The design choices made in the planning of a new bus rapid transit (BRT) or busway corridor (e.g., use of a center-lane or curbside configuration, counterflow lanes, and open or closed stations) affect not only the operational performance of the system but also the risks of crashes, injuries, and fatalities on the facility over its lifetime. With data from nine BRT systems and busways around the world (including Bogotá, Colombia; Curitiba, Brazil; Mexico City, Mexico; and Delhi, India), some of the road safety impacts of major BRT–busway corridor design characteristics are illustrated. The approach included a combination of crash frequency modeling, road safety inspections, and interviews with transit agency staff and safety experts. Center-lane systems tended generally to be safer than were curbside systems, and counter flow lanes were the most dangerous possible configuration. Some of the features that provide higher passenger capacity (such as multiple bus lanes and multiple docking bays at stations) may introduce new types of conflicts and crashes. In the planning of any bus system, trade-offs often need to be made between capacity, safety, and pedestrian accessibility along the corridor. This study provides the necessary elements for successfully integrating road safety considerations into the design and operation of future BRT systems and busways.
Direct ridership models (DRM) have been introduced in the United States as an alternative to four-step travel demand modeling. DRMs can be used to obtain quick, order-of-magnitude estimates of transit patronage at a fraction of the cost of a full travel demand model and are more adept at capturing the effects of smart growth on transit rider-ship. The relatively low cost, flexible data requirements, and rapidity make these models particularly suited to developing world cities. Yet these cities still rely almost exclusively on full travel demand models to advise investments in new transit infrastructure. In doing so, cities often use old data and out-of-date household surveys and do not capture important recent changes in travel patterns. Mexico City, Mexico, is taken as a case study to illustrate the benefits of using DRM models in a developing world context. Ridership models are developed for the city's bus rapid transit and Metro networks to study how land use and service and station attributes affect ridership for each mode and also how connections between bus rapid transit and Metro affect each other's ridership. The two systems are complementary, each getting ridership benefits from connecting to the other. Implications of findings for transport policy in Mexico City are discussed, as well as some shortcomings of DRM models, particularly their difficulty in accounting for informal transit.
Platform overcrowding is a very common but relatively poorly understood occurrence at most bus rapid transit (BRT) systems in cities in the developing world. Most literature on BRT capacity focuses on vehicle throughput for different types of lane and station configurations; relatively little is known about how different station layouts handle specific volumes of boarding and alighting passengers. In this paper, this gap in knowledge was addressed by building a microscopic simulation model to test the ability of a typical Latin American BRT station (median, high-platform, one bus bay per direction) to handle various volumes of passengers under different scenarios. With this modeling exercise, areas in a station most likely to experience overcrowding were first identified: the median refuge island at the main entrance and the turnstiles. The station performance at those critical points was then evaluated for different passenger volumes, with mainly pedestrian density (persons/m2) as an indicator. Results indicated a pedestrian capacity range for a typical BRT station and also quantified the effect of friction between pedestrians entering and leaving the station. Finally, a regression based on the simulation results was estimated and used to develop a predictive equation for crowding as a function of passenger volumes and direction. The results can help BRT planners better adapt their station designs to forecast passenger volumes and ensure that they provide an adequate level of service.
Abstract:With the rapid growth occurring in the urban regions of China, it is critical to address issues of sustainability through practices that engender holistic energy efficient solutions. In this paper, we present results from a collaborative design project carried out with planning officials from the city of Jinan (population 3.4 million), for the Luokou district, a 3.1 km 2 (1.2 mi 2 ) area to the north of the CBD that is expected to house 100,000-130,000 people by 2020. By integrating sustainable building design, land use, urban design, and transportation, our proposal identified opportunities for improving energy efficiency that might have been overlooked by considering buildings and transportation separately. Mixed land uses and walkable neighborhoods were proposed along with highly differentiated street designs, intended to carry different traffic loads and prioritize diverse travel modes. Street widths and building heights were adjusted to maximize the potential for passive solar heating and daylight use within buildings. The district's environmental performance, analyzed using building energy evaluation and traffic micro simulation models, showed that the design would reduce energy loads by over 25% compared to business as usual. While the proposal complied with national and local policies, and had far better energy performance than conventional designs, the proposal ultimately was not accepted by local officials because initial costs to the developers were higher than for conventional designs.
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