BRT Can Make Major Contribution To Fighting Global Warming

From the Climate Progress Blog:

Massive deployment of BRTs, where appropriate, could be part of the answer to avoiding catastrophe while ending poverty. Global emissions linked to transportation are set to double by 2030. ... The global climate treaty that will be hammered out in Copenhagen must confront this problem in addition to addressing energy generation, efficiency, and deforestation.

The treaty could finance the massive planning and construction that will be needed to expand BRTs through carbon offsets. In fact, Bogotá’s BRT was recently the first transportation project to receive funding through the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism, or CDM. Under the CDM, industries in the developing world that manage to reduce their emissions receive credits that they can sell to polluters in industrialized countries looking to reduce their footprint. Bogotá will be selling 250,000 tons of CO2 equivalent to the government of the Netherlands in the coming years. This offset scheme could be a way for developed countries to meet emissions caps, as is currently being proposed to fund anti-deforestation efforts.

Thankfully, China and India—the two major emitters in the developing world—seem to be embracing such a technology. More than 30 projects are being implemented or studied in China alone. Their robust adoption of this and other efficient mass transport solutions will be critical.

http://climateprogress.org/2009/07/19/making-buses-cool-again-bus-rapid-transit-brt-bogota/

Alan Tobey's commentary on the BRT combined service proposal

Our esteemed fellow FBRT member, Alan Tobey, published an excellent commentary on BRT in the July 17 issue of the Daily Planet. It explains how the proposed combined service option, now favored by AC Transit and leaders from the three BRT cities, will work. To read the commentary click here.