I'm just wondering about BRT in Toronto.
One pro about BRT lanes is that any bus route can use them. But, unless your building a transitway like in Ottawa, i think BRT doesn't improve service that much compared to an LRT.
Where I'm living now they have BRT on many major roads. They don't seem to give the buses signal priority here, because there are so many different buses using the bus lanes.
This seriously slows down the buses because of bunching at stations. Especially when the sections of the BRT lanes are like this:
major intersections (traffic signals without priority) -------- BRT station (traffic signal for pedestrian crossing with no priority)------------major intersection (traffic signal without priority)
The bunching and delay at these stations are pretty bad. I'm wondering if Toronto was to build BRT lanes, would they be used by several different routes or a single dedicated route.
The fact that LRT trains are longer, will be the only service operating in there lanes and can use signal priority make them a better choice.
The LRT trains are longer, thus more passengers per train. In BRT you need several buses to match the same service. Since there are more vehicles and more than one driver, BRT can be affected by the driver and the acceleration of the buses. What I'm trying to say is that there can be a lot of unneeded stop and go in BRT, especially when bunching occurs. In the BRT lanes I have seen, this has been the cases, especially when you are at stations with a line up of buses and transit signals without priority.
LRT seems better to me because there will only be LRT vehicles operating in the lanes, at scheduled intervals. They will pull into the station much like a subway and depart after a few seconds of boarding time. Buses will start to pull away, but are sometimes stopped by late passengers. The bus passengers are usually desperate to catch their bus because it might be awhile before the exact route they need will come again, but with LRT it will be just a few minutes before the next train comes.
Since the LRT are the only vehicles using the lanes and run on a more accurate schedule it makes transit signal priority possible. The train will approach the light, pass through with priority, and then the traffic will resume as normal until the next train comes. With BRT signal priority isn't possible unless it is used by a single dedicate route. If the lane is used by different bus routes, they will come early, late and in bunches and it will make signal priority almost impossible.
Any ways, I think BRT and LRT are both great improvements, but one thing I've noticed here in Korea is that they don't just build one transit option. Almost all the streets that have BRT have subway lines underneath them. I think this is a great approach. The buses fill the gaps between the subway stations or just be used over preference. I know if I'm going a long way I'll usually take the subway/express regional rail, but if I'm going someplace a few subway stops away I'll take a bus.
I think it highlights the importance of a network of different integrated systems not just one type.
LRT and BRT would be great additions to the Toronto system. If they could just build something...
I just want to also add, I don't know how long the planning took, but I saw them build a bus lane outside my apartment (i'm guessing around 5-10km) They moved all the utilities, took down pedestrian bridges over the roads, changed the sidewalks, built the stations, new intersections and started service in about 6-7 months.
