🚀 go-pugleaf

We have a similar service up here in Vancouver, BC.
Three "B-Line" bus routes operate along possible
future rapid transit corridors.  The routes 
operate 20 hrs/day, 7 days/week, using all
low-floor articulated buses.  The typical midday
headway is 5-10 minutes (depending on the route)
and 10-15 minutes in the evening.  One of the routes,
which serves the southern suburb of Richmond,
operates along dedicated bus lanes down the middle
of Richmond's main drag (somewhat like a streetcar
route), with landscaped islands/medians on either
side.  The shelters have digital displays indicating
when the next 2 buses will arrive, & buses can
send a signal to prolong a stale green light to
make it through without waiting for the next one.
All 3 routes are insanely popular.

Stefan Ewing

rrkap@yahoo.com (Ronald Kappesser) wrote in message news:<1bc609ad.0307151133.adbba8@posting.google.com>...
> As an addendum to the BRT discussion that happened on these groups a
> few days ago, I figured I would post an article from the San Francisco
> Chronicle about AC Transit's new bus line that is modeled on the L.A.
> Metro Rapid lines.  I do wonder if AC transit's express buses will be
> frequent enough along this route for headway based schedules to save
> people time.  12 minutes is a really long headway.
> 
> The original article, with pictures and a map is here:
> http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/07/15/BA184829.DTL
> 
> Introducing the speedy bus
> AC Transit project in East Bay aims to be subway alternative
> 
> Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer Tuesday, July 15, 2003
> 
> 
> Oakland -- A new breed of bus is rolling through the East Bay,
> threatening to change the way people ride what's always been seen as
> the plow horse of public transportation.
> 
> AC Transit's 72R line stands out not because of its shiny white paint
> job with green and red stripes, its oversized tinted windows or its
> European design, but because of the ambition behind it.
> 
> The idea is to speed up and modernize bus travel. No more stopping at
> every last street corner. No more lingering at stops to stick to a
> schedule. Less time sitting at red lights and bus stops.
> 
> Instead, AC's buses are scheduled to zip along the 16 miles of San
> Pablo Avenue, through middle- and working-class neighborhoods from San
> Pablo to Oakland, in 20 percent less time than the fastest buses that
> used to ply the route.
> 
> AC's project is one of two to three dozen being rolled out around the
> country as transit planners look for faster, cheaper ways of moving
> people than building light-rail or subway lines.
> 
> "It's a real change in bus psychology," said Jon Twichell, AC Transit
> planning manager and the of the rapid bus service. "This frees buses
> to just get up and go."
> 
> That's how it's worked in Los Angeles, where an experiment to cut the
> time buses idled at traffic lights, bus stops or in stalled traffic
> was such a success that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority
> expanded from its initial two lines to four. Plans are in the works to
> add two more lines every six months until 28 are operating.
> 
> "We had no idea it would work so well," said Rex Gephart, project
> manager for LA Metro Rapid.
> 
> Other Bay Area transit agencies are also looking at rapid-bus service.
> 
> The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority is gradually improving
> its 22 line along El Camino Real. San Francisco's Municipal Railway is
> studying the possibility of rapid-bus lines along Van Ness Avenue and
> Geary Boulevard. And AC Transit is considering an advanced version,
> with dedicated lanes and bus stations instead of stops, between
> Berkeley and San Leandro.
> 
> Anyone who's been stuck on a crowded bus in rush-hour traffic knows
> all too well the appeal of a speedier ride. Passengers are used to
> standing elbow-to- belly button, hanging onto overhead grab-bars, as
> the bus lurches through traffic, stopping at nearly every corner.
> 
> Rapid buses, on the other hand, stop only at major intersections. AC
> Transit's stops are an average of two-thirds of a mile apart.
> 
> Rapid bus service also eliminates the carefully choreographed
> timetables, the ones that force many bus drivers to sit and wait by
> the side of the road or cruise down the street slowly so as not to get
> ahead of schedule.
> 
> Instead, rapid buses start at a designated time, and drivers complete
> their routes as quickly as possible. Schedules simply designate the
> time buses leave their starting point and an estimated time they reach
> the end.
> 
> AC's rapid buses are running between Jack London Square in downtown
> Oakland and Contra Costa College in San Pablo every 12 minutes from 6
> a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays.
> 
> AC, which is in the midst of severe budget troubles, is betting big on
> the new service.
> 
> "The bottom line . . . is that the 20 percent running time reduction
> is imminently doable," Twichell said. AC's hope is that ridership on
> the line will increase 25 percent.
> 
> Although the San Pablo Rapid started service last month, some of its
> fanciest features have yet to be installed. Infrared devices in the
> windshields will send signals that will hold some green lights for
> rapid buses and make red lights turn green faster. Bus shelters,
> outfitted with digital signs that tell passengers when the next bus
> will arrive, will be installed in the next few weeks.
> 
> "We're working all summer to get everything running nicely," Twichell
> said. "Then, after Labor Day, when the kids return to school and
> people go back to work, we'll start the marketing campaign."
> 
> So far, riders seem to like the new rapid service, though they're
> still getting used to the changes.
> 
> "It was real fast," said Norman Johnson, a College of Alameda student
> and basketball player who caught the bus in Emeryville and rode it to
> downtown Oakland. "It's a big improvement."
> 
> Others took a more skeptical view.
> 
> "So this is the new rapid transit system," said one man who didn't
> want to give his name. "Most other cities get rapid transit on
> tracks."
> 
> AC Transit's program, which cost $4.5 million to put on the road, is
> modeled in part on Los Angeles' Metro Rapid, whose fire-engine red
> buses have transformed bus travel in a city whose transit system is
> more often ridiculed than copied.
> 
> Metro Rapid has cut travel times by 25 percent and boosted ridership
> by 40 percent.
> 
> Visit the busy intersection of Vermont Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard
> in the heat of a morning commute, and you'll forget you're in
> car-crazy L.A. Hundreds of riders pile off buses on one corner, scurry
> across a plaza and, with little or no wait, hop aboard other buses
> that zip off toward their destinations.
> 
> "To tell you the truth, I didn't think it was going to work when they
> first started it," said Ray Alcantar, a Metro supervisor whose job is
> to choreograph the flow of passengers and buses during the morning
> commute at Vermont and Wilshire. "But it works pretty well, and people
> really seem to like it."
> 
> Passengers say the buses have sped their travels and made the bus an
> alternative to driving.
> 
> "It's better service," said Ciro Mojica, a San Fernando Valley
> resident who rides to downtown. "It's a lot faster because you don't
> stop at every street."
> 
> Metro, Los Angeles's countywide transportation agency, started the
> experiment after a study found that Angelenos wouldn't ride buses
> because they were too slow. A subsequent study discovered that buses
> spent half their travel time stopped.
> 
> So in spring of 2000, Metro started running rapid buses on two lines
> -- along Wilshire, which stretches across the city, and on Ventura
> Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley.
> 
> The expense, said Gephart, was minor -- especially compared with light
> rail,
> 
> which costs $20 million to $30 million a mile to build, or subways,
> which cost $100 million to $300 million a mile. Los Angeles' rapid-bus
> system carries a price tag of $200,000 to $250,000 a mile, he said.
> 
> "It has a lot of impact," said Gephart. "For that kind of money, you
> can get speed and frequency for the public. It's great."
> 
> Metro Rapid has prompted visits from scores of U.S. transit agencies,
> including those in the Bay Area, eager to duplicate Los Angeles'
> unexpected success.
> 
> And while Gephart admits it's strange to have people visiting Los
> Angeles to learn about transit -- "we're not exactly known for our
> transit system," he says -- he realizes that Metro Rapid offers hope
> to other cities.
> 
> "If we can build a successful rapid bus system in L.A., where everyone
> loves cars," he said, "anybody can do it."

