Mexico City’s BRT. Photo by World Resources Institute on Flickr.

Many local leaders have proposed rapid buses of one kind or another. WMATA has the existing 79 express bus on Georgia Avenue, and has proposed rapid bus corridors. Montgomery Councilmember Marc Elrich has his own rapid bus plan. The Purple Line alternatives included bus options, as does the Corridor Cities Transitway. A northern Circulator would make limited stops. Which of these is Bus Rapid Transit and which is just a faster bus?

This confusion clouds debates over BRT. Elrich’s ideas might be just what Montgomery County needs, but they won’t bring Bogotá‘s TransMilenio to Silver Spring. If (say) Fairfax puts in a few colored stripes on the pavement and calls it a Priority Bus Corridor, we haven’t really achieved Metro’s vision. Sometimes BRT is the best solution for an area. But we should understand each proposal and what it will and won’t accomplish.

BRT is a continuum, and we need the language to talk about it that way. Mark Gorton, publisher of Streetsblog and founder of its parent, The Open Planning Project, once suggested a rating system for rapid buses. We could evaluate each on objective factors and come up with a score. Maybe, taking a page from LEED, we’d call lines above a certain score “Silver BRT”, “Gold BRT”, or “Platinum BRT”.

Such a rating system could help distinguish proposals. Metro could set a policy of building priority bus corridors in those areas where the jurisdictions are willing to do enough street improvements to make them (say) Gold BRT. We can compare Elrich’s proposals, whether they’re Platinum BRT, Silver BRT, or Lump Of Coal BRT, to comparable systems around the world.

Should we take a stab at developing this rating system? Here are some ideas for characteristics. Some are very specific, others vaguer. We need to come up with a list that’s all very specific and all possible to compute, ideally facts that the local agencies for existing BRT lines already know.

Transitway design:

  • The percentage of the route that’s completely grade-separated
  • The percentage that’s closed to traffic but pedestrians can cross
  • The percentage that’s just enforced with restrictions but traffic can enter
  • The number of signal priority signals along the route
  • The number of non-signal priority signals along the route
  • Queue jumper lanes near signals when operating in mixed traffic

Stations:

  • Percentage of stations where people can pay ahead of time
  • Use of proof-of-payment versus traditional tickets
  • Percentage of stations with a fare controlled boarding area
  • Percentage of stations with a weatherproof enclosed waiting area, or just a covered area
  • Percentage of stations with digital displays showing next arrivals

Vehicles:

  • Whether vehicles have low floors
  • The environmental footprint of the vehicles
  • Acceleration profile
  • Sitting and standing capacity per train

Service frequency:

  • The total number of operating hours per day
  • The trains per hour during the peak morning hour
  • The TPH during the midday hour with the lowest service
  • The TPH during the weekend hour with the lowest service
  • The average TPH over all operating hours
  • etc.

Surrounding area:

  • The average number of residents within 1/4 mile of each station
  • The average number of jobs within 1/4 mile of each station
  • Same for 1/2 mile, etc.
  • Numbers of restaurants, bars, shopping destinations, etc. nearby
  • The opportunity for future development within 1/4 mile of stations

Other topics:

  • Price of fares
  • Something about maintenance facilities? Turnaround areas?

What else? What do you think of these?

If we want to devise this system, we have to first identify a good list of facts to collect. Then, we need to collect them for a good number of existing BRT systems. We then can design a formula to circulate for feedback.

If the formula works right, it could even apply to light rail. Perhaps it could help compare light rail and BRT alternatives for projects like the Purple Line or Corridor Cities Transitway. But that would also open up a huge can of worms, inviting criticism from bus and rail boosters who might think the formula tilts toward the other mode. Better to start with an apples-to-apples bus rating system, then an oranges-to-oranges light rail and streetcar rating system. Once both have some credibility, it might be possible to align the scores so a Platinum Bus is always better than a Gold Rail which beats a Silver Bus.