Let’s Rename the Buses

Posted by Carol Coletta on July 18, 2009

As I travel U.S. cities, it is unusual for public transit not to come up as a priority.  But buses are rarely mentioned.  Cities want the sexy stuff -- light rail, trolleys and trams.  I was reminded of this as I was reading again about Bogota's Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and London's newly redesigned buses. 

Bogota's TransMilenio, which features fully enclosed stations positioned between four lanes of buses (two on either side going in opposite directions) situated inside four outside lanes four cars, is the star system.  Buses and stations are made for group passenger loading, eliminating the most irritating source of slow travel.  And the TransMilenio carries none of the negative stereotypes associated with buses.  Former Mayor Enrique Penalosa attributes that to "clever rebranding."  As he told The New York Times, "People don't say, 'I'm taking the bus.'  They say, 'I'm taking TransMilenio.'"

According to the NYT, subways cost more than 30 times as much per mile to build than BRT and three times as much to maintain.  Plus, they are very quick to build.

Can't US cities figure out how to deploy BRT to their advantage.