"Fast, frequent, fabulous' transit ready to roll in S.F.
"With this as background, one of the most interesting stories in transportation over the last 10 years has been the migration of a new form of public transit from South America, to Europe, to Canada, and finally to the United States. It goes by the name of Bus Rapid Transit."
Guest opinion
'Fast, frequent, fabulous' transit ready to roll in S.F.
San Francisco Business Times - April 7, 2006
by Gabriel Metaclf
It's starting to seem normal for transportation projects to cost billions of dollars.
From the projects that make sense (extending Caltrain to a downtown Transbay Terminal) to the ones that don't (extending BART to San Jose) to the ones that are simply necessary (the new Bay Bridge), we all expect that nothing can be done for less than a billion.
These mega-projects are popular with the voters, but that doesn't mean they are opening up their wallets to pay for them. Instead, transportation officials scrape together money from dozens of sources to accommodate our still-growing need to get around.
The bus arrives
With this as background, one of the most interesting stories in transportation over the last 10 years has been the migration of a new form of public transit from South America, to Europe, to Canada, and finally to the United States. It goes by the name of Bus Rapid Transit.
The idea is simply this: to run commuter-quality buses on dedicated busways instead of building rail and tunneling underground, designing the bus-ways to approximate the speed, smoothness, and attractiveness of rail. This means getting buses out of traffic and into their own lanes, creating attractive "stations" instead of miserly "bus stops," having people purchase tickets at the station instead of sticking dollar bills in as they board, making fewer stops along the routes, and giving the buses automatic signal preemption at intersections. Los Angeles describes its new bus rapid transit system with the slogan, "fast, frequent, fabulous."
The promise of Bus Rapid Transit is that a city like San Francisco can establish a whole network of super-speedy transit that can get people anywhere they need, at a fraction of the cost of building rail. Bus rapid transit is 50 percent to 80 percent cheaper to build than other options such as light rail.
San Francisco is in the early stages of building this rapid transit network. The completion of the network is the key to reducing Muni's operating costs and attracting more middle-class riders to transit. And this, in turn, is the key to enabling continued economic growth.
Transportation infrastructure is quickly becoming the major constraint to growth, especially in the greater downtown area. Transit lines that bring workers to downtown must expand their capacity if new jobs are going to be created. For the rest of the city, the rapid transit network is more of a quality of life and environmental issue.
The first, and perhaps most important, segment of the citywide Bus Rapid Transit network is the Geary line, which carries around 50,000 passengers each day, second only to BART for the number of people carried on any transit corridor in the Bay Area. It will cost about $200 million to build the Geary segment, a bargain price. The design will be ready to convert to rail as ridership levels grow and funding becomes available.
Sweet scenario
The plan for Bus Rapid Transit on Geary is following a scenario familiar to every transit improvement in the world: Some of the local merchants, who will ultimately benefit the most, are opposed. The great citywide interest in getting the project built is harder to mobilize. But the project is so beneficial that all reasonable people know it will be completed, sooner or later.
Picture Geary Boulevard becoming the new hot shopping street because hundreds of thousands of new people can finally get there quickly, easily, and comfortably. Neighborhoods across the city demand that they are the next to be served by Bus Rapid Transit. Muni hires drivers and buys new vehicles to accommodate the surging ridership. We have a transportation system we can be proud of.
All aboard!
Gabriel Metcalf is executive director of SPUR, the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association.
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Guest opinion
'Fast, frequent, fabulous' transit ready to roll in S.F.
San Francisco Business Times - April 7, 2006
by Gabriel Metaclf
It's starting to seem normal for transportation projects to cost billions of dollars.
From the projects that make sense (extending Caltrain to a downtown Transbay Terminal) to the ones that don't (extending BART to San Jose) to the ones that are simply necessary (the new Bay Bridge), we all expect that nothing can be done for less than a billion.
These mega-projects are popular with the voters, but that doesn't mean they are opening up their wallets to pay for them. Instead, transportation officials scrape together money from dozens of sources to accommodate our still-growing need to get around.
The bus arrives
With this as background, one of the most interesting stories in transportation over the last 10 years has been the migration of a new form of public transit from South America, to Europe, to Canada, and finally to the United States. It goes by the name of Bus Rapid Transit.
The idea is simply this: to run commuter-quality buses on dedicated busways instead of building rail and tunneling underground, designing the bus-ways to approximate the speed, smoothness, and attractiveness of rail. This means getting buses out of traffic and into their own lanes, creating attractive "stations" instead of miserly "bus stops," having people purchase tickets at the station instead of sticking dollar bills in as they board, making fewer stops along the routes, and giving the buses automatic signal preemption at intersections. Los Angeles describes its new bus rapid transit system with the slogan, "fast, frequent, fabulous."
The promise of Bus Rapid Transit is that a city like San Francisco can establish a whole network of super-speedy transit that can get people anywhere they need, at a fraction of the cost of building rail. Bus rapid transit is 50 percent to 80 percent cheaper to build than other options such as light rail.
San Francisco is in the early stages of building this rapid transit network. The completion of the network is the key to reducing Muni's operating costs and attracting more middle-class riders to transit. And this, in turn, is the key to enabling continued economic growth.
Transportation infrastructure is quickly becoming the major constraint to growth, especially in the greater downtown area. Transit lines that bring workers to downtown must expand their capacity if new jobs are going to be created. For the rest of the city, the rapid transit network is more of a quality of life and environmental issue.
The first, and perhaps most important, segment of the citywide Bus Rapid Transit network is the Geary line, which carries around 50,000 passengers each day, second only to BART for the number of people carried on any transit corridor in the Bay Area. It will cost about $200 million to build the Geary segment, a bargain price. The design will be ready to convert to rail as ridership levels grow and funding becomes available.
Sweet scenario
The plan for Bus Rapid Transit on Geary is following a scenario familiar to every transit improvement in the world: Some of the local merchants, who will ultimately benefit the most, are opposed. The great citywide interest in getting the project built is harder to mobilize. But the project is so beneficial that all reasonable people know it will be completed, sooner or later.
Picture Geary Boulevard becoming the new hot shopping street because hundreds of thousands of new people can finally get there quickly, easily, and comfortably. Neighborhoods across the city demand that they are the next to be served by Bus Rapid Transit. Muni hires drivers and buys new vehicles to accommodate the surging ridership. We have a transportation system we can be proud of.
All aboard!
Gabriel Metcalf is executive director of SPUR, the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association.
Send us your comments More Latest News
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