Buses with High Level of Service Fundam ental characteristics and recom m endations for decision-making and research Results from 35 European cities Final report ± COST action TU 0603 (October 2007 ± October 2011) Edited by: Brendan Finn (ETTS Ltd), Odile H eddebaut (IFSTTA R DEST), Arno Kerkhof (UITP), François Ram baud (CERTU), O scar Sbert Lozano (C onsultant), Claude Soulas (IFSTTA R GRETTIA). The participants of this COST action, from 14 EU countries, are contributors - list page 4. COST is supported by the EU RTD Fram ew ork program m e ESF provides the COST Office through an EC contract. Forew ord This publication is supported by COST COST- the acronym for European COoperation in Science and Technology- is the oldest and widest European intergovernm ental network for cooperation in research. Established by the Ministerial Conference in N ovem ber 1971, COST is presently used by the scientific com m unities of 35 European countries to cooperate in com m on research projects supported by national funds. The funds provided by COST - less than 1% of the total value of the projects - support the COST cooperation networks (COST Actions) through which, with EUR 30 million per year, more than 30 000 European scientists are involved in research having a total value which exceeds EUR 2 billion per year. This is the financial worth of the European added value which COST achieves. A "bottom up approach" (the initiative of launching a COST Action com es from the European scientists them - selves), "à la carte participation" (only countries interested in the Action participate), "equality of access" (par- ticipation is open also to the scientific com m unities of countries not belonging to the European U nion) and "flexible structure" (easy implem entation and light m anagem ent of the research initiatives) are the main charac- teristics of COST. As precursor of advanced multidisciplinary research COST has a very important role for the realisation of the European Research Area (ERA) anticipating and com plem enting the activities of the Fram ew ork Program m es, constituting a "bridge" tow ards the scientific com m unities of em erging countries, increasing the m obility of researchers across Europe and fostering the establishm ent of "N etworks of E xcellence" in m any key scientific dom ains such as: Biom edicine and M olecular Biosciences; Food and A griculture; Forests, their Products and Services; Materials, Physical and N anosciences; Chemistry and M olecular Sciences and T echnologies; Earth System Science and Environm ental M anagem ent; Information and Communication Technologies; Transport and Urban Developm ent; Individuals, Societies, Cultures and H ealth. It covers basic and more applied research and also addresses issues of pre-normative nature or of societal importance. For further information, http://www.cost.esf.org Legal notice by COST Office: Neither the COST Office nor any person acting on its behalf is responsible for the use which might be made of the information contained in this publication. The COST Office is not responsible for the external websites re- ferred to in this publication. Note to the Reader: This book is the final report of our COST action; it is not a guide book. It is written by different hands by several groups. Inevitably there are som e overlaps of content, som e diversity in perspective and style. The editors decided to retain these different "voices" rather than to stream line. Within such a new and wide dom ain, there are different ways to analyse the sam e item s. It is impor- tant, for a know ledge-sharing COST Action, that you can find different thoughts regarding som e item s in this very wide subject of BHLS. Credit photo: the C O ST TU 0603 group, rem inded page 4 - )RU DQ\ XVH RI FRQWHQW WKH VRXUFH ³IURP COST action TU 603 BHLS - Bus with a high level of serviFH´- should be mentioned. 2 Executive summary All across Europe, new urban bus schem es of high quality are being implem ented. These are know n as BHLS ± ³%XVZLWK+LJK/HYHORI6HUYLFH´7KH\DUHQRWQHFHVVDULO\QHZVROXWLRQVRUVRPHLQQRYa- tive form of transport looking for a market. Many BHLS system s restore the efficiency buses had for most of the 20th Century when there were no congestion problem s. They improve the network attrac- tivity with the addition of significant investment in system reliability, custom er support and marketing. The bus is the primary form of public transport both in Europe and globally1. Where dem and is high it is normally transported by Metro and LRT. One of the greatest paradoxes of modern transport plan- ning has been the excessive focus on very expensive projects of limited scope (although effective at their point of application), while ignoring the degraded conditions for the vast