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Montgomery County Maryland in the DMV metro area is about to build a 100 mile Heavy BRT network across the county with median separated right of ways. It will service all the activity center's in the county. The time table once construction starts is a little over 2 years to complete the whole 100 miles of BRT. The right of ways are already owned by the state. Will any BRT system be larger than this in the nation?
**Keep in mind the purple line at the bottom and the royal blue line at the top is light rail (Purple Line and Corridor Cities Transit way)
For those of you that don't know what BRT is, this is a description. It is basically light rail with wheels. It runs in it's own right of way separated by a median from traffic with Metro frequency at 6 minute head ways. It has dedicated transit stations just like light rail and gets signal priority. BRT can carry up to 200 people at a time.
Last edited by MDAllstar; 03-04-2011 at 02:14 AM..
Will they have formal stations where people can pay early ahead of time?
Higher capacity buses? High frequency?
How much are they going through town centers? Suburban Boulevards without many traffic lights? Freeways? etc...
I'm really curious.
We haven't really jumped into the water with BRT yet. We just kind of stuck a pinky toe in. We operate a normal high frequency bus with limited stops on one corridor. There is no traffic separation, but the buses are given traffic signal priority signal emitters and bus only lanes near key intersections that allow them to get ahead of traffic.
It is new and I'm not even sure how well it is working or not yet.
The other project similar to BRT, but kind of different. There is a shared right of way freeway express bus project being constructed. The premise is they will congestion toll a lane to make sure it keeps moving, even when traffic backs up. I think this is done in a few other areas (Minneapolis comes to mind). I'm not sure how well it will work, but its peaked my curiosity.
Will they have formal stations where people can pay early ahead of time?
Higher capacity buses? High frequency?
How much are they going through town centers? Suburban Boulevards without many traffic lights? Freeways? etc...
I'm really curious.
We haven't really jumped into the water with BRT yet. We just kind of stuck a pinky toe in. We operate a normal high frequency bus with limited stops on one corridor. There is no traffic separation, but the buses are given traffic signal priority signal emitters and bus only lanes near key intersections that allow them to get ahead of traffic.
It is new and I'm not even sure how well it is working or not yet.
The other project similar to BRT, but kind of different. There is a shared right of way freeway express bus project being constructed. The premise is they will congestion toll a lane to make sure it keeps moving, even when traffic backs up. I think this is done in a few other areas (Minneapolis comes to mind). I'm not sure how well it will work, but its peaked my curiosity.
According to the Montgomery County Council
-The entire 100 miles will be grade separated. All the right a ways are already owned by the state and county.
-BRT buses will have a capacity over 200 people.
-The BRT network will only travel through highly populated activity centers on main roads except two lines (Route 29, and I-370 to end of Metro red line)
-They will have pay stations inside every station and operate on an honor pay system.
-Stations will all be closed structures.
-Head ways for buses will be 6-8 minutes.
-All buses will get signal priority.
-The entire 100 miles will be grade separated. All the right a ways are already owned by the state and county.
-BRT buses will have a capacity over 200 people.
-The BRT network will only travel through highly populated activity centers on main roads except two lines (Route 29, and I-370 to end of Metro red line)
-They will have pay stations inside every station and operate on an honor pay system.
-Stations will all be closed structures.
-Head ways for buses will be 6-8 minutes.
-All buses will get signal priority.
sounds good.... I can't wait to pick through the data several years into full built out operations and see how well it works out.
With the way many of our cities have grown we definitely need more high speed, lower cost, and far reaching solutions
I fear we would have a good deal of fare loss with an honor pay system if we used it.
I think that is partly the trick to buses... 6-8 minutes headways. It makes them seem more dependable and boosts capacity.
How fast can these travel? interesting and similar to Wburgs questions, is this more cost effective than Light Rail; to build, one and to maintain, it seems like it could be
100 miles is a long way to traverse a system like this even with signal right away; am very curious on how fast these puppies can go and how fast they can accelerate/decelerate
Interesting Post MD
Also is grade speration always needed for this at ROW, is it somehow track led or driven like a bus?
Interesting, but you seemed to show the "Heavy" version of BRT where the buses have their own roads. This compares to the "Light" BRT where buses just have their own dedicated lane on a surface street.
Most BRT networks I've seen are the "Light" version.
Although I personally prefer Light Rail for most American MSAs, BRT does have its place for medium sized MSAs (around 200,000-500,000), places like Eugene Oregon or Temple Texas (which doesn't have real transit, but has the right fit).
However, what I don't like is when a transit agency tries to call a new bus service that shares the lanes with cars "BRT" just because it's some low floor articulated buses with signal preemption devices. That's what Cap Metro is doing here in Austin (they're calling it MetroRapid), and it's really pissing me off, because they're almost lying to us. Again. Like when they called their commuter rail line a form of "Light Rail". Seriously... >.<
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sounds good.... I can't wait to pick through the data several years into full built out operations and see how well it works out.
