Bus Rapid Transit: Bogotá
Want to learn more about Bus Rapid Transit? Watch this video and let Streetsblog editor Aaron Naparstek show you how BRT works in Bogotá, Colombia. Take a gander and you'll see an efficient, modern and -- relatively speaking -- inexpensive way of moving 1.3 million people per day.
In Bogotá, where the BRT system goes by the much more sexy name, TransMilenio, you'll travel almost three times the speed of the typical New York City bus. The average TransMilenio vehicle travels at 17.4 mph. In New York City, buses poke along at 6.2 mph. Some TransMilenio routes average nearly 25 mph!
For quite a few years now, New York City's Department of Transportation and the MTA have been studying and studying and, sigh... studying the possibility of implementing BRT routes on selected corridors. And if Mayor Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan passes, a significant portion of the promised $354 million in federal funds will go towards launching new BRT lines.
Hopefully, New York City's BRT system will offer many of the excellent features that we saw in Bogotá; features like physically-separated bus lanes, pre-boarding fare payment, wide doors that open at boarding level and a control room nerve center that monitors and manages the entire system. These features give Bogotá a bus system that really works. Take a look.
Aaron, forget about blogs.. ! interviewer .. you are so naturally good at it ..
the feeder system is brilliant ...
and yes the key to it is take away a lane and protect it . If we only had the guts to do this ..
I volunteer 9th avenue to test..
Nice film, thanks. I've heard a lot about BRT but was never able to quite imagine how it worked. It's surprising how much it is like a more flexible rail system.
Love the last line "the name of our nation is in the world now -- for good things." Good transit could be great PR for our own dear USA too... someday.
Great job, and hats off to Aaron for presenting this with such clarity. This should be required viewing for the ditherers at NYCT and the MTA. 100 years ago, the expanding subway system was held up, rightly so, as the sign of a great, progressive city. Why not BRT?
BRT routes don't have to be on dedicated rights of way, although what they did in Bogota (and Ottawa, and - up to a point - in Boston) sure is nice. BRT could be a way to knit together outlying subway and commuter rail lines, and to provide a transit option in existing corridors. Think BRT on the Staten Island Expressway, or Flatbush Avenue, or the Long Island Expressway east of Flushing Meadow, for example.
Just a heads up folks...
We've gotten alot of positive feedback and an incredible amount of debate on our cross-posting on Streetsblog if you'd like to check that out (or join in the opinion banter):
http://www.streetsblog.org/2008/01/28/streetfilm-brt-in-bogota/
[...] et de distribution. La dernière publication de Streetfilms est passionnante : le réseau Transmilenio de Bogota (Colombie) : un réseau de bus ultra-rapides (quelque 40 km/h de moyenne !) transportant [...]
Well, if they studied "ideas" for 50 years to get to TransMilenio, then NYC should have something on this level in the mid-2040's, right? I'm holding my breath.
Great job, Aaron, Clarence, Carla...and Enrique Peñalosa.
Congratulations on the vid - I was down in November and am in the process of putting thing similar together (totally independent), but yours is really polished and nice.
The thing that most impresses me about the Bogota BRT model are the stations. Form the rider perspective they really take it from being a bus on a busway to a *transit system*.
Very nice system! I would like to see it electrified and put on rails. Then it would be perfect!
Morgan, that was just it - if they had put in rails they wouldn't have been able to afford such an extensive system. It is about tradeoffs and for the time being, I think they made the right choice
Great system. Couple of comments:
> do they have GPS so people know when next bus is coming?
> do these get held up at cross streets or do they have signal priority/
and finally,
> great future project for BOGOTA would be to make those buses trolley buses, ie: string cable overhead and electrify the system!
Just one comment: no rails please! Extra expense: not required. Just electrify and they'll be fine!
Rails don't really cost that much more in a trunk like system such as this and over time you'll use less energy & money operating it.
I'm currently living in Jakarta, Indonesia. Our city implement Bus Rapid Transit similiar to the one in the video called Transjakarta Busway.
http://trans.jakarta.go.id/home/index.php
But it has been a complete failure here. Now, the lanes are even smaller than before and barricading has been very dangerous for both motorcyclist and drivers.
Our government is useless. I hope they can come up with something better.
I visited Bogota w/ my family in December of 2006 and the Transmilenio was AWESOME...what a great SOLUTION to public transportation and an opportunity for COLOMBIA to shine around the world...Que verraquera!
I just had to post this which came from our cross-post on YouTube. It might be the funniest comment we have ever gotten. Enjoy:
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Is this Transmilenio a big deal in Colombia? I am English and am currently chasing after a foxy Colombian girl. I got to spend some quality time with her yesterday for the first time and she spent half an hour showing pictures of buses in Bogota. This was probably the most boring half an hour i have ever endured. Is everyone from Bogota like this or is she just a bit dull
[...] MTA are, for the most part, not creating physically-separated bus lanes as is done in cities like Bogota, Colombia and Paris, France, bus-mounted cameras will be essential to keep lanes clear and make BRT routes [...]
Very amazing story!!! I lived in Colombia from 1984-1986. The transportation system was absolutely chaotic. It was a daily risk of your life to try and ride the bus system. Buses would stop in the middle of the street in traffic for passengers to dart into the street and jump on. Drivers would behave like kamakazi pilots racing through traffic. I can imagine that the greatest benefit of this new system is the decrease in traffic fatalities. It was highly common for individuals to die in traffic. You would see buses driving down the street so full that people would be hanging out the door with one foot on and one hand hanging on.
Amazing story!
[...] more background, watch the Streetfilms piece that PPS helped to coordinate on Transmilenio and [...]
[...] Colombia - 82,509PARK(ing) Day San Francisco 2006 - 60,436Summer Streets 2008 (NYC) - 50,950Bus Rapid Transit: Bogotá - 37,218Hal (and Kerri) Grade Your Bike Locking - 36,528Bike vs. Car vs. Transit - 28,420Portland: [...]
[...] Colombia - 82,520PARK(ing) Day San Francisco 2006 - 60,436Summer Streets 2008 (NYC) - 50,952Bus Rapid Transit: Bogotá - 37,220Hal (and Kerri) Grade Your Bike Locking - 36,538Bike vs. Car vs. Transit - 28,421Portland: [...]
BRT without barrier separation is . . . not BRT. Duh. Furthermore, added urban highway capacity for BRT = Veronic Moss getting more highway lanes in the name of transit. That evil little . . . lobbyist.