Ray LaHood sold on Bus Rapid Transit

BRT is an enhanced system with modern buses operating on separate lanes or other transitways. By running on special lanes isolated from traffic, BRT combines the flexibility of buses with the efficiency of rail. And with high-tech vehicles and advanced infrastructure, BRT operates at faster speeds than conventional bus service while also providing greater reliability and increased customer convenience. Here

Constrast that with Fresno's Train to Nowhere. Why did Jim Cantos and LaHood saddle Fresno with an 1880s technology when Fresno could be running High Speed Lane Guided BRT between Visalia and Fresno?

The original Fresno stimulus proposal had us building a high speed Bus lane down the old Highway 99 meridian. We wanted BRT to travel at speeds up to 140 MPH. Costs would have been low and Fresno State would be the technology center for high speed BRT. But no, Google wants that business for the Bay Area. That is why the SF and LA opted out of  the Nowhere Train, these two metropolitan regions intend to tear out light rail and use the right of way for high speed guided BRT.

By the way, we got out of the last recession by tearing out rail and making way for the rubber wheel. The rubber tire had something rail systems can never have, a steering wheel. Now that Google and Seimens are working on ultra fast BRT on guided lanes we will repeat the pattern, replacing rail with the intelligent rubber wheel. Across the globe metropolitan transit districts are getting the picture. BRT is much faster and more efficient than the car with guided speeds above 100 MPH. BRT and the steering wheel make the last mile of travel accessible to bus in a way that rail cannot compete. In San Jose, the plan is to rip out the useless San Jose Light Rail and put guided BRT on the right of way, a passenger will be able to travel, single stop, from San Jose Airport to San Francisco aiport faster than the connection can be made by airplane. No brainer, intelligent BRT wins and Fresno gets stuck with a bunch of useless steel.