We have a similar service up here in Vancouver, BC.
Three "B-Line" bus routes operate along possible
future rapid transit corridors.  The routes 
operate 20 hrs/day, 7 days/week, using all
low-floor articulated buses.  The typical midday
headway is 5-10 minutes (depending on the route)
and 10-15 minutes in the evening.  One of the routes,
which serves the southern suburb of Richmond,
operates along dedicated bus lanes down the middle
of Richmond's main drag (somewhat like a streetcar
route), with landscaped islands/medians on either
side.  The shelters have digital displays indicating
when the next 2 buses will arrive, & buses can
send a signal to prolong a stale green light to
make it through without waiting for the next one.
All 3 routes are insanely popular.

Stefan Ewing

rrkap@yahoo.com (Ronald Kappesser) wrote in message news:<1bc609ad.0307151133.adbba8@posting.google.com>...
> As an addendum to the BRT discussion that happened on these groups a
> few days ago, I figured I would post an article from the San Francisco
> Chronicle about AC Transit's new bus line that is modeled on the L.A.
> Metro Rapid lines.  I do wonder if AC transit's express buses will be
> frequent enough along this route for headway based schedules to save
> people time.  12 minutes is a really long headway.
> 
> The original article, with pictures and a map is here:
> http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/07/15/BA184829.DTL
> 
> Introducing the speedy bus
> AC Transit project in East Bay aims to be subway alternative
> 
> Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer Tuesday, July 15, 2003
> 
> 
> Oakland -- A new breed of bus is rolling through the East Bay,
> threatening to change the way people ride what's always been seen as
> the plow horse of public transportation.
> 
> AC Transit's 72R line stands out not because of its shiny white paint
> job with green and red stripes, its oversized tinted windows or its
> European design, but because of the ambition behind it.
> 
> The idea is to speed up and modernize bus travel. No more stopping at
> every last street corner. No more lingering at stops to stick to a
> schedule. Less time sitting at red lights and bus stops.
> 
> Instead, AC's buses are scheduled to zip along the 16 miles of San
> Pablo Avenue, through middle- and working-class neighborhoods from San
> Pablo to Oakland, in 20 percent less time than the fastest buses that
> used to ply the route.
> 
> AC's project is one of two to three dozen being rolled out around the
> country as transit planners look for faster, cheaper ways of moving
> people than building light-rail or subway lines.
> 
> "It's a real change in bus psychology," said Jon Twichell, AC Transit
> planning manager and the of the rapid bus service. "This frees buses
> to just get up and go."
> 
> That's how it's worked in Los Angeles, where an experiment to cut the
> time buses idled at traffic lights, bus stops or in stalled traffic
> was such a success that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority
> expanded from its initial two lines to four. Plans are in the works to
> add two more lines every six months until 28 are operating.
> 
> "We had no idea it would work so well," said Rex Gephart, project
> manager for LA Metro Rapid.
> 
> Other Bay Area transit agencies are also looking at rapid-bus service.
> 
> The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority is gradually improving
> its 22 line along El Camino Real. San Francisco's Municipal Railway is
> studying the possibility of rapid-bus lines along Van Ness Avenue and
> Geary Boulevard. And AC Transit is considering an advanced version,
> with dedicated lanes and bus stations instead of stops, between
> Berkeley and San Leandro.
> 
> Anyone who's been stuck on a crowded bus in rush-hour traffic knows
> all too well the appeal of a speedier ride. Passengers are used to
> standing elbow-to- belly button, hanging onto overhead grab-bars, as
> the bus lurches through traffic, stopping at nearly every corner.
> 
> Rapid buses, on the other hand, stop only at major intersections. AC
> Transit's stops are an average of two-thirds of a mile apart.
> 
> Rapid bus service also eliminates the carefully choreographed
> timetables, the ones that force many bus drivers to sit and wait by
> the side of the road or cruise down the street slowly so as not to get
> ahead of schedule.
> 
> Instead, rapid buses start at a designated time, and drivers complete
> their routes as quickly as possible. Schedules simply designate the
> time buses leave their starting point and an estimated time they reach
> the end.
> 
> AC's rapid buses are running between Jack London Square in downtown
> Oakland and Contra Costa College in San Pablo every 12 minutes from 6
> a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays.
> 
> AC, which is in the midst of severe budget troubles, is betting big on
> the new service.
> 
> "The bottom line . . . is that the 20 percent running time reduction
> is imminently doable," Twichell said. AC's hope is that ridership on
> the line will increase 25 percent.
> 
> Although the San Pablo Rapid started service last month, some of its
> fanciest features have yet to be installed. Infrared devices in the
> windshields will send signals that will hold some green lights for
> rapid buses and make red lights turn green faster. Bus shelters,
> outfitted with digital signs that tell passengers when the next bus
> will arrive, will be installed in the next few weeks.
> 
> "We're working all summer to get everything running nicely," Twichell
> said. "Then, after Labor Day, when the kids return to school and
> people go back to work, we'll start the marketing campaign."
> 
> So far, riders seem to like the new rapid service, though they're
> still getting used to the changes.
> 
> "It was real fast," said Norman Johnson, a College of Alameda student
> and basketball player who caught the bus in Emeryville and rode it to
> downtown Oakland. "It's a big improvement."
> 
> Others took a more skeptical view.
> 
> "So this is the new rapid transit system," said one man who didn't
> want to give his name. "Most other cities get rapid transit on
> tracks."
> 
> AC Transit's program, which cost $4.5 million to put on the road, is
> modeled in part on Los Angeles' Metro Rapid, whose fire-engine red
> buses have transformed bus travel in a city whose transit system is
> more often ridiculed than copied.
> 
> Metro Rapid has cut travel times by 25 percent and boosted ridership
> by 40 percent.
> 
> Visit the busy intersection of Vermont Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard
> in the heat of a morning commute, and you'll forget you're in
> car-crazy L.A. Hundreds of riders pile off buses on one corner, scurry
> across a plaza and, with little or no wait, hop aboard other buses
> that zip off toward their destinations.
> 
> "To tell you the truth, I didn't think it was going to work when they
> first started it," said Ray Alcantar, a Metro supervisor whose job is
> to choreograph the flow of passengers and buses during the morning
> commute at Vermont and Wilshire. "But it works pretty well, and people
> really seem to like it."
> 
> Passengers say the buses have sped their travels and made the bus an
> alternative to driving.
> 
> "It's better service," said Ciro Mojica, a San Fernando Valley
> resident who rides to downtown. "It's a lot faster because you don't
> stop at every street."
> 
> Metro, Los Angeles's countywide transportation agency, started the
> experiment after a study found that Angelenos wouldn't ride buses
> because they were too slow. A subsequent study discovered that buses
> spent half their travel time stopped.
> 
> So in spring of 2000, Metro started running rapid buses on two lines
> -- along Wilshire, which stretches across the city, and on Ventura
> Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley.
> 
> The expense, said Gephart, was minor -- especially compared with light
> rail,
> 
> which costs $20 million to $30 million a mile to build, or subways,
> which cost $100 million to $300 million a mile. Los Angeles' rapid-bus
> system carries a price tag of $200,000 to $250,000 a mile, he said.
> 
> "It has a lot of impact," said Gephart. "For that kind of money, you
> can get speed and frequency for the public. It's great."
> 
> Metro Rapid has prompted visits from scores of U.S. transit agencies,
> including those in the Bay Area, eager to duplicate Los Angeles'
> unexpected success.
> 
> And while Gephart admits it's strange to have people visiting Los
> Angeles to learn about transit -- "we're not exactly known for our
> transit system," he says -- he realizes that Metro Rapid offers hope
> to other cities.
> 
> "If we can build a successful rapid bus system in L.A., where everyone
> loves cars," he said, "anybody can do it."

