOT
www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta...
History of Bus Rapid Transit, Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_rap...
"Proposed route for BRT system" (The Daily Herald), 06/11/04, p.D3
History of Runcorn Busway, Commercial Motor
archive.commercialmotor.com/ar...
History of Runcorn Busway, Transportation Research Board (TRB)
onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/...
Berlin Modal Ridership, Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modal_s...
Rubber Tires for Residents, University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA)
www.its.ucla.edu/wp-content/u...
Preliminary Evaluation of Orange Line, Portland State University for TRB
citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/...
"Promise to Valley Could Derail Metro Rail" (LA Times), 08/23/86, p.A6
"Important Notice for San Fernando Valley Residents" (LA Times), 06/16/87, p.8
"Senate Sidetracks Light-Rail Ban, Metro Rail Delay" (LA Times), 09/12/87, p.A6
"Governor Signs Bill Calling for Underground Rail Line" (LA Times), 06/25/91, B7
"MTA Seeks to Ensure Valley Busway Funds" (LA Times), 02/06/03, p.B3
"New Busway Gears Up for Fall Debut" (LA Times), 07/18/05, p.A12
Queue Jump Improvement, National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO)
nacto.org/publication/transit...
"Unsafe at any speed?" (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), 05/25/89, p.4
Utah Transit Authority Ridership Data (Feb. 2020)
rideuta.maps.arcgis.com/apps/...
Los Angeles Metro Ridership Data (Feb. 2020)
isotp.metro.net/MetroRidership...
Property Values Near Transit, National Institute for Transportation and Communities
ppms.trec.pdx.edu/media/proje... - Auta a dopravní prostředky
Nothing wrong with the bus. But part of the reason trains are so expensive to build is because we try and force transit agencies to pay for it and make a profit with fares, while highway expansions get massive government grants without making any money back in the process.
Finally someone who nailed it. It’s amazing how many lawmakers and voters want transit/passenger trains to make a profit while not at all questioning how all the roads and highways they drive on are funded...
RM transit recently made a video as well on why rail in NA is so expensive. It seems as though governments here don’t know how to build rail transit properly, to the point where private companies can do it a lot better. BRT is nice, and has its niche uses, but at the end of the day, the ride quality and noise levels are significantly worse because it’s a bus. Articulated buses, used on most North American BRT’s, can get so rough that it feels like the bus is going to fall apart.
Drivers get taxed when they buy the car, register the car, license the car, insure the car, maintain the car and - above all - fill the car. Roads are subsidized, yes, but to act as if drivers aren't constantly handing over cash to be on the roads is silly: the government gets its cut. In my 2010 Fusion it would cost me about $40.44 just in gas taxes to drive from Detroit to Ottawa. (Assume 9.1L/100km, 808km, $0.55 in taxes per litre as per CTF Tax Honesty Report.)
@camberweller not nearly enough though, that's why they are subsidized
@@camberwellerthat .44-.55 was set in the 50s or 60s if I'm not mistaken btw
In the uk they ACTUALLY made a bus into a train and they call it the pacer
Love a good Pacer, great way to connect urban populations of Millions such as Sheffield, Manchester and Leeds. My favourite bit is the tinnitus
They are officially called “multiple unit railbuses”; they have been scheduled for retirement multiple times over the last 20 years. There are still units in use despite failing to meet current accessibility requirements...
Of course the pacer is on a heavy rail system (main line/branch line), it might have made some sense on a light rail system (metro/tram).
The much (unfairly in my mind) maligned Class 142 "Pacer", was built as a "stop gap" of 9 years. They are getting on for FORTY, are ridiculously reliable and have probably saved more branch lines from closure by becoming more economical to keep, than probably anything else ever!!
On jointed track they do tend to deserve their nickname of "nodding donkeys", but on welded track they are absolutely fine. And drivers love them for having a great driving position.
They've been "threatened" to be withdrawn for at least a decade and yet, still they nod... sorry.. plod on!!
All hail the "Pacer".
Lol
I was looking for this comment. 😁
Also don't forget that these BRT's with lane seperations, raised platforms, signal priority, etc. Could be converted to lightrail if the need for this ever arises!
Love that you tackled upkeep, that's one thing rail lines can dominate on overtime. Less cost to move, less repair, longer lifecycles. But seeing as most cities are worried about immediate costs, future generations be damned, BRT is better than nothing.
And once the costs do finally come they'll be hefty for infastructure like rails.
@@JulianSlomanFor the same timeframe buses cost more. Roads are equally expensive to repave it just isn't considered exclusively transit cost due to being also used by private vehicles
@@JulianSloman Rail infrastructure for light-rail and streetcars is much cheaper to maintain then a road.
Even if you have the light-rail or streetcar running on.. well the street. It is still cheaper then a bus, since the rail vehicles will cause much less damage to the asphalt and the street then a bus does. And at the same time transports much more people.
I really enjoyed this video! I can't believe I never knew about Runcorn until just now!
Oh hey Jay
Don’t worry, I don’t even think the people of Runcorn know about Runcorn!
Jay not knowing a British transport fact? I can't believe it!
Maps can help with that.
@@johnnyp9205 ...
As a Madison, WI resident this video has me worried that the city isn’t really building a BRT but just building a fancy new bus route and calling it BRT. Appreciate the in depth explainer!
Yeah that's a major problem. "We painted 2% of the route red! Sure, it still gets a ton of red lights and still gets stuck in traffic, but lets call it brt lol
What's a ' red lig hr a'?
