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Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Edmonton

ChazYEG said:
That's debatable... I've been to plenty of places where it's well regarded.
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Me too ... BRT in CDMX is amazing. 1,240,000 people a day ride Metrobus the BRT. I have been on many of the routes and many times.

brtdata.org

Mexico City

Find here detailed information about BRT, BHLS and bus corridors of Mexico City. There are 7 corridors, adding up 140 km and 1,240,000 passengers/day.
brtdata.org brtdata.org
 
erudyk_29 said:
BRT's are often deployed by cash strapped governments looking to improve their transit quickly and on a budget, sure rail transit is preferable but we shouldn't discount the validity and usefulness of a system just because it isn't necessarily the flashiest and most efficient possible mode. The City doesn't have unlimited funds either. This is a great semi-temporary solution as well. BRT can be converted to LRT down the line much more easily since you've already procured the ROW. Edmonton is a region of almost 1.5 million people that are very spread out, we can't serve everyone with LRT immediately. The rapid transit network needs to grow RAPIDLY, much more rapidly than it is right now and BRT provides a cheaper and faster way of getting that done. It's not perfect, and many of these lines will need to be replaced by LRT or Metro later down the line, but the system needs to grow now and grow quickly, BRT is the best way to do that.
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This^


Toronto looking at significant BRT expansion as well.
 
archited said:
Not so much -- except in third world countries where the choices are slimmer.
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Calgary is third world? They've built BRT and LRT? They are still building LRT.
Hell, they are looking at another BRT line right now:

The City of Calgary requires the services of a qualified engineering consulting firm to conduct a functional planning study for 144 Avenue North Bus Rapid Transit (144 Ave N BRT) and Symons Valley Transit Centre. The project limits for the BRT corridor are from Tuscany NW to 144 Avenue NE and Nose Creek.

The purpose of the 144 Ave N BRT project is to conduct a functional planning study for the transit corridor and connecting transit terminals, including Rocky Ridge, Symons Valley Transit Centre, Keystone, and other potential terminal locations along future Blue Line LRT extension. The project has received funding from the Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI). The direction for this project requires the study to be completed by December 2025.

I think Calgary is a great example of how to do both.
 
I didn't say that BRT existed only in the third world, I said that it was more prominent there (on the other hand Calgary haters might agree that Calgary is a third-world city). BRT is a bust and the trend in more modern cities is to convert existing BRT lines to LRT. BRT lines break up neighborhoods in more ways than one.
 
The No 3 Road busway in Richmond was amazing, but it existed for less than 6 years before Skytrain was built. I wouldn't support building a fancy busway if rail was set to replace it in the next 15 years or less, and all the rail infrastructure dollars for the next 15 years have been committed.

49499514003_8365726280_b.jpg



Ottawa's transitway in comparison was sort of a quasi-freeway. It was great at moving lots of people but the integration into neighbourhoods was terrible. If it wasn't for the fact they followed actual freeway, they would've also done damage to neighbourhoods.

6837200560_cd38d48be1_b.jpg
 
ChazYEG said:
Poorly built BRT lines do. If built properly, they break neighborhoods no more than an LRT line would.
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Okay, as per current discussion on this thread assumes a BRT down Whyte Avenue from Bonnie Doon to UofA. To be an effective BRT route through the area that is most congested (say Whyte from 100th Street to 109th Street -- the very area in this pedestrian-oriented urban scene where we have "scramble" cross-walks and people who like to explore both sides of the avenue. Do you give priority to buses blasting through at top speed and therefore unhinge all cross-walk potential from an approaching bus that is 5 bocks away or do you give priority to the pedestrian and slow the buses down to a stop to let pedestrians have the right of way. And does the Bonnie Doon shopping area become a park-'n-ride location for motorists who wish to leave their car there while they do their UofA business -- I think Morguard might have something to say about that (same is true for a Sherwood Park location if BRT is envisioned going that far).
A smarter solution to the traffic knot at mid-Whyte would be to complete 76th Avenue across CPR lands so that those souls who wish to commute through Whyte Avenue have a completely different option. BRT is a very bad solution. Even LRT down Whyte is a dumb solution unless it is tunneled underground.
 
Everything on Whyte Ave is already very constrained - parking, vehicles, pedestrians, transit ... So BRT would there would just create more problems and constraints for other users.

It is very heavily used, so the best solution is to move some of the traffic/activity to 76 Ave.
 
Traffic prioritization would be no different than Valley Line, they'll time everything as best as possible but the bus may be held at some intersections.

76 Ave is a 40km/h collector. The upcoming 75 St to 99 St renewal will have multi-modal transportation in mind and is only going to make it less enticing for drivers to use it over other east-west routes.
 
I agree. Whyte needs a low floor train, removing most North/South vehicle crossings and left turns.

This accomodates the arterial argument that everyone seems to make. I think rail removes the need as an arterial, but whatever.
 
BRT is run successfully on much busier routes than Whyte Ave, and as someone who rides the corridor daily, I can tell you for a fact that a well timed, well implemented BRT along Whyte will be a game changer for transit users. The current bus routes, while okay, are significantly lacking in the consistency department. Busses are frequently delayed and any kind of inclement weather amplifies this issue tenfold. I we're worried about traffic, just don't allow street parking on Whyte and you can maintain the same amount of travel lanes. Allowing parking on the street in the first place is a bigger creator of traffic snarls than any bus lane would be, in fact I think bus lanes may even lead to an overall reduction in the amount of jams, since instead of having to deal with cars pulling out of spots, and busses pulling out of stops in heavy traffic, everyone has to keep moving and the busses will no longer be running in general traffic, which is another big jam generator. Replace the parking lane with a bus lane.
 
I am not questioning the viability of BRT (I am questioning its affect on the communities it runs through); I am questioning the route through Old Strathcona -- see previous comments.
 
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