rrkap@yahoo.com (Ronald Kappesser) wrote in message news:<1bc609ad.0307151133.adbba8@posting.google.com>...
> As an addendum to the BRT discussion that happened on these groups a
> few days ago, I figured I would post an article from the San Francisco
> Chronicle about AC Transit's new bus line that is modeled on the L.A.
> Metro Rapid lines.  I do wonder if AC transit's express buses will be
> frequent enough along this route for headway based schedules to save
> people time.  12 minutes is a really long headway.

There are other 72's in that corridor so wait times are not necessarily
that long. The real problem is that the 72R only runs until 7pm. Also, 
the 72R is not technically a BRT because it does not have an exlusive bus 
lane -- but generally San Pablo is free flowing so that is not a major
impediment.

The 72R is the first of several "BRT" routes AC wants to implement. Because
it could work without lane removal, it was the low-hanging fruit that could
be done first. Some of the others could be more contentious.

The 51, for instance, often bunches up as it makes its way along College
Ave. A few years ago, AC proposed a modest plan to remove up to a dozen
parking spaces so that they could create a queue-jumping lane for buses
at Ashby during peak traffic times. The cretins in the Berkeley Public 
Works dept vetoed the idea for fear of upsetting merchants -- basically 
favoring several dozen shoppers over the needs of >10000 bus riders.