It seems like its gonna be a mix of center lanes with stations that Rob describes and jumps in traffic www.cityofmadison.com/metro/routes-schedules/bus-rapid-transit/project-details
@@1a2b compare that to the Transmilenio or Transjakarta BRTs which have their own busways lane and high platform, train-style stations
Indeed. Proper BRT has separate lanes and traffic light priority.
"Noooo you can't implement buses as a viable alternative to light rail!"
"Haha, bus line go BRRRRT."
LRT vs BRT is an overrated debate. Most people who oppose BRT or LRT are like: Nooo you cant just take car lanes away and convert them to transit only D':
that's actually really funny, this needs more likes! :)
I am light rail forever, but brt is a really good option
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LRT will always be a better option than BRT for capacity, efficiency and environmental reasons but when you don't have the money BRT works extremely well. Eventually the money made might even support the construction of light rail on the same corridor.
In the UK, old city buses were actually converted into trains. They're called The Pacer.
Not quite right, nothing was converted - they were built new but used bus components for cost cutting.
@@MirkoC407It’s a joke
UVX HYPE!!! Seriously that bus saved me in college, I don't have a license, no car, and a single, infrequent bus that went by my apartment. It connected me to regional rail, downtown, school, it was absolutely needed and amazing. Can't wait to see more in Utah!
We call it the Emerald Express, or EMX
Meanwhile in Europe: we luv public transportation
Covid 19 has changed that in the UK. 80% reduction and those that used public transport are working from home ( I work in public transport).
@@EinkOLED well no surprise, as those people which sued to get to work by public transport it's just obvious that ridership goes down as many people are in home office
It's a sad sight seeing the change, but much of the blame is on the unnecessary lockdowns set by the government. I may need a change in career next year, maybe general haulage.@@EnjoyFirefighting
I don't
Europe:Tram tram tram
One interesting bus rapid transit system is the O-Bahn busway in Adelaide, South Australia. The busses travel on special "track" and are guided by side-mounted wheels on the busway, eliminating the need for the operator to steer. At various interchange points, the bus can leave the busway, traveling ordinary suburban routes and are steered in the conventional manner by the operator.
I was hoping the O-Bahn would get a mention in this video as an excellent example of a working BRT!
I love your videos about transit. BRT can be almost as successful as light rail as long as they have DEDICATED RIGHT OF WAY! It's all about that delicious ROW that allows the bus to beat traffic and improve reliability.
Calling a BRT Socialism, how... American
Joint government-private company service project: exists
American: It's Socialism!
be careful you might give a heart attack to those boomer conservatives. They think we're still in the cold war.
meanwhile they pay taxes to have roads built and fixed by the government, or at least 99% of the time.
@@the747videoer And then they wonder why everybody thinks they're stupid
both fascism and communism were prescribed by bankers..wakey! wakey! ☕
How the hell is BRT socialism? that one dude being interviewed "This is socialism and it will not work"
Well...
Let's just say Hans is a really nice person. Also, I was (personally) very happy to see another great person elected to his city council seat.
He's probably a Trump supporter: they make idiotic comments like those.
maybe it wasn't a private company coming up with private funding, but it was a local govt project, i.e. tax payer pays.
tax payers tend to drive cars more often than they need public transport.
America! ✨
@@crackwitz tax payers need public transport *all the time*, _especially_ while they’re driving. Every passenger on those buses is a passenger not in a car, not jamming up your car lanes. It is a well known law of traffic engineering that to a large extent, the time taken on the bus option is the same as the time taken on the car option, because a disparity between them drives passengers from one mode of transport to the other. So if you want to get places faster in your car, you need to build better transit. Not just better roads.
I like how Rob is genuinely excited about this stuff! It makes the video 100x better, and make it fun for us to watch! Good job Rob!
This was very interesting to watch from a European perspective, especially the part in the beginning where the woman said ‘you don’t even know if someone is going to take care of you.’
Busses always run here, usually strictly on time, and don’t need ‘rails’ to not be stuck in traffic.
It’s great that the USA is finally putting an effort into bringing public transport back!
Can y'all just come here and put in public transit for us?
Well, small parts of the USA, anyway. Others, like the drab, dreary, dated, depressing disaster of a city I live in, seem content with reenacting the "This is fine" meme, even when their transit systems are literally decades behind most systems in _America,_ much less the rest of the world.
@@MisterVercetti wait, let my ask some questions about the city and guess. Is the city on the east or west coast? Is it North or South? Is the state you live in extremely hot, cold, or just mild with a mix of both of these? Does it get floods? Do you get Hurricanes, Earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, etc.? Is the state very liberal or conservative? Are there black people (actual black people, not people of color)? Is it one of the original 13 colonies? Sub sandwich or hoagie? What is the special culture or your state? Lastly, how do you eat you hotdog?
And don't tell me the city, I want to guess.
@@Machodave2020 We will be opposed just as strongly by NIMBYs as your democrat leaders.
But use the message of this video to your advantage: Don't argue to put in a brilliant but expansive system - argue to make it just that tiny bit better. And once you have good BRT and you need to improve it you can convert it to trolleybuses (and use the old buses for other routes or sell them) and later trams/light rail.
Then you can place the light rail underground downtown (they did that in many German cities like Bonn or Stuttgart). (czcams.com/video/bQ1lPVeNH3o/video.html&ab_channel=Timosha21)
And suddenly (50 years later) your shitty bus service turned into a metro.
Same in my city (also in Europe). Buses always run, on schedule, on time. We do not have BRT, but we do have queue jumps and bus lanes. It works. It does.
We also have light rail and that is MUCH better. I prefer the light rail over the bus - anytime.
What about vehicle to rail maintenance costs? Accident differences-loss of life? Weather factors? Electrification of buses?
