Can buses compete with trains?

This week, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and local officials in New York announced the beginning of the “Select Bus Service”, the city’s first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line. The new line replaces existing limited stop operations on the heavily-travelled Bx12 route across the central Bronx. In other words, it is an express bus that only stops at major stations. The BRT includes a combination of technologies that planners hope will provide faster and more reliable travel. It integrates clearly-marked “stations” with unique street furniture, dedicated bus-only lanes, signal preemption and more widely spaced stops than the service it replaces. Importantly, riders will need to swipe their farecards or deposit coins in curbside machines located at each stop and receive a proof-of-payment before getting on the bus. By reducing boarding times and delays due to traffic congestion, the MTA hopes to eventually shave 10 to 12 minutes off of the 58 minute trip, a roughly 20% reduction in travel time. Since the trip will now take less time, each bus can make more trips, improving efficiency.

This new service is just the most recent example of the fresh ideas that planners are using to spice up the most unglamorous of transit technologies—the bus. While novel to New York, cities across the world have been implementing BRT systems and technologies to considerable success for more than a decade. Bus speeds of up to 25 mph (on average) and subway-like reliability on Bogota’s TransMilenio system have garnered that network global recognition. Today, more than 63 BRT systems operate on six continents, and as many as 93 more are planned worldwide. By integrating new technologies, exclusive rights-of-way and novel service policies, the goal of BRT is to approach the customer satisfaction and service quality of rail transit while avoiding the often prohibitive fixed costs of such systems.

There are some good reasons why the general public is often more favorably predisposed to rail service than buses—particularly local and collector routes. Rail cars are usually more spacious, offer more freedom of movement and are easier to board and exit. The ride on rail is often smoother with fewer sharp turns, no potholes and gentler stops and starts. More importantly, however, rail has a reputation for reliability and frequent service – most subway and light rail riders don’t typically check a schedule, they just show up at the station and wait for the next train. Rail riders generally feel confident that the system will get them where they’re going on time and in relative comfort.

As a result of the inherent operational differences of bus service (running in mixed traffic, often lower operating frequencies, on-board fare collection), it has been difficult for traditional buses to compete with rail in terms of service quality. However, in order to retain the influx of new transit customers driven to bus systems by $4 gas, transit operators need to innovate. By integrating BRT-like technologies on more routes in their networks, transit operators can decrease the uncertainty involved in bus travel—capturing new segments of the market in the process. Particularly on low-frequency collector or suburban routes, providing easily-accessible real-time service data—so that riders can minimize their wait times—may be more important to improving service quality than adding an extra bus or two. In the same way, adding a dedicated bus lane and/or signal preemption along a heavily-travelled corridor will make it easier for buses to keep to a reliable schedule that users can depend on.

As a result, though transit operators in the US can engage in concerted efforts to roll out comprehensive BRT systems along major corridors where they are appropriate, they should not neglect the local service that feeds much of the network. The same technologies and procedures that make BRT a unique and increasingly important transport option can play a significant role in increasing user satisfaction and service quality on all of the other elements of a regional bus network—finally putting rubber and steel on a more even playing field.

-Contributor Andrew Lukmann