Stefan Ewing wrote:
> 
> We have a similar service up here in Vancouver, BC.
> Three "B-Line" bus routes operate along possible
> future rapid transit corridors.  The routes
> operate 20 hrs/day, 7 days/week, using all
> low-floor articulated buses.  The typical midday
> headway is 5-10 minutes (depending on the route)
> and 10-15 minutes in the evening.  One of the routes,
> which serves the southern suburb of Richmond,
> operates along dedicated bus lanes down the middle
> of Richmond's main drag (somewhat like a streetcar
> route), with landscaped islands/medians on either
> side.  The shelters have digital displays indicating
> when the next 2 buses will arrive, & buses can
> send a signal to prolong a stale green light to
> make it through without waiting for the next one.
> All 3 routes are insanely popular.
> 
> Stefan Ewing
> 
> rrkap@yahoo.com (Ronald Kappesser) wrote in message news:<1bc609ad.0307151133.adbba8@posting.google.com>...
> > As an addendum to the BRT discussion that happened on these groups a
> > few days ago, I figured I would post an article from the San Francisco
> > Chronicle about AC Transit's new bus line that is modeled on the L.A.
> > Metro Rapid lines.  I do wonder if AC transit's express buses will be
> > frequent enough along this route for headway based schedules to save
> > people time.  12 minutes is a really long headway.
> >
> > The original article, with pictures and a map is here:
> > http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/07/15/BA184829.DTL
> >
> > Introducing the speedy bus
> > AC Transit project in East Bay aims to be subway alternative
> >
> > Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer Tuesday, July 15, 2003
> >
> >
> > Oakland -- A new breed of bus is rolling through the East Bay,
> > threatening to change the way people ride what's always been seen as
> > the plow horse of public transportation.
> >
> > AC Transit's 72R line stands out not because of its shiny white paint
> > job with green and red stripes, its oversized tinted windows or its
> > European design, but because of the ambition behind it.
> >
> > The idea is to speed up and modernize bus travel. No more stopping at
> > every last street corner. No more lingering at stops to stick to a
> > schedule. Less time sitting at red lights and bus stops.
> >
> > Instead, AC's buses are scheduled to zip along the 16 miles of San
> > Pablo Avenue, through middle- and working-class neighborhoods from San
> > Pablo to Oakland, in 20 percent less time than the fastest buses that
> > used to ply the route.
> >
> > AC's project is one of two to three dozen being rolled out around the
> > country as transit planners look for faster, cheaper ways of moving
> > people than building light-rail or subway lines.
> >
> > "It's a real change in bus psychology," said Jon Twichell, AC Transit
> > planning manager and the of the rapid bus service. "This frees buses
> > to just get up and go."
> >
> > That's how it's worked in Los Angeles, where an experiment to cut the
> > time buses idled at traffic lights, bus stops or in stalled traffic
> > was such a success that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority
> > expanded from its initial two lines to four. Plans are in the works to
> > add two more lines every six months until 28 are operating.
> >
> > "We had no idea it would work so well," said Rex Gephart, project
> > manager for LA Metro Rapid.
> >
> > Other Bay Area transit agencies are also looking at rapid-bus service.
> >
> > The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority is gradually improving
> > its 22 line along El Camino Real. San Francisco's Municipal Railway is
> > studying the possibility of rapid-bus lines along Van Ness Avenue and
> > Geary Boulevard. And AC Transit is considering an advanced version,
> > with dedicated lanes and bus stations instead of stops, between
> > Berkeley and San Leandro.
> >
> > Anyone who's been stuck on a crowded bus in rush-hour traffic knows
> > all too well the appeal of a speedier ride. Passengers are used to
> > standing elbow-to- belly button, hanging onto overhead grab-bars, as
> > the bus lurches through traffic, stopping at nearly every corner.
> >
> > Rapid buses, on the other hand, stop only at major intersections. AC
> > Transit's stops are an average of two-thirds of a mile apart.
> >
> > Rapid bus service also eliminates the carefully choreographed
> > timetables, the ones that force many bus drivers to sit and wait by
> > the side of the road or cruise down the street slowly so as not to get
> > ahead of schedule.
> >