My two thoughts were the mainly the tire wear as well as the obvious environmental impacts of buses, even hybrid ones. I'm surprised I had to scroll down as far as I did to find a comment mentioning it.
Trains are definitely cheaper to maintain than buses in long term due to having a longer life span, but the upfront cost of LRT, both financial and political ones, compared to BRT is the problem.
Exactly! Let's look at 30 years of maintenance and replacement of train/light rail vs. bus.
And better energy efficiency because of lower friction resistance of rolling steel on steel on top of that trains can carry more passengers than busses in every course, lower emissions the list goes on
@Mensgi Especialy in hilly area Trollybus would be a practicle up grade/improvement to an establised BRT route. Also as in Boston MA "silver line subway route" also Cambridge tunnel.
An excellent overview of BRT (and BRT creep as well, which is definitely a problem given that most systems in the US that call themselves BRT cut out so much that they're basically limited stop buses with a new splash of paint). Keep up the good work!
Houston had a similar thing happen with our light rail, there was supposed to be a line in the richer neighborhoods in the west to connect them to downtown, but both our old mayor and a state representative shut it down years ago. Now they’re putting in BRT lines (we already have one and I think 3 more are planned by 2030). I believe they even were saying that since we’ll have the separated lanes, lights, and platforms, we could even upgrade the lines to light rail in the future, given the proper funding
"Trains are noisy" NO THEY'RE NOT old buses are louder than some trains.
ok watch a freight train pass by at a highway, you'll notice more noise on that than a bus on a busy road
@@thetreedemoknight4827 Most light rail trains are quite quiet.
I think the senator was talking more about the horn. You don’t have to deal with train horns if they are in a tunnel.
@@joefadgen What the senator thinks when he hears train: Noisy Union Pacific diesel trains with crazy loud horns. Actual trains: Quiet electric trains with no loud horn. This is a big misconception.
@@williamhuang8309 I am unfamiliar with the horns on typical city rail lines, but I can confirm that freight and passenger locomotives would be a nuisance to anyone living near it. The senator probably has a misunderstanding like I did.
Having lived my whole life in a city were the public transit is basically either buses or BRT (bogota), i can say with some confidence that BRTs are a stopgap measure until the city grows a little more to justify LRT or a proper subway system.
Initially, Transmilenio worked great, except for the part were they built infrastructure dedicated to the buses, not just stealing lanes from already built, already jammed up roads.
But as the system grew, the city grew with it. considerably. This started to become evident why Transmilenio was just the wrong option in the long term, ending up with a system thats overcrowded, dated and horrible for the environment (when you have a fleet of well over 400 poorly maintained used Euro II buses, that adds up to make a considerable part of the cities emissions), dangerous and convoluted.
The system has expanded every one or two years, yet it seems like the expansions are never big enough, and that expanding the system is only making it worse. The fact that both Curibita and Bogota are basically rushing their subway systems now should tell you all you need to know about the long term capacity of the system.
The same here in Mexico City.
That’s why I prefer double decker bus
When cites expanding in early days,you just put a dozen of bus to suck up the needs of the demand,after the cites has more money or profitable to build railway systems.the buses can be rerouted to connect the residents outside the railway system.
And imagine the insanity and expense if all those people drove?
But you’re right, there is a place for BRT, super heavy lift backbones of massive cities is not one of them.
Sounds like you discovered induced demand.
@@bluehelmet314 If you have a lot of people to move around, you sure can justify a metro system on the busiest routes, which is also happening now for TM. Also improving access doesn't help, if your current trunk lines are already at breaking point and can't carry the extra loads of people. No one is saying it's a bad system, but at its current state it's insufficient.
I live in Curitiba, Brazil. Here we have a big net of double-articulated buses that run in special lanes. You prepay for the ticket in an enclosed bus stop and then the bus just makes a very brief stop. It works really well. There is no real need for trains or subway here.
That's where this system was invented
Most underrated channel I ever randomly stumbled across at 3am
Title: you made a train out of a city bus?
British people: laughs in class 142
I prefer going by bus replacement rail service (see Tom Scott).
As soon as I saw the title for the video I assumed it was about Pacers, haha
Now replaced with the 195, 172/170, 158/159, 150. Basically all of these are more modern and better trains.
I used to leave buses in the dust on a Schwinn in LA back in the 90's.
Sad you didn’t bring up Pittsburgh’s BRT network, which was one of the first implemented in the country. We have 3 lines (constructed in 1977, 1983, and 2000, one line extended in 2003) that are entirely on grade separated dedicated right of way with spaced out stops and high speeds. One shares part of its run with our light rail system, and the other two were built on former railroad right of way.
Unfortunately now they are working on a new BRT line in the *one* corridor that would actually benefit more from light rail because of the high ridership and density of that corridor. It isn’t grade separated and parts of it aren’t even in dedicated bus lanes. The parts that are, have already had bus lanes for years so it isn’t exactly a major upgrade. It’s very much a victim of “BRT creep”, which was referred to in the video with the scaling back of amenities to the point that it’s basically a glorified bus route. Hopefully they change their minds and either make it a *proper* implementation of BRT or upgrade it to a light rail line as was originally planned...
Are you talking about the East Busway to/from Swissvale?... cos that corridor is packed regularly for those P Lines
@@MarloSoBalJr I'm referring to the Oakland BRT that is in the final stages of design between Pittsburgh and Oakland. It was originally going to be a light rail extension before it was downgraded to BRT, and is now basically a glorified bus stop consolidation project for the 61 and 71 routes. The stretches of it beyond Oakland aren't even in dedicated bus lanes...BRT my ass.
