Wednesday, September 22, 2010

BRT success story in Cleveland

In Cleveland, the 7.7-mile HealthLine, which cost $200 million, has helped to spur more than $4 billion in development in the city's Euclid Avenue corridor, according to the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority.
The system has extra-long silver buses that carry up to 100 passengers and operate in dedicated lanes with separate traffic signals that give them priority over cars.
Passengers pay their fares at 58 stations along the route, before boarding. The service operates around-the-clock, and LED message boards in the stations show the arrival time of the next bus.
The service reduced a formerly 30-minute ride to 18 minutes and boosted ridership nearly 50 percent.


Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10264/1089089-147.stm#ixzz10HsIqSXH

Sounds like a multiplier greater than one.

Here is an Econ paper that points ut successful BRT routes use the median lane rather than a curbside lane:
Seoul began implementing curbside bus lanes in 1986 however because of conflicts with traffic entering the main traffic stream these lanes failed to provide significant speed advantages. It was only after the addition of exclusive median lanes in 2004 that buses began to offer significant travel-time savings and win over former motorists.

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