> > Instead, rapid buses start at a designated time, and drivers complete
> > their routes as quickly as possible. Schedules simply designate the
> > time buses leave their starting point and an estimated time they reach
> > the end.
> >
> > AC's rapid buses are running between Jack London Square in downtown
> > Oakland and Contra Costa College in San Pablo every 12 minutes from 6
> > a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays.
> >
> > AC, which is in the midst of severe budget troubles, is betting big on
> > the new service.
> >
> > "The bottom line . . . is that the 20 percent running time reduction
> > is imminently doable," Twichell said. AC's hope is that ridership on
> > the line will increase 25 percent.
> >
> > Although the San Pablo Rapid started service last month, some of its
> > fanciest features have yet to be installed. Infrared devices in the
> > windshields will send signals that will hold some green lights for
> > rapid buses and make red lights turn green faster. Bus shelters,
> > outfitted with digital signs that tell passengers when the next bus
> > will arrive, will be installed in the next few weeks.
> >
> > "We're working all summer to get everything running nicely," Twichell
> > said. "Then, after Labor Day, when the kids return to school and
> > people go back to work, we'll start the marketing campaign."
> >
> > So far, riders seem to like the new rapid service, though they're
> > still getting used to the changes.
> >
> > "It was real fast," said Norman Johnson, a College of Alameda student
> > and basketball player who caught the bus in Emeryville and rode it to
> > downtown Oakland. "It's a big improvement."
> >
> > Others took a more skeptical view.
> >
> > "So this is the new rapid transit system," said one man who didn't
> > want to give his name. "Most other cities get rapid transit on
> > tracks."
> >
> > AC Transit's program, which cost $4.5 million to put on the road, is
> > modeled in part on Los Angeles' Metro Rapid, whose fire-engine red
> > buses have transformed bus travel in a city whose transit system is
> > more often ridiculed than copied.
> >
> > Metro Rapid has cut travel times by 25 percent and boosted ridership
> > by 40 percent.
> >
> > Visit the busy intersection of Vermont Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard
> > in the heat of a morning commute, and you'll forget you're in
> > car-crazy L.A. Hundreds of riders pile off buses on one corner, scurry
> > across a plaza and, with little or no wait, hop aboard other buses
> > that zip off toward their destinations.
> >
> > "To tell you the truth, I didn't think it was going to work when they
> > first started it," said Ray Alcantar, a Metro supervisor whose job is
> > to choreograph the flow of passengers and buses during the morning
> > commute at Vermont and Wilshire. "But it works pretty well, and people
> > really seem to like it."
> >
> > Passengers say the buses have sped their travels and made the bus an
> > alternative to driving.
> >
> > "It's better service," said Ciro Mojica, a San Fernando Valley
> > resident who rides to downtown. "It's a lot faster because you don't
> > stop at every street."
> >
> > Metro, Los Angeles's countywide transportation agency, started the
> > experiment after a study found that Angelenos wouldn't ride buses
> > because they were too slow. A subsequent study discovered that buses
> > spent half their travel time stopped.
> >
> > So in spring of 2000, Metro started running rapid buses on two lines
> > -- along Wilshire, which stretches across the city, and on Ventura
> > Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley.
> >
> > The expense, said Gephart, was minor -- especially compared with light
> > rail,
> >
> > which costs $20 million to $30 million a mile to build, or subways,
> > which cost $100 million to $300 million a mile. Los Angeles' rapid-bus
> > system carries a price tag of $200,000 to $250,000 a mile, he said.
> >
> > "It has a lot of impact," said Gephart. "For that kind of money, you
> > can get speed and frequency for the public. It's great."
> >
> > Metro Rapid has prompted visits from scores of U.S. transit agencies,
> > including those in the Bay Area, eager to duplicate Los Angeles'
> > unexpected success.
> >
> > And while Gephart admits it's strange to have people visiting Los
> > Angeles to learn about transit -- "we're not exactly known for our
> > transit system," he says -- he realizes that Metro Rapid offers hope
> > to other cities.
> >
> > "If we can build a successful rapid bus system in L.A., where everyone
> > loves cars," he said, "anybody can do it."