The East Busway is a good example of BRT *done right.*
@@SebisRandomTech All that Port Authority knows how to do is be useless & waste money. Sure, they are going to take away even more lanes off 5th Avenue through Oakland and give the busses more lanes. But will that even make me want to ride a Port Authority bus? Hell no. It will be like the rest of the system - expensive, dirty, & late. They should have invested in the LTR when they had a chance in the 80s instead of the busways.
@@rmgtnsteele The Oakland bus lanes are such a waste of money. It should not cost $350 million to do what I can accomplish in a couple of weekends with a few cans of red paint. Their refusal to invest in rail is going to be their undoing.
You shouldve added that even though upfront cost are cheaper, since operational costs are around the same, over time brt will cost more per passenger than light rail.
15:27 that wipe xD nicely done
Rob, I've always said I hate buses, and much prefer trains
You've shown me I don't hate buses I just hate how they are implimented in the UK, that is to say they have no special infrastructure to make them a more practical choice, they are completely underfunded so do end up being grimy and their coverage is rubbish!
I would happily ride a BRT system. hell you've actually convinced me it might be a more favourable option than my favourite, the tram
I doubt the BRT is any cheaper to build or maintain than a light rail system, but is greatly loved by bus manufacturers.
@@brushcreek42 It's cheaper short term, but likely more expensive long term. In the end steel wheels on steel rails means less wear on both the vehicles and the right of way. You can keep a good LRT vehicle running for decades with the occasional refurb, a bus you'd be lucky to get beyond 10-12 years.
Funny to watch this as a European! Where i live we have things like this everywhere. Trains, buses, light rail, trams... USA just have highways everywhere
Hmmm not really. Major cities/areas have commuter trains, metro, light rail and bus system too. Check out the SF bay area for instance
Its a hard comparison. The USA is comparable more to the entirety of the EU then a specific Europe country. Add to that on average our lower population densities and the insane cultural influence of automobiles and we create an increasingly complex issue with no clear answers.
yess, its amazing i love it :)
Huh? I live in Phoenix and we have all of those. Buses, light rail and new tram. Of course freeways too. But UK has those too....
That's because you are forced to have those since the population density and small roads don't allow the freedom for everyone to drive. Why would you want to live in a flat with ten people when you can live in a large house away from the police sirens of the city and your partying neighbors upstairs? Same goes for transportation. You have the freedom to go anywhere in your car, on your own timetable, without sitting next to a drunk on the bus or subway that only follows a fixed route. Highway traffic can be a problem if it gets too dense or if road planning is inadequate, but public transport is hardly a superior alternative. Rich people with chauffeurs and limousines don't pine for the great camaraderie of being in a covid infested bus or train.
This is definitely my favorite new channel. The whole way you present information with almost a TV like style while standing by the street with a microphone is just absolutely great. I really hope CZcams picks up your channel.
I love how most major euoropean cities bus lines have most of these features.
Nah we don't but only because we don't need this
@@stevenhammerich6368 many cities actually do. But often it's really not necessary, because European roads aren't just a grid with an intersection every few dozen meters as in the US.
@@thenamen935 yeah they're dumb wind-ey tiny shit that has us stuck behind the bin man for half an hour and are the reason we can't have big cars lmao
Rob you're punching way over your subscriber count. Keep up the good work!
Rob you're punching way over your subscriber count. Keep up the good work!
Just a small photo from Curitiba, where it all begun... Then, Bogota bought the system from us.
It's so much smarter for most cities to do the Curitiba style bus system rather than throw money at a light rail.
The Metrobus has worked very well in Bogotá, it was the most cost effective solution. Next step: get those buses running on biodiesel only.
@@boink800 Or on trolley wires
@@arch9enius : Or on batteries.
@@murdelabop Better power to weight ratio with trolleybuses. Batteries wear out, and will need replacement.
I am surprised with how well this concept works. One improvement would be the synchronization of traffic signals with the proximity and direction of the "bus train".
I've got a BRT just a few blocks from my house. It very quickly became my favorite way to go downtown. It's so fast and convenient. Best thing is goes through a popular historic district without having wreck anything. That's the only spot it's subject to traffic congestion. The rest of the route it's either got it's own separate road, or a separate lane with priority lights
Very interesting video! Keep up the amazing content Rob!
:pfft: mere wallies
Needs to stop babbling
Aye
I love BRTs. I've used them in Bogotá, Lima, and Mexico City. They are fast.
My only issue is that they can get crowded.
That’s the worst part about BRTs, they’re like subways without space
Which bus in lima isn't crowded tho
Same here in Helsinki, Finland we have the 550 trunk line but it gets so crowded and its just not possible to add more buses so they are now building a Light rail to replace the bus lines
That’s why I prefer Double decker
@@horacewonghy double decker are just bendies with stair and less road space taken... And also with the height clearance...
This is the exact definition of Pacer units in the UK
"Pacific Electric"
*shows Santa Fe railroad f7, a train*
A frikkin Diesel train at that. Clue's in the title
Even Roger Rabbit couldn't save the Pacific Electric!!🤔😃😃😃
Interesting, but TransMilenio Is the worst example for the "success" of BRT. It's actually one of the worst public transport systems to this day. BRT in big cities can never be used to replace rail, it is only feasible as a feeder. So don't trash rail that easily. There's a whole referenced video essay by Colombian youtuber MagicMarkers on that topic. In conclusion, for the rural/suburban US BRT is an obvious solution, but for a BRT line with no connections or barely any connections with rail in LA is nonsense and doomed to underdeliver and set for bankruptcy. Look at Mexico City's integration of Metrobus, Light Rail, Trolleybus, Metro, Cable bus and Concessioned bus lines. Americans tend to look for standalone solve-all-problem solutions.
