Don’t Leave The Door Open For BRT
For the few other folks out there in the blogosphere who are potentially somewhat skeptical of BRT, most seem to be open to the idea that BRT can exist - that it should be allowed to occupy real space in the continuum of serious transportation ideas - that it should be treated respectfully as a possible solution in certain situations under certain circumstances in certain places with certain weather conditions, etc.
I disagree.
The latest example, not to pick on any one point of view - most ‘BRT skeptics’ are still open to the idea of BRT on some level - comes from a great blog out of The District:
Bus Rapid Transit has its place in diversified transportation systems.
To this I would say, simply:
No. No, it does not. Bus Rapid Transit has no place in any transportation system ever.
Not to be grandiose, but throughout history there have always been these ideas that seemed somewhat alluring. It could be for any number of financial/societal/political/theoretical reasons - what matters is that these ideas had that special something - that Je ne sais quoi - that helped them hold onto people’s imagination for a bit longer, perhaps, than they should have. These were world-beating ideas and they were also sometimes just ideas about transportation.
The latest of these ideas is called Bus Rapid Transit — BRT. In no case in America or around the world - including Curitiba and Bogota - has BRT every been a success. In no case has BRT ever delivered appropriate transportation solutions to the people where it has been implemented. In no case has BRT ever offered riders the dignified travel they deserve. Any theoretical situation where BRT could be considered appropriate transport is just that - theoretical. BRT might be a nice lecture topic for some philosophy class somewhere, but transit riders need real-world solutions right now. BRT is a failed idea that is part of a failed ideology - the thinking that public transit riders don’t deserve the highest quality transit available.
As a practical matter, if you leave the door open for BRT - even just a crack - someone, somewhere will try to ram BRT through, and you’ll have to fight like mad to keep it from wrecking your town, and there is no guarantee that you will succeed. The best strategy to make sure that you and your fellow citizens gain real transportation in your communities is to close the door on BRT right now. Don’t let it live another day. Don’t wait for the RTA Healthline in Cleveland to fail. Officials there will not let it be declared a disaster for at least a year or two, and by then, it may be too late for your town.
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December 10th, 2008 at 10:09 am
I agree with you for once, Peter. BRT is just the latest trendy bullshit from planners around the country supported by ill-informed environmentalists everywhere. But the EIR on the Geary BRT isn’t even out yet; when it’s released, the fun will really begin.