Do you know what the cost is to put Infrared devices on the buses?
Who is the manufacture of the digital displays for the shelters?

The Rapid Bus concept seems to be catching on; I was in Boston recently and
they call their Rapid Bus the "Silver Line" (to compliment their
multicolored rail system).

bay_bridge_tgv@yahoo.com (bikerider7) wrote in message news:<d35d6005.0307161019.45cfa32d@posting.google.com>...
> rrkap@yahoo.com (Ronald Kappesser) wrote in message news:<1bc609ad.0307151133.adbba8@posting.google.com>...
> > As an addendum to the BRT discussion that happened on these groups a
> > few days ago, I figured I would post an article from the San Francisco
> > Chronicle about AC Transit's new bus line that is modeled on the L.A.
> > Metro Rapid lines.  I do wonder if AC transit's express buses will be
> > frequent enough along this route for headway based schedules to save
> > people time.  12 minutes is a really long headway.
> 
> There are other 72's in that corridor so wait times are not necessarily
> that long. The real problem is that the 72R only runs until 7pm. Also, 
> the 72R is not technically a BRT because it does not have an exlusive bus 
> lane -- but generally San Pablo is free flowing so that is not a major
> impediment.
> 

I agree that the 72R isn't BRT.  That's why I described it is rapid
bus.  However, I think the 12 min headway is a problem because it
eliminates the speed advantages that it has.  One of the reasons that
Metro Rapid has been successful is that service is both fast enough
and frequent enough to attract new riders.  I think that the risk of a
12 min wait or being stuck on a slow bus is enough to make the service
much less desirable.  Also, I don't think having the 7PM end in the
service is as much of a problem, because there is other service along
that route.

> The 72R is the first of several "BRT" routes AC wants to implement. Because
> it could work without lane removal, it was the low-hanging fruit that could
> be done first. Some of the others could be more contentious.
> 

This is also the case with the first Metro Rapid lines

> The 51, for instance, often bunches up as it makes its way along College
> Ave. A few years ago, AC proposed a modest plan to remove up to a dozen
> parking spaces so that they could create a queue-jumping lane for buses
> at Ashby during peak traffic times. The cretins in the Berkeley Public 
> Works dept vetoed the idea for fear of upsetting merchants -- basically 
> favoring several dozen shoppers over the needs of >10000 bus riders.

LA has also had big problems on the 720 getting on street parking
removed.  The compromise has been rush hour only bus lanes.

"Elson" <elson@westworld.dotcom> wrote in message news:<vhchb31rsm5461@corp.supernews.com>...
> The Rapid Bus concept seems to be catching on; I was in Boston recently and
> they call their Rapid Bus the "Silver Line" (to compliment their
> multicolored rail system).

How does their implementation differ from, say, the 98 B-line in Vancouver?
I'd describe the 98B as an express bus with some (not much) dedicated roadway.

The 99 B-line in Vancouver was replaced with rail (Skytrain).
Identical stops.  (well, the rail loop runs down to New West to join
with their previous Skytrain system, too, a very good nod to the fact that
a lot of commuting isn't to the city center).  I'm not sure if that was a grand
plan to begin with or a fortunate coincidence.  By having the bus run on
the ground while the Skytrain line was built elevated, they didn't have to
shut down bus service while building the successive rail (a problem that
most "upgradable" BRT-on-dedicated-roadway seems to suffer from).

Tim.

In article <1bc609ad.0307170830.31ecaaec@posting.google.com>,
Ronald Kappesser <rrkap@yahoo.com> wrote:
>I agree that the 72R isn't BRT.  That's why I described it is rapid
>bus.  However, I think the 12 min headway is a problem because it
>eliminates the speed advantages that it has.  One of the reasons that
>Metro Rapid has been successful is that service is both fast enough
>and frequent enough to attract new riders.  I think that the risk of a
>12 min wait or being stuck on a slow bus is enough to make the service
>much less desirable.  Also, I don't think having the 7PM end in the
>service is as much of a problem, because there is other service along
>that route.
>

Recently, MTA has been moving away with that with their recent lines.
The 761, a similar corridor in density to San Pablo, has 30 minute
frequency on Sundays, and worse yet, *17* minute frequency during
the midday (now how am I supposed to plan my life around that,
especially since the times are not listed on the schedule?) Yes,
Wilshire is really frequent. But even Ventura is at about the 
same level as San Pablo, if not slightly less (13 minute service
middays). Of course, all rapid lines have weekend service, even
when it isn't that justified.

The other thing MTA has moved away from is simplicity. Many riders,
especially those from outside the area, don't know that Westwood
is east of Santa Monica or that Sherman Oaks is north of Westwood.
Ask someone from New York where "Montebello" is and you will 
probably get a blank stare. This cuts down on the ease of use of
the rapid bus. Now, at least riders from out of town on a shortline
will get a free continuation transfer if they aren't at their
final destination. With the advent of day passes, those people
will have to pay another fare, based on how the MTA is going.