BRT's are a good option for poor cities in developing countries that can't afford a rail system though, even if they run above ideal capacity.
I found the video you're talking about but it's in Spanish, can you summarize?
“Americans tend to look for standalone solve-all-problem solutions”.
This is so true. Why invest in getting remotely close to the infrastructure of the rest of the world by improving public transit and upgrading our rail lines to high speed (or even just higher-speed) lines when we can dump billions into Hyperloop prototypes instead? 🙄🤦🏻♂️
@@FOLIPE Which is part why it’s infuriating that many American cities are so hell bent on building BRT...
Who else though a dude was gonna turn a bus into a train
Punching in 'Bolivian Rail bus ' up there might produce something.
UK: we did that already
Runcorn has it's own railway station, but it's only served by an express operator: Avanti West Coast. Therefore, the only way to get around is to take the bus. I absolutely loved the video by the way! I never knew that Runcorn had the busway even though I've been there 5 times!!!
Another aspect of cost that isn't mentioned in this video, is that buses take a lot more fuel to take the same load the same distance, and it comes down to the rubber tires on the asphalt. Steel wheels on steel tracks offer way less drag (due to lack of compression taking energy out) and allow heavier loads to be pulled more effectively. Which makes it especially effective at pulling dense loads that aren't people (which was in no way the point of the video anyways).
In most (if not all) of the cases mentioned in this video, there wasn't enough demand and usage that would require the higher efficiency that a train offers, but in certain high-density populated areas, it could very well be worth it.
But all in all, I can definitely say that I learned something new in this video and thoroughly enjoyed it.
We have something like this in Boston with our Silver Lines. It’s buses that use public roads but have terminuses in a tunnel (South Station) or in a special bus only lane (Chelsea). It was created to help connect South Boston with Logan Airport and Chelsea (a suburb north of the bay) without having to create the biggest subway line in the city. It’s certainly not as popular as our subway but it’s definitely an important link in our transportation system.
The branch in the South End is called the Silver Lie though because it was so poorly implemented and never really a true BRT line, due to very poor design and a disastrous implementation. I find it's usually quicker to walk downtown from Blackstone Square during rush hour.
@@roxxma interesting I guess?
Yes but light rail can have multiple uses, for example, the light rail system next to my house also serves as a freight railroad system during the after hours after the last light rail train clears the tracks. So it actually provides more to the local economy.
Very god point
What you actually have there is LRVs using a heavy rail route. The difference between light and heavy rail is actually the weight of the rails, as much as the weight of the vehicles. You can run LRVs on heavy rail track, but you can’t run heavy rail vehicles on light rail track - the rails wouldn’t survive the passage of one train! And heavy rail costs between 2 and 4 times as much per kilometre.
@@Twittler1 Back when trolleys and interurbans were present in almost every American city, it wasn’t uncommon for them to operate their own freight services, particularly the interurbans. Most abandoned those in favor of passenger service or just abandoned rail service altogether.
On the other hand, heavy freight railroads dropped passenger trains as soon as they could. Whatever services weren’t absorbed into Amtrak or regional transit agencies were discontinued.
@@SebisRandomTech I know that, but if you’re running heavy rail vehicles on a light rail network, you have to lay heavy track on all the sections they’re going to be run on. I’m talking about the actual weight of the rails themselves. Heavy rail track weighs 2 to 4 times as much per metre as light track, and needs more support. Ties/sleepers, whatever, have to be closer together than on light rail and are also heavier themselves. This makes it more expensive to build, by a big margin. It was the cost element that I was referring to.
@@Twittler1 commuter rail, not heavy rail. Heavy rail = metro.
And commuter rail can run on light rail. All you do is upgrade the rails themselves. The NJT River Line is a perfect example of this.
Discovered your channel, awesome to have actual captions. Makes videos much easier to follow and clear. Good job and many interesting topics!
Really impressed with your rigor and research. I love how much you incorporate expert interviews!
as european i dont get the point where the problems with good public transport are. in austria it just works quiet fine
For starters higher taxes in Europe make it easier to fund these sorts of things. second, European cities tend to have higher population density than North American cities, meaning that more infrastructure is needed to service a similar population compared to Europe.
Austria is a perfect example of the differences, a tiny high income high tax countries with many smaller but denser cities than in the US outside of the coastal regions.
Also smug condescending metropolitan Europeans don’t actually do a very good job making the case to rural and small town Americans about the benefits of transit.
@@MaxwellAerialPhotography in rural towns in Europe you also have a good public transport. but the people are used to walk a bit. i was in the states (minnesota), car is king there. it might be possible but its murica.
@@MaxwellAerialPhotography Also, "Europeans". Sure, a metropolitan Austrian feels that way, but living in Norway that has just over 5 million people, but a landmass bigger than Germany, I can guarantee that transit system is only good in the three largest cities over here. If I didn't have a car, I would need to plan for the once-an-hour bus route over here. And this is supposedly internationally known as a "rich country".
@@oditeomnes thanks I was about to comment something similar, europeans are comparing their realities and their context living in a tiny country with a different country in a different continent. it seems they underestimate the magnitude of the vast distances here in the United States.. You can easily travel 4 hrs in your car to visit your parents or going to camp within your state and sometimes you don't see people. The us population is 350 millions and there's still lots of empty space. I have friends in california and hawaii( I live in Maryland) and sometimes I need to calculate the time to make a phone call bc they could be sleeping or working bc of the different time zones, i think at this point only Russians can understand ...
In the "bad old days" it didn't really cost all that much to build street car tracks. What drives up the cost is adhering the FRA standards.
