tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153985804832811048.post1027683043993967050..comments2024-03-29T03:50:00.893-04:00Comments on Urban kchoze: The quality bussimval84http://www.blogger.com/profile/10615053214354191224noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153985804832811048.post-4819978025523620382018-04-24T18:22:24.482-04:002018-04-24T18:22:24.482-04:00Hi! I'm a student at McMaster University curre...Hi! I'm a student at McMaster University currently doing an independent research study on public transport in Hamilton and Mississauga, if you're available I'd love to chat. You can reach me at briank133@hotmail.com if you're at all interested. TimeLapsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12237864705422180665noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153985804832811048.post-51514788856092412802015-09-05T00:22:41.713-04:002015-09-05T00:22:41.713-04:00I've got the pphd from various sources and the...I've got the pphd from various sources and theoretical extrapolations.<br /><br />Guangzhou's BRT, like Bogota's, is 4-lanes wide, with express buses skipping stations on the second lane. That's how they can get this kind of capacity, well, that and super-crush loads in buses, like 160 people in a bus designed for 100-110 people (by developed world standards). LRT can equal that capacity on a single lane, if you compare apples to apples, meaning suppose super-crush loads too and shorter headways than most transit authorities are willing to run. Manilla's LRT matches the Transmilenio's maximum capacity without having a second track per direction.<br /><br />The bigger problem with this kind of BRT is that you need a 20-meter ROW (excluding sidewalks and car lanes) to build it in an urban area. That's a kind of space that is rarely seen in most cities... thank god. I'm of the opinion that highways have no place in urban areas, and that counts for bus highways like Guangzhou's or Bogota's BRT too. OK, if cities made the terrible mistake of building these immense asphalt rivers that cut their cities in two, reusing them for 4-lane BRTs makes sense, but these huge roads shouldn't have been built in the first place. <br /><br />BRT is not really that much lower cost. It has lower initial costs, but requires much higher labor costs. So in the developed world, focusing on BRT is a very bad idea, Ottawa in Canada is paying the price for that.<br /><br />But even looking at initial capital costs, it's important to understand that the difference is not really between technologies, but between chosen ROW alignment.<br /><br />Laying tracks is no more expensive than building concrete roads to support buses' weight. Rail transit is almost always electric though, so this has costs in the form of power lines and power stations, and rail vehicles are 2-3 times more expensive than buses per capacity, yet have a life expectancy of 2-3 times that of buses, so overall, it's a wash, they cost more initially, but last longer.<br /><br />Anyway, if you compare apples to apples, meaning a BRT and LRT on the same alignment, the cost difference is not so great, maybe 30-40% more for rail, which is partly made up by longer lasting vehicles and less fuel costs. The reason why most rail projects are so much more expensive is that they tend to have better alignments, more protected ROW, more elevated and underground portions. Buses can also sometimes re-use existing road infrastructure. When rail projects have the same opportunities, they can be dirt cheap, Ottawa's O-train LRT cost a mere 27 million dollars for a 8-km line. That's because they reused existing tracks and bought diesel-powered LRTs, so they didn't have to build tracks or electric infrastructure.simval84https://www.blogger.com/profile/10615053214354191224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153985804832811048.post-26028773962712300002015-09-03T17:05:27.721-04:002015-09-03T17:05:27.721-04:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Jedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13936176397206080325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153985804832811048.post-36322076501051828492015-09-03T17:05:20.133-04:002015-09-03T17:05:20.133-04:00I know this is quite old, but where did you get th...I know this is quite old, but where did you get those pphpd stats from?<br /><br />Guangzhou's at grade BRT system does 30,000pphd. In fact, if we take Siemen's best LRT unit it can apparently take 800 people "ultra crush" which requires 38 vehicles per hour to meet the BRT level. Which is very difficult because LRT systems have a single platform each direction, so each vehicle must wait for the next to finish with the station.<br /><br />To be clear LRT has its place, within an urban area for example LRT provides a much higher aesthetic and renewal opportunity.<br /><br />However, BRT seems best more like a low cost commuter rail or metro alternative. For example the North Shore BRT made bus service on the North Shore *way* better, but didn't require a new tunnel/bridge for rail, nor an incredibly expensive CBD tunnel/station system. <br /><br />It's true the North Shore BRT cost $200 million. But estimates for rail run from $3-4 billion (TransportBlog, based off the Vancouver System) to $11 billion (NZTA, pulled out of their ass). I'd also wager a significant portion of that was spent on future proofing it for heavy rail.<br /><br />Also the North Shore BRT runs at 80km/h (50km/h within station zones). Jedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13936176397206080325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153985804832811048.post-9865915622510694112015-05-11T16:10:05.418-04:002015-05-11T16:10:05.418-04:00In Zurich the maps are typically hierarchical, whe...In Zurich the maps are typically hierarchical, where the Kantonal maps show only rail lines, the city maps show rail lines and some major bus and tram lines, and each transit stop has a local-scale map which only shows transit lines within 0.5-1.5 hours of walking distance. No map has an overwhelming amount of detail, and it is clear that the easiest way from point a to point b is using the transit hierarchy (and using a bus to rail to bus route).asdfsdfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17178211971485794983noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153985804832811048.post-22011186676558197912015-05-10T12:56:16.763-04:002015-05-10T12:56:16.763-04:00In Zurich, they run buses on schedules down to a b...In Zurich, they run buses on schedules down to a bus every 7.5 minutes, and are adamant that even in the 10-20 minute range, clockface schedules with predictable intervals dividing 60 are critical.Alonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17267294744186811858noreply@blogger.com