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INSTITUTE FOR TRANSPORTATION AND DEVELOPMENT POLICY

Introduction

The BRT Standard is an effort by leading technical experts to come to a common understanding of what constitutes internationally recognized best practice in BRT system design. The best BRT systems are ones that combine efficiency and sustainability with passenger comfort and convenience. The BRT Standard uses design characteristics that act as proxies for enhanced performance and customer experience. This scoring method celebrates high-quality BRTs, but is not intended to denigrate lighter BRT improvements which may also yield important benefits to customers.

Many people remain unaware of the character- istics of the best BRT systems and their potential to provide a quality of customer service usually associated with metros and subways. This lack of awareness frequently results in demands for rail when BRT may be a comparable and cost-effective alternative. It can also result in inaccurately labeling minimal improvements to standard bus service as BRT.

The BRT Standard provides a framework for system designers, decision makers, and the sustainable transport community to implement and identify top-quality BRT systems. A corridor of a system can be certified as Gold Standard, Silver Standard, or Bronze Standard based on the scorecard. 2012 is a pilot year to test the scorecard and make modifications as needed.

Version 1.0 of the BRT Standard is the culmination of a review by the BRT Standard Committee undertaken during 2011. Only the BRT Standard Committee is currently authorized to confer the BRT Standard Gold, Silver, or Bronze certification on a BRT system.

Download full report (PDF): The BRT Standard Version 1.0

About The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy
www.itdp.org
“The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy works with cities worldwide to bring about transport solutions that cut greenhouse gas emissions, reduce poverty, and improve the quality of urban life. Cities throughout the world, primarily in developing countries, engage ITDP to provide technical advice on improving their transport systems. ITDP uses its know-how to influence policy and raise awareness globally of the role sustainable transport plays in tackling green house gas emissions, poverty and social inequality. This combination of pragmatic delivery with influencing policy and public attitudes defines our approach. Most recently, ITDP has been instrumental in designing and building the best bus rapid transit systems in the world.”

Tags: BRT Standard Version 1.0, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy

This entry was posted on Monday, February 20th, 2012 at 10:00 am and is filed under Infra Views, Public Transportation, Smart Growth, Transit, Urban Planning . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.