Dedicated light rail and metro rail mass transit systems that run on exclusive track right of way don't have to follow FRA standards - they buy modern mass produced trainsets that are in common use in Europe and Asian countries and can use lighter duty cheaper track with sharper curves and steeper grades.
Adhering to FRA standards primarily harms Amtrak and similar long distance services that run on shared track with heavy freight trains.
So the problem is the law😂
What about engineering?
Light rail versus heritage tramway is another difference. There is a difference when you consider fancy platforms and modern signalling as opposed to the corner streetcar stop and old style signalling, as opposed to modern light rail systems.
@@jacobwoods8738 -- I'm not at all sure what you mean by "modern light rail." The cars look different but they aren't all that much better that the post-war PCC cars. The stops, then & now, are a mix between platforms and street stops. Signaling isn't all that different between 1950 and 2020. Many of the changes in signaling introduced by the railroads were done as much to reduce cost as to improve the basic outcome.
Works for me. New York City is long overdue for this type of project for Bus surface Transit! 👏👏👍👍
The Runcorn system is also used in Almere, Netherlands, here it works very well!
Yes I know, Almere is a rather new city in The Netherlands, founded about 50years ago. The dedicated bus roads were already there before the first inhabitants got the key of there new house. Not all bus roads at first, they started with one bus road and this gradually expanded when the city grew. It now inhabits 195,000 citizens, has 58km of dedicated bus roads (off the street grid) and some dedicated bus lanes on the streets. The city bus company transports 16,000 passengers a day with 7 metro bus lines. They have a high frequency of 8-12 busses per hour from 04.30 to 01.30 on workdays. Also regional busses and night busses use the bus lanes and bus roads. The dedicated bus roads meander through the city neighborhoods to bring passengers to one of the 6 train stations and 2 regional bus stations. It is a very good and cheap public transit system. Oh and I have to add that the bus roads have priority and their own signaling system, just like trains have at crossings with roads and dedicated bicycles paths.
These videos take a lot of effort and I appreciate the great content you put out. I hope to learn more from you in the future!
LRT and BRT can work together. Also have to consider how walkable the areas around the stations are. That affects ridership by a lot.
Very good point. If the area around the stations was built with cars instead of pedestrians in mind, you are doomed to fail.
I like interlaced public transport systems very much. It can also be combined with people driving their private car, and with the argument that they don't have public transport in their village; Thus e.g. you find many free or cheap parking lots (and bus stop) at commuter rail stations in the countryside, people from that area will go there by car or bus, and then get on the commuter train to go into the downtown area
@@EnjoyFirefighting I agree. Drive you car to the nearest streetcar/metro station, from which you have service every couple of minutes. This makes perfect sense. Cars and public transport can co-exist. Remember: it is about moving people, not moving cars or other vehicles. People need to move. Not the "meatal around them". The "metal around them" is just a way to move them. Not the "moving" itself.
Thank you rob! I am coming here three years later to cite this video in a short essay I'm writing for class about different types of transit, so I can explain BRT. I really admire your production quality and effort you put into all your videos!
We did something similar in Vancouver Washington when we couldn't get portland's light rail across the river, but already had a budget for creating the right of way and stations.
Now we have a dedicated loop of articulated busses with stations and priority signals.
Really interesting!
Another great video, Rob. Keep em coming, and thanks!
Great video rob! Ive been following you since I saw the new interstate video and I just love your content! Greetings from Spain!!
Thanks for the comprehensive video! Living in Salt Lake County, I use TRAX daily and have wondered about how UVX is performing down south. I believe it would be wise to implement more BRT systems for edge communities around salt lake where the trains don’t reach.
Thanks for the quality video !
Lots of good information, numbers and humour to tie it all up 👍
Super interesting. Thanks, Rob. I live in Seattle, where we’re currently expanding both BRT and light rail. I’d love to see a Seattle-centric video.
I'm super stoked to see a clip from the Edmonton Transit System for queue jumping. :).
Edmonton does produce some pretty cool visualizations for many things related to urban planning.
Good clip makes easy explaining ... The gold line... Emm...
Hey! The Orange Line! Helped me out a lot in my first year of college at Pierce. That is... until I could drive. I remember when the Orange Line opened too. I think I was either 5 or 6, and my mom thought it was such a cool novelty. So, within the first week we rode it. She parked her car at one of the park-and-ride lots, and we took the Orange Line all the way to the terminus in North Hollywood. I love the idea of something like this expanding in the valley, but it's probably never going to happen. It's no Redcar, but it's still kind of a cool novelty and a really great form of transportation.
Hi take a look at Adelaide South Australia rapid bus obahn system best in world fact.youtube it.would mayby work well in your state take a 14min ride on CZcams.and think to yourself would this work in the valley. God bless from Adelaide.
You should see the Brisbane (Australia) Busway network. As of last year it was 180,000 - 220,000 boardings per day.
I do GIS based transportation mapping and have wondered about such topics in my downtime. Grew up in Phoenix as they were just getting freeways online and though we had ValleyMetro the entire time, light rail was still a far off pipe dream we were totally going to do in the late 90s. Surprised to see how often Phoenix/ValleyMetro came up in your footage, too. Having a good, overlapping bus/rail system that complement each other would be a neat topic to expand for another video.
The Port Authority of Allegheny County (Pittsburgh, PA) actually uses a really interesting mix of LRT, BRT and standard bus routes. The southern parts of the city and suburbs (mostly newer because of the hurdle of Mount Washington) mostly use LRT. Whereas the eastern parts of the city that are older and more historic, use bus ways; and to blend the two in center city, they use a nice mix of dedicated lanes and transit optimized signals to help speed busses (and not just the BRT busses) through the congested center of the city. Many bus routes go down one way streets and to help increase flow, the Port Authority decided to reverse the busses and have them go against traffic by taking one lane, segregating it off, and making it a bus only lane. Pittsburgh’s transit system is actually really REALLY good considering how small of a city Pittsburgh is, and I think the mix of fast, rapid transit paired with slower, high coverage transit really helps there.
