BRT planning tool for small and medium-sized cities
The project aims to identify the collaborative challenges in a BRT planning process and explore to what extent these challenges are addressed by the BRT planning tool. The results will be used, together with input from other recent studies, to update and enhance the BRT planning tool. Simultaneously, it should be made more accessible to both a wider Swedish audience, e.g. for educational purposes, and to international stakeholders.
The tool is aimed at the following areas of use:
- A way to concretise ideas about BRT and BRT-inspired projects.
- A platform for discussions about the level of ambition in various areas.
- A tool to ensure cohesion and create a unified concept across different sections and
areas. - A basis for implementation agreements – and subsequently a tool for evaluating
compliance with these agreements
Background
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is an internationally established planning concept aimed at achieving high-quality bus services. Around the turn of the millennium and during the following decade, there was a significant expansion in the number of BRT systems worldwide, with implementations in cities such as Bogotá, Jakarta, and Guangzhou being highlighted as success stories. These international BRT role models have characteristics similar to metros, but in Europe (where most larger cities have long-established metro and light rail systems), BRT has a different niche; as a complement to rail transport in larger cities or as the backbone of public transport in small and medium-sized cities. It still involves high-quality bus services, but on a smaller scale. This means that European BRT is somewhat different from conventional BRT, whose definition largely relies on bus infrastructure. With the lack of a common understanding of what BRT is in the European context, there is a risk that expectations at the beginning of each BRT project differ among the various involved stakeholders. This underscores the need for a planning tool that can facilitate dialogue and negotiation.
In Sweden, the work to adapt the BRT concept to more small-scale conditions has been ongoing for about a decade, starting with a set of guidelines (X2AB, 2015) that were later transformed into a scorecard or ‘assessment tool’. After a few years of use in practical planning situations, it became apparent that a revision of the scorecard was needed, which led to an update, now called ‘planning tool’.
Already when the planning tool was published, it was announced that further adjustments and supplements could be expected. Since then, several relevant studies have been carried out, or are planned for the near future, with implications for the planning tool.
Project leader: Joel Hansson, Lund University
Also participating: Jakob Allansson, Lund University