>> The 72R is the first of several "BRT" routes AC wants to implement. Because
>> it could work without lane removal, it was the low-hanging fruit that could
>> be done first. Some of the others could be more contentious.
>> 
>
>This is also the case with the first Metro Rapid lines
>
>> The 51, for instance, often bunches up as it makes its way along College
>> Ave. A few years ago, AC proposed a modest plan to remove up to a dozen
>> parking spaces so that they could create a queue-jumping lane for buses
>> at Ashby during peak traffic times. The cretins in the Berkeley Public 
>> Works dept vetoed the idea for fear of upsetting merchants -- basically 
>> favoring several dozen shoppers over the needs of >10000 bus riders.
>
>LA has also had big problems on the 720 getting on street parking
>removed.  The compromise has been rush hour only bus lanes.

And even that requires a big EIR. I mean, you're just reconstructing
the right lane to concrete and putting in some shelters. What do
you need an EIR for? Yet there's that, there's "coordination meetings",
and all the rest. All for a simple change of an existing "fake lane"
(rush hour only lane) to bus usage.


-- 
Hank Fung					         fungus@ocf.berkeley.edu
Go Bears!			             http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~fungus

Stefan,

We appreciate your contribution, but this was posted at least 3 times. Once
would suffice.

Thanks.

"Stefan Ewing" <sewing@uvic.ca> wrote in message
news:c9a11bce.0307160911.dc9dba7@posting.google.com...
> We have a similar service up here in Vancouver, BC.
> Three "B-Line" bus routes operate along possible
> future rapid transit corridors.  The routes
> operate 20 hrs/day, 7 days/week, using all
> low-floor articulated buses.  The typical midday
> headway is 5-10 minutes (depending on the route)
> and 10-15 minutes in the evening.  One of the routes,
> which serves the southern suburb of Richmond,
> operates along dedicated bus lanes down the middle
> of Richmond's main drag (somewhat like a streetcar
> route), with landscaped islands/medians on either
> side.  The shelters have digital displays indicating
> when the next 2 buses will arrive, & buses can
> send a signal to prolong a stale green light to
> make it through without waiting for the next one.
> All 3 routes are insanely popular.
>
> Stefan Ewing
>
> rrkap@yahoo.com (Ronald Kappesser) wrote in message
news:<1bc609ad.0307151133.adbba8@posting.google.com>...
> > As an addendum to the BRT discussion that happened on these groups a
> > few days ago, I figured I would post an article from the San Francisco
> > Chronicle about AC Transit's new bus line that is modeled on the L.A.
> > Metro Rapid lines.  I do wonder if AC transit's express buses will be
> > frequent enough along this route for headway based schedules to save
> > people time.  12 minutes is a really long headway.
> >
> > The original article, with pictures and a map is here:
> > http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/07/15/BA184829.DTL
> >
> > Introducing the speedy bus
> > AC Transit project in East Bay aims to be subway alternative
> >
> > Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer Tuesday, July 15, 2003
> >
> >
> > Oakland -- A new breed of bus is rolling through the East Bay,
> > threatening to change the way people ride what's always been seen as
> > the plow horse of public transportation.
> >
> > AC Transit's 72R line stands out not because of its shiny white paint
> > job with green and red stripes, its oversized tinted windows or its
> > European design, but because of the ambition behind it.
> >
> > The idea is to speed up and modernize bus travel. No more stopping at
> > every last street corner. No more lingering at stops to stick to a
> > schedule. Less time sitting at red lights and bus stops.
> >
> > Instead, AC's buses are scheduled to zip along the 16 miles of San
> > Pablo Avenue, through middle- and working-class neighborhoods from San
> > Pablo to Oakland, in 20 percent less time than the fastest buses that
> > used to ply the route.
> >
> > AC's project is one of two to three dozen being rolled out around the
> > country as transit planners look for faster, cheaper ways of moving
> > people than building light-rail or subway lines.
> >
> > "It's a real change in bus psychology," said Jon Twichell, AC Transit
> > planning manager and the of the rapid bus service. "This frees buses
> > to just get up and go."
> >
> > That's how it's worked in Los Angeles, where an experiment to cut the
> > time buses idled at traffic lights, bus stops or in stalled traffic
> > was such a success that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority
> > expanded from its initial two lines to four. Plans are in the works to
> > add two more lines every six months until 28 are operating.
> >
> > "We had no idea it would work so well," said Rex Gephart, project
> > manager for LA Metro Rapid.
> >
> > Other Bay Area transit agencies are also looking at rapid-bus service.
> >
> > The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority is gradually improving
> > its 22 line along El Camino Real. San Francisco's Municipal Railway is
> > studying the possibility of rapid-bus lines along Van Ness Avenue and
> > Geary Boulevard. And AC Transit is considering an advanced version,
> > with dedicated lanes and bus stations instead of stops, between
> > Berkeley and San Leandro.
> >
> > Anyone who's been stuck on a crowded bus in rush-hour traffic knows
> > all too well the appeal of a speedier ride. Passengers are used to