Considering the South and East Busways were among the first examples of BRT to be constructed in North America, I was surprised (and disappointed) that he didn’t mention them. Regular user of the light rail system here, while I much prefer LRT over buses I will admit my trips on the busways were an interesting experience.
@@SebisRandomTech oh for sure. I used to live in East Liberty and the east busway is by far the fastest way to downtown.
Very informational video. Great job!!
Man love how these video la are shot and presented. Love this information!
In the beginning they act like Bus Rapid Transit lines are some crazy new concept that isn’t already used all around the world.
You act as if a part of the video literally didn't talk about how this has been and is used all around the world....
@@Mike__B Fair enough...teach me to refrain from commenting until I watch the entire video.
World:we already has tram before the city expanding....... just continue expand the old system when developing
@@horacewonghy trams were torn out in a *lot* of places between the 30s and 50s. In Europe, mostly because they were severely damaged by the war and many cities couldn’t afford to restore that. And also because those are the decades when buses started becoming competitive.
Many Eastern Europe countries have at least one tram system,and they works quite nice in nowadays.
The Boston area had "trackless trolleys" for years. Buses that ran on overhead electric wires. I'd think overhead electric would make these bust rapid transit lines even better.
I can agree with you on that, I live in a city a few stated away, we have a park for love, city know for brotherly love, cheese steaks (sound familiar). We also have trackless trolleys, but because we have 8 trolleys here, we probably won't be having BRT anytime soon. But I feel like trackless trolley buses should be in use for BRT instead of normal buses, unfortunately, it makes it harder to make a traffic priority system for that bus as it can only go about 1 lane away from the overhead wires, then the pantohraphs fall of the wire.
@@Machodave2020 Trolley buses can be made accu powered electrically driving, and in that way can drive on at tracks which aren't wired.
Very entertaining and fun to watch. Thanks for posting this.
Winnipeg MB did the same thing by making a bus route from downtown to the university and even gave it its own road that cuts around downtown instead of plowing through it. Works really well
Great video. Keep up the high quality content!
He very misleading with his description.
I saw the Greater Dayton RTA bus in the video. Sweet. (I live in Cincinnati, but work in Dayton)
Thank you for showing the Runcorn busway. My dad was part of the organisation that helped build the new town in the 1960s. He helped to design the traffic lights that were designed to give buses priority at junctions. I am glad the busway is still running, although short sections of the busway have closed to passengers. Still, it's great to see the busway and it's great to know this system inspired busway systems in Brazil and Canada. Thank you.
Love your channel! Keep up the great work
Americans: A TRAIN ON ROAD
British people 40 years ago: Put a bus on a wagon and call it a pacer
This makes European countries (both eastern and western) look like centuries ahead...at least in mass transit
They have this system in Istanbul
apparently busses are communist according to the canvassers in the video!
Another brilliant and extremely informative video superbly presented! 😃
Florida just got their first BRT system in St Petersburg (Tampa area) to connect downtown to the beaches and looks pretty solid. Excited to use it when I make a trip back home
5:56 I've never seen a bendy bus that... Bendy before
BRT seems like a great solution for small cities
Super fascinating! Had no idea about BRT. Great job on the video.
This channel is criminally underrated. You have TV quality content and views of a small YT channel. I wish you luck!
Im from ASEAN, in Philippines we call this Carousel, in Indonesia its TransJakarta BRT
Manila has a light rail right? I heard they’re also building a subway system.
@@matthewhernandez8342 Yes we have 3 Metro lines (1 heavy rail, 2 light rail type) first one made by ACEC (Belgium) and second by CKD Tatra Dopravniy Systemy (Czech)
2 lines are currently in construction
(1 above ground for Northeast and the subway connecting to the airport )
Interesting! The calculations you presented when comparing a bus system with a light rail system concluded that a bus system would cost about ⅓ less than a light rail system. But what I didn’t hear is what the costs are over time. The lifetime of a bus is much shorter than that of a train. The maintenance of a bus is also much more expensive than a train. In addition, at least for now, a bus uses polluting fossil fuels rather than potentially clean electricity that a light rail would use (although that would depend on how the electricity for the light rail is produced). And you mentioned that a bus would use the “free” roads, but they’re not really free either. Roads require maintenance and repairs and a heavy bus will require more maintenance of the road. So, that cost would need to be figured in as well. Is the bus then still more affordable after factoring in all the cost not mentioned in your video?
Exactly. I would argue that BRT saves money up front as a short sighted solution. Definitely shouldn’t he thought as a long term solution.
Good point. (Hence my "deeply unscientific" disclaimer at the corner of the video.)
@@banksrail why not as long term solution? Not everywhere it would be possible to set up a light rail system due to lack of available space, or costs would explode with digging in old cities as historians will jump in and delay construction while looking for any small piece of history in the ground. I used to live in a city of 200k and it completly relies on buses on a local basis. There was a tram decades ago but it was completly removed
@@EnjoyFirefighting Because busses are more expensive to upkeep than light rail. LRT is only expensive upfront, but once it’s up and running it’s more cost effective than busses. Busses have a shorter lifespan (20 years max) and light rail is 30 years max (not including rebuilds and upgraded). The cost to fuel a bus is more expensive. Busses also can’t be easily lengthen when there is more demand. They are so many more issues with running busses as a long term plan.
