Bus rapid transit

Special buses move very fast.

They use their own lanes. This keeps them away from slow cars.

People pay before they get on the bus.

This helps the bus move quickly. The bus stops stay level with the floor. This makes it easy for everyone to get on.

These buses can be very long. Some even have two parts joined together.

They carry many people at once.

Many cities use these systems. The longest one is in Jakarta. It is a very big network of paths.

These buses are great for cities. They help people travel fast.

Bus rapid transit, or BRT, is a fast way to move people.

It works like a train but uses buses. These systems help cities move many people quickly and cheaply.

One main part is the dedicated lane. This is a road just for buses. It keeps them away from slow car traffic.

Some lanes are even raised high above the ground.

Another part is off-board fare collection. This means people pay at the station before the bus arrives.

Because they pay early, they can board through all the doors quickly.

Stations also use platform-level boarding. The station floor is level with the bus floor.

This makes it easy for people in wheelchairs or with strollers to get on.

Buses can be very large to carry more people. Some are bi-articulated, which means they have two joints to make them very long.

Curitiba, Brazil, was the first city to use all these features in 1974. Today, many cities use BRT. The longest system is in Jakarta, Indonesia. It has 264.6 km of lanes.

Bus rapid transit, or BRT, is a smart way to move many people through a city.

It aims to combine the speed of a train with the low cost of a bus. Many cities use these systems to help people travel quickly without the high price of building rail tracks. A BRT system can use regular buses, electric buses, or even trolleybuses. These systems are very useful for busy urban areas. They help cities handle large crowds of people every single day.

There are a few special ways a BRT system works to keep things moving. First, buses often use dedicated lanes that are only for them.

This keeps them away from slow car traffic and traffic jams. Second, passengers use off-board fare collection.

This means people pay for their ride at the station before the bus arrives. Because they already paid, they can board through all the doors very quickly. Third, stations use platform-level boarding.

The station floor is level with the bus floor so people can step right on.

The history of these systems started with many different ideas. The Runcorn Busway in England opened in October 1971.

A planner named Arthur Ling even said he thought of the idea while sketching on an envelope. In the United States, the El Monte Busway opened in 1973. Later, the term "transitway" was used in Ottawa, Canada, starting in 1983. These early steps helped leaders learn how to build better bus paths for everyone.

Curitiba, Brazil, was the first city to use every BRT feature in one system.

This happened in 1974 with the Rede Integrada de Transporte. Today, 166 cities on six continents use BRT systems. About 32.2 million passengers ride these buses every day. Latin America has the most systems with 54 cities. Brazil has 21 cities and moves 10.7 million people daily.

The longest network is Transjakarta in Jakarta, Indonesia, which has 264.6 km of lanes.

You can think of a BRT like a train that can change its path. Unlike a train, a bus is very flexible. If a road is closed, the bus can take a different way.

Some buses are even huge, like bi-articulated buses that are 30 meters long. These long buses can carry up to 300 passengers at once. This makes the system much more efficient than a normal bus. It is a clever way to use the roads we already have.

Bus rapid transit, often called BRT, is a high-capacity urban public transit system.

It is designed to provide more reliability and speed than a conventional bus service. Many people think of it as a middle ground for city travel. It aims to combine the high capacity of light rail transit (LRT) or mass rapid transit (MRT) with the flexibility of a bus. Because buses do not require expensive tracks, BRT is often much cheaper to establish and operate.

This makes it an attractive option for many cities around the world.

To achieve high speeds, BRT systems rely on several specific mechanical and design features. The most important feature is the use of dedicated lanes or a dedicated right of way. These lanes keep buses away from the congestion caused by cars and trucks.

Some systems use a median alignment, which places the bus lanes in the center of the road. This keeps buses away from curb-side conflicts like parking or turning vehicles. Some cities even use elevated busways to separate the transit from street traffic entirely.

This separation ensures that the bus can maintain a steady, fast pace.

Another way BRT speeds up travel is through off-board fare collection. In a normal bus system, passengers pay the driver while the bus is stopped. In a BRT system, passengers pay at the station before the bus arrives.

This prepayment allows passengers to board through all the doors at once. This process significantly reduces the time a bus spends idling at a stop. Additionally, BRT systems often use platform-level boarding to help people move quickly. The station platform is built to be level with the floor of the bus.

This makes the system accessible for wheelchairs, strollers, and disabled passengers while speeding up the boarding process.

Traffic management is also a key part of how these systems function. BRT systems often use bus priority at intersections to reduce delays. This can include signal preemption, which allows the bus to influence traffic lights. For example, the system might extend a green light or shorten a red light when a bus approaches.

Cities may also prohibit cars from turning across the dedicated bus lanes. These restrictions prevent vehicles from cutting in front of buses or blocking their path. By controlling how other traffic interacts with the busway, the system maintains its high level of service.

While many cities experimented with busways, Curitiba, Brazil, was the first to fully integrate all BRT features. In 1974, Curitiba implemented the Rede Integrada de Transporte (RIT).

This system was inspired by the National Urban Transport Company of Peru. Over time, Curitiba added more advanced features like feeder bus networks and enclosed stations. Other cities have added their own innovations, such as platooning in Porto Alegre. Platooning is when three buses enter and leave a stop or intersection at the same time.

This helps move even larger groups of people through the system efficiently.

Today, BRT systems are a global phenomenon with 166 cities across six continents using them.

These systems carry about 32.2 million passengers every single day. Latin America is the most active region, with 54 cities and 19.6 million daily riders. Brazil leads this region with 21 cities and 10.7 million daily passengers. In other parts of the world, China and Iran have very high ridership numbers. The largest network currently in existence is Transjakarta in Jakarta, Indonesia. It features 264.6 km of corridors connecting the capital city.

One of the greatest advantages of BRT over rail is its inherent flexibility. Because buses use roads rather than fixed tracks, routes can be changed easily. A transit authority can alter a route to meet new demand or avoid road damage.

This requires much less investment of resources than rebuilding a rail line. Some BRT systems also use very large vehicles to increase capacity. For example, bi-articulated buses in Guatemala City can reach 30 meters in length.

These massive vehicles can carry up to 300 passengers at one time.