BRT, The Golden Turd
Every time I see the acronym ‘BRT’ in print, I think of the phrase a friend of mine would use when referring to some half-baked scheme to half-fix a problem:
You can paint a turd gold, but it’s still a turd.
Think of it as you would the ‘lipstick on a pig‘ expression:
To put “lipstick on a pig” is a rhetorical expression, used to convey the message that making superficial or cosmetic changes is a futile attempt to disguise the true nature of a product.[1]
We know that marketing BRT as light rail is an important part of the lie of BRT. This core deception is at the very heart of BRT.
BRT - bus rapid transit - will never be light rail - it will always be just a bus, with the same terrible ride experience. Flashy marketing campaigns about ever-so-slightly improved performance will not change the true nature of bus travel. It will remain the turd of transportation modes. I think people deserve better. They deserve rail. They deserve walkable and bikable streets. Only in exceptionally rare cases should anyone be forced to ride a bus, and if they are forced to ride a bus in urban areas, where stop and go and zig-zagging, gut-rearranging rides are the norm, then they should ride free. Most of what I’ve experienced of existing urban bus travel is beneath human dignity — we should not put up with urban bus travel, no matter what fancy label they slap on it.
[Image: Flickr / Cazenn]
Leave comment (1)[p.s. The Forums are open for participation.]
December 8th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
That’s hilarious, Peter. In Orange County, we have the same problem. Ever since the cities here shot down the light rail initiative, they decided to introduce regular limited stop service as “bus rapid transit.”
I call this HAR for Half-Assed Rapid:
http://stevenchan.us/weblog/orange-county-transit
This isn’t even as ambitious as San Francisco’s Geary and Van Ness BRT. Our county can’t even introduce our own version of even a 38L without political sluggishness.