Bus Rapid Transit ‘Vehicles’, Not ‘Buses’
Got that? When referring to bus rapid transit (BRT) buses, you should refrain from calling them ‘buses’, because that would be too truthful. Instead, call them ‘vehicles’.
I had read this in several places, but I was reminded of it when I stumbled upon an old post by Streetsblog Network blog Xing Columbus:
On the outside, Euclid Corridor Vehicles (they don’t like to call them buses) are sleek and futuristic looking, with doors on both sides like a train.
I’ve often called BRT a fraud - and for good reason. Within two weeks of investigating this newfangled concept called ‘BRT’, I realized that not only was the concept a fraud, but every constituent part of it was a fraud. BRT is a never-ending series of false claims. This PDF report says the following:
Where BRT vehicles (buses) operate totally on…
I couldn’t find the PDF I saw earlier today that more explicitly relayed that the term ‘buses’ should be avoided when referring to bus rapid transit. I saw a comment on a newspaper article the other day where some lady said she didn’t realize the Cleveland RTA BRT thing was just a bus until she actually saw it for the first time, in person. I guess the marketing worked.
And that’s the whole point of BRT - to dupe enough people just long enough until the project is too far gone. That keeps rail off the roads, and cars on the roads, for another 30 years.
If you believe in real transit, you should not underestimate the amount of money and marketing expertise being thrown at pushing BRT. It really doesn’t matter that it’s a complete fraud. Money works. This study concludes the following about how to sell BRT to an unwitting public:
When establishing BRT identity programs, transit officials have the opportunity to dispel a negative perception held by some that buses are categorically inferior to rail transit and automobiles. The effective development of an identity program can overcome the notion of buses as noisy, polluting, slow, and inconvenient. Identity development is vital to the success of new BRT service because it can simultaneously combat misperceptions and communicate specific service characteristics—speedy, quiet, and environmentally responsible buses that provide greater passenger comfort than traditional buses—that may make BRT more appealing to riders. We believe this to be especially true among status-conscious consumers in the United States for whom public transit is often considered a last resort. Likewise, new identity programs for BRT can help transit systems win public approval and increase the overall demand for public transit. Increased ridership translates into increased revenue, which can be used to help fund improvements to transit systems.
What this means, in short, is that they’re going to market the heck out of this golden turd. They’re going to make sure you don’t realize BRT is a turd until it’s too late - this is why smart BRT proponents will avoid the term ‘bus’ and why smart rail proponents will start using the term ‘bus’ like the Smurfs used the term ‘smurf‘ - constantly.
The BRT folks are succeeding, and they’ll continue to succeed on some level, but it’s possible to fight back. It seems a bit odd to me that these researchers seem to be suggesting that transit officials can market away what a bus actually is - a ‘categorically inferior’ form of transportation. I’m not about to suggest that marketing is not a miracle drug, that it’s not one of the most important and evil drivers of the American economy, but even marketing has a limit.
It appears that General Motors is providing the hybrid engines to New Flyer Industries - the company that sold the buses to Cleveland for their little Health Line BRT disaster. The information is not easy to find. The first hint was a GM press release that talked about a test bus sent to Cleveland back in 2006. If you head over and look at some New Flyer press releases, you’ll find some that talk about GM engines and/or buses and such. It’s all a bit confusing and I’m sure that’s the way GM wants it. Our politicians (Clinton and the Republican crew in Congress at the time) worked with corporations like GM to craft NAFTA so as to help the corporations shift money and jobs and revenues across borders on a whim so they could avoid paying taxes and depress employee wages - it just helped keep things confusing for those of us who are trying to follow the money. Whether it’s General Motors or General Motors Canada or some other crappy auto company footing the bill for all the pro-BRT/pro-car/pro-roadbuilding propaganda, I’m not sure — all we have to worry about is not allowing the BRT fraud to take root in our town.
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