> > standing elbow-to- belly button, hanging onto overhead grab-bars, as
> > the bus lurches through traffic, stopping at nearly every corner.
> >
> > Rapid buses, on the other hand, stop only at major intersections. AC
> > Transit's stops are an average of two-thirds of a mile apart.
> >
> > Rapid bus service also eliminates the carefully choreographed
> > timetables, the ones that force many bus drivers to sit and wait by
> > the side of the road or cruise down the street slowly so as not to get
> > ahead of schedule.
> >
> > Instead, rapid buses start at a designated time, and drivers complete
> > their routes as quickly as possible. Schedules simply designate the
> > time buses leave their starting point and an estimated time they reach
> > the end.
> >
> > AC's rapid buses are running between Jack London Square in downtown
> > Oakland and Contra Costa College in San Pablo every 12 minutes from 6
> > a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays.
> >
> > AC, which is in the midst of severe budget troubles, is betting big on
> > the new service.
> >
> > "The bottom line . . . is that the 20 percent running time reduction
> > is imminently doable," Twichell said. AC's hope is that ridership on
> > the line will increase 25 percent.
> >
> > Although the San Pablo Rapid started service last month, some of its
> > fanciest features have yet to be installed. Infrared devices in the
> > windshields will send signals that will hold some green lights for
> > rapid buses and make red lights turn green faster. Bus shelters,
> > outfitted with digital signs that tell passengers when the next bus
> > will arrive, will be installed in the next few weeks.
> >
> > "We're working all summer to get everything running nicely," Twichell
> > said. "Then, after Labor Day, when the kids return to school and
> > people go back to work, we'll start the marketing campaign."
> >
> > So far, riders seem to like the new rapid service, though they're
> > still getting used to the changes.
> >
> > "It was real fast," said Norman Johnson, a College of Alameda student
> > and basketball player who caught the bus in Emeryville and rode it to
> > downtown Oakland. "It's a big improvement."
> >
> > Others took a more skeptical view.
> >
> > "So this is the new rapid transit system," said one man who didn't
> > want to give his name. "Most other cities get rapid transit on
> > tracks."
> >
> > AC Transit's program, which cost $4.5 million to put on the road, is
> > modeled in part on Los Angeles' Metro Rapid, whose fire-engine red
> > buses have transformed bus travel in a city whose transit system is
> > more often ridiculed than copied.
> >
> > Metro Rapid has cut travel times by 25 percent and boosted ridership
> > by 40 percent.
> >
> > Visit the busy intersection of Vermont Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard
> > in the heat of a morning commute, and you'll forget you're in
> > car-crazy L.A. Hundreds of riders pile off buses on one corner, scurry
> > across a plaza and, with little or no wait, hop aboard other buses
> > that zip off toward their destinations.
> >
> > "To tell you the truth, I didn't think it was going to work when they
> > first started it," said Ray Alcantar, a Metro supervisor whose job is
> > to choreograph the flow of passengers and buses during the morning
> > commute at Vermont and Wilshire. "But it works pretty well, and people
> > really seem to like it."
> >
> > Passengers say the buses have sped their travels and made the bus an
> > alternative to driving.
> >
> > "It's better service," said Ciro Mojica, a San Fernando Valley
> > resident who rides to downtown. "It's a lot faster because you don't
> > stop at every street."
> >
> > Metro, Los Angeles's countywide transportation agency, started the
> > experiment after a study found that Angelenos wouldn't ride buses
> > because they were too slow. A subsequent study discovered that buses
> > spent half their travel time stopped.
> >
> > So in spring of 2000, Metro started running rapid buses on two lines
> > -- along Wilshire, which stretches across the city, and on Ventura
> > Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley.
> >
> > The expense, said Gephart, was minor -- especially compared with light
> > rail,
> >
> > which costs $20 million to $30 million a mile to build, or subways,
> > which cost $100 million to $300 million a mile. Los Angeles' rapid-bus
> > system carries a price tag of $200,000 to $250,000 a mile, he said.
> >
> > "It has a lot of impact," said Gephart. "For that kind of money, you
> > can get speed and frequency for the public. It's great."
> >
> > Metro Rapid has prompted visits from scores of U.S. transit agencies,
> > including those in the Bay Area, eager to duplicate Los Angeles'
> > unexpected success.
> >
> > And while Gephart admits it's strange to have people visiting Los
> > Angeles to learn about transit -- "we're not exactly known for our
> > transit system," he says -- he realizes that Metro Rapid offers hope
> > to other cities.
> >
> > "If we can build a successful rapid bus system in L.A., where everyone
> > loves cars," he said, "anybody can do it."

"Stan de SD" <standesd@earthlink.net> wrote in message news:<jxDSa.111483$Io.9554848@newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net>...
> Stefan,
> 
> We appreciate your contribution, but this was posted at least 3 times. Once
> would suffice.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
Sorry: I thought it hadn't been automatically
cross-posted to all 3 groups, so I did it
manually.  (Blush)  My apologies.

Stefan Ewing