@@banksrail in the mentioned home town I'm coming from they had plans of bringing back a tram system, and although I'm really a fan of tram networks, it really wouldn't make any sense in that city. It simply wouldn't be able to replace or compensate existing bus lines. Some bus stops have more than 21 bus lines going through, turning circles at some corners would be too tight for tracks to work, some two-way roads are too narrow for tram traffic being regulated efficiently, and last but not least apart from a few hundred meters the track would always be integrated into the road and not seperated next to or in the middle of the road leading to even more traffic problems than the city already has
In the city I go to college, there are direct electric busses between the campus and the central train station. It's convenient, fast, and just as clean as trams. (They use rapid charging with overhead chargers at the stops.)
Rob Great Job as always. I always watch your videos. keep informing us :)
There's also the mix of using trolleybuses. That way, you just need the electric wires, without the tracks.
Yes, these are still widespread in Eastern Europe and cause far fewer issues when mixed with other road traffic than do tramway or light rail systems. Not only do you avoid the cost of installing rails and the difficulties the rail can cause to other users but the trolleybuses are generally able to work their way around obstructions that would bring a rail-based system to a grinding halt. Where a single badly parked or broken down car can put a tramline completely out of use, the trolleybus driver, not being tied to rails, can simply swing around the obstruction.
If I rode the bus it would be a 25 mile walk from my house to the nearest stop. There is no Uber here. Your choice is to either drive a car or learn to live off the land and cook squirrels over a campfire.
Can I drown it in BBQ sauce?
That's the catch-22 of American living. We want amenities (transit, stores, jobs). And we want space (garage, yard, personal forest). The only way to have both is to be really, really wealthy -- or drive.
@@RoadGuyRob take a look at countries like Norway. Apart from the very low population the population density if only half of the density in the USA. However throughout the entire country they still have spread-out public transit systems, from HSR going on a 10 minute schedule in the capital city and double-articulated buses used in some other large cities, to plain normal simple buses covering the countryside. Not just suburbs, but actual rural areas several hours far away from anything one can call a city.
Even small villages are connected to regular running bus services, they actually give residents the choice between the car and the bus. Kids can get from A to B without parents driving them there. I used to live outside a Norwegian village, with our farm having its own place name, but still we had our own bus stop
BRT is one of my favorite interests. I love learning new info about it. I wish we could get any parts of this here in Georgia. Any old transit will do!
I enjoyed this very much and learned a lot. Thank you!
They have this in Hartford CT, it's called fast track
and as a CTDOT engineer, i can tell you, CTfastrak is on the fast track to failure. Yearly it costs $26million to run and only makes $4million in revenue.
@@TheAssassin409 That’s not how public transportation works. Public transportation isn’t set up for direct profit. It’s set up to increase the social economics in the neighborhoods the lines run through. Taxes pay for transportation.
That me miss leading.
@@TheAssassin409 yeah, that would be a failure...
If taxes didn't back up public transit. The way Transit Authorities get money is through state, city, and federal funding.
Connecticut is a busway, not a BRT. Bergen County NJ planned a BRT with several lines which dwindled down to two and ultimately died. NJ Transit can't get their act together on the Bergen County extension of the Hudson Bergen Light Rail line.
(0:41) Greetings from Lubbock, TX! LOL
Coverage is actually quite important too, especially if it can’t have dedicated lanes. As well as the benefit of growing the system over time. Transjakarta from 3 corridors balloned to 13, 156 miles, serving around 1 million a day, in 15 years. Though the dramatic growth is only last 5 years from 600 buses to 4300 buses.
There is a similar line here in the Netherlands. Line 300 between Haarlem Station - Hoofddorp - Schiphol Airport - Amsterdam Bijlmer-ArenA. The city of Almere also has a Runcorn like bus network thanks to being a new town. Also rode the free bus in Baltimore.
I was like "whoa, a bendy bus" when I saw the sbX's buses for the first time, then later on it dawned on me that it was an actual example of BRT.
Some damn fool introduced these to London. A city not suited to them as it is not laid out on a grid. The damn things caused traffic snarl ups, were hated by the black cabs, were quite effective in taking out idiot cyclists on left hand corners who had cycled up on the inside where the driver could not see them, had a tendency to catch fire and much to most peoples relief were finally got rid off.
@@donaldboughton8686 London’s street layout is entirely suited to bendy buses. You don’t need a grid at all. The cyclists that deliberately cycle into their blind spot are a self correcting problem.
The routes that really need to be particularly suited to buses are the ones where you run buses with *two* bends (25 meters long). We built what was a pretty large section of concrete roads just for those buses for them. First city in the world after Bogota to use those.
Check out on CZcams Adelaide South Australia best rapid bus obahn system in world fact.go on a 14minute journey you'll love it. I hope so.
I use the EMX in eugene oregon all the time and love it!
Approaching Gateway station. Doors open on the right.
Las puertas se abren a la derecha. :)
I live out in the county but am in Eugene-Springfield nearly every day. I have loved the concept from the very beginning but think that some of the streets chosen were not the best choices. I look forward to the expansion of the EMX system but I hope LTD makes some better choices for future routing. I park at the Gateway Mall a lot and love that I can get out to W. 11th and Commerce almost as fast as I can drive there for the places that I need to go. I have a couple places I go to on Franklin, my doctor at PeaceHealth downtown and a few on W. 11th.
The issue with BRT is since bus's have less capacity you have to pay more bus drivers to carry the same amount of passengers as a light rail, so operating costs are way higher. Trains can even be driverless now, reducing costs further.
This is great quality content. Great way of showing what it means to have bus rapid transit.