majority of public transport custom ers. T hese are the result of poor urban structure and form, and greatly exacerbated by urban spraw l. This has contributed to the degradation of econom ic and financial conditions of public transport in the last four decades of the 20th century, with great loss from public to private forms of transport. Very large public expenditures are then required to try to regain fractions of the lost busi- ness. BHLS can help to change part of this context, and it is now important to understand the key fac- tors for the bus revival. BHLS is a very important response to decades of system atic neglect of the bus m ode. It provides a toolbox of relatively modest, cost-effective measures that can be deployed in the biggest or sm allest urban areas. It does not always require a very large capital investment, and it blends good operational practice with appropriate technologies. If these modest changes to the operating conditions of the bus are deployed on a very wide scale across Europe, it will im pact the daily lives of tens of millions of Europeans and will attract many car users from cars. Such changes needs to focus also in urban plan- ning regeneration, land use, space re-sharing, one of the biggest challenges for achieving successes. Bus based system s, with different configuration and called with different acronym s are already seen in Ireland, France, Spain, Sw eden, Germany, UK, Netherlands, Finland and other places make for a con- vincing argum ent that we already have a very wide range of excellent transferable solutions, and that it appears that there is no European environm ent in which BHLS cannot be deployed. Such system s are called BRT in North America and developing or under-developed countries due to the great support of International agencies, like the World B ank since the 1990s. Since that period, the concept BRT has been written, and a wide bibliography is now available show ing the feedbacks from the most capacitive system s in the world, like the TransM ilenio in Bogotá, in which the gain of aver- age speed and ridership can be very important. However, we are in Europe into differing econom ic, cultural, political and social conditions. Our cities are also different. This report presents the synthesis of 4 years of exchanges betw een 14 European countries about their BHLS experiences. The objectives were shortly: - To highlight the strengths and the various scopes of the BHLS market, by analysing 35 Euro- pean BHLS schem es (of which 25 were visited and docum ented by this COST action). - 7RGHILQHVRPHXVHIXOPHWKRGWRROVVXFKDVWKH³V\VWHP´DSSURDFKZLWKLWVNH\SHUIRUPDQFH indicators and conflicting requirem ents. - To define what could cover the High Level of Service for such m eans of transport. - To collect key recom m endations / m essages for prom oting and strengthening this market. The main statem ents pointed can be shortly sum m arized as follow s, the interest: - To be aw are of the wide range of BHLS solutions, where tram and buses can be even mixed on sam e corridors; a long term approach can lead at several levels of services. - 7RNHHSD³V\VWHP´DSSURDFKDOVRDWQHWZRUNVFDOHZKLOHLPSURYLQJWKHDFWive modes, walk- ing and biking. 1 Around 50% of the vehicle-km are made by bus in EU cities with over 250 000 inhabitants, and the percentage attains 100% in sm all and medium sized cities. The European average of the bus market share is estimated at 50 to 60% . Worldw ide, it is 80% - source UITP. 3 - To continue the extensive deploym ent of BHLS lines, to develop BHLS know ledge networks, it is essential to get political support at an early stage. - To integrate the BHLS within the urban planning and to gain citizen and com m unity accep- tance. - To provide priority for BHLS in its right of way, on the sam e basis as a tram w ay. Where rele- vant, to adapt road traffic regulations and to harmonize signage for tram w ay and BHLS priori- ty. - To improve the EU bus regulation for BHLS features ± e.g. for bi-articulated buses, for doors at both sides, for bicycle racks at the vehicle-IURQW DVLQ86$&DQDGD « - To prom ote further research and evaluation regarding B H L S com ponents such as econom ic, social, urban and environm ental impacts, quality m easurem ents, safety, specific B H L S bus market. Acknowledgem ents During this C O ST action, from O ctober 2007 up to N ovem ber 2011, 14 EU countries have been involved: Belgium , C zech R epublic, France, Germ any, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sw eden, Sw itzerland and United Kingdom . /LVWRIWKH³&267´SDUWLFLSDQWVFRQWULEXWRUVRIWKLV&267DFWLRQDQGWKLVILQDOUHSRUW C ountry N am e - office R ole in the project BE Arno Kerkhof, UITP ± Brussels M C , WG2 Jan Spousta, and Vlasta R ehnova CDV MC, WG3 CZ Jan Barchanek,