Bus Rapid Transit, Possibility for Application

Abstract

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is a high-quality bus-based transit system that provides fast, convenient and cost-effective mobility services. BRT achieves this through dedicated bus lanes, fast and high-frequency service, and a focus on marketing and customer service. This is a bus-based public transportation system designed to improve capacity and reliability over a conventional bus system. BRT aims to combine the capacity and speed of the train with the flexibility, lower cost and simplicity of the bus system. Fully implemented BRT systems have been proven popular with developing countries as a public transport mode that can offer high quality service comparable with LRT or even metro at lower costs. European cities are less enthusiastic in investing into BRT systems for several reasons. Many cites already have well developed rail public transport modes such as metro, LRT and tram. These rail systems offer good quality of service, have long tradition of usage and are well known to public, unlike BRT which is relatively new concept and often perceived with suspicion. In addition, there are cases when implementation of BRT projects become subject of political confrontations and battlefield of politicians. Such recent example is the city of Skopje where the newly elected major has stopped the BRT project despite the fact that project documentation and project financing has been already worked out.