WORKING PAPER BUS RAPID TRANSIT IN CHINA: A COMPARISON OF DESIGN FEATURES WITH INTERNATIONAL SYSTEMS JUAN MIGUEL VELÁSQUEZ, THET HEIN TUN, DARIO HIDALGO, CAMILA RAMOS, PABLO GUARDA, ZHONG GUO, AND XUMEI CHEN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Globally, bus rapid transit (BRT) has proved itself to CONTENTS be a high-capacity public transport mode that can be Executive Summary .......................................1 implemented in short time frames and at relatively low 1. Introduction ............................................. 2 capital cost. Its benefits—reducing greenhouse gas and local air pollutant emissions, improving traffic safety, and 2. Overview of BRT Systems in China ................... 5 reducing passenger travel times—are well documented. 3. Review of the Literature .............................. 10 4. Methodology ............................................11 BRT can play an important role in China, contributing to 5. Findings and the Way Forward ...................... 15 sustainability in the urban transport sector and beyond. Recognizing its importance, China has set a national 6. Conclusion .............................................26 goal of implementing 5,000 kilometers of BRT by 2020 Appendix .................................................. 27 (MOT 2013a). As of 2015, China had implemented 2,991 References ...............................................28 kilometers of BRT, according to the China Academy of Endnotes.................................................. 31 Transportation Sciences. To reach its goal, it will therefore Abbreviations 31 need to build more than 2,000 kilometers of BRT ............................................ corridors in the next three years. Acknowledgments .......................................32 BRT in China is still considered a second-class service Working Papers contain preliminary research, analysis, option, after urban metros and private vehicles (Deng findings, and recommendations. They are circulated to et al. 2013; Zeng 2013). Changing people’s perception stimulate timely discussion and critical feedback, and to and demonstrating that BRT represents a viable public influence ongoing debate on emerging issues. Working transport mode will require improving the design papers may eventually be published in another form and and performance of BRT in China so that both meet their content may be revised. international standards. Suggested Citation: Velásquez, J. M., T. H. Tun, D. Hidalgo, C. Ramos, P. Guarda, Z. Guo, and X. Chen. 2017. "Bus Rapid Transit in China: A Comparison of Design Features with International Systems." Working Paper. Washington, DC: World Resources Institute. Available online at: http://www.wri.org/publication/ bus-rapid-transit-in-china. WORKING PAPER | October 2017 | 1 Bus Rapid Transit in China: A Comparison of Design Features with International Systems Research Approach Distance between stations: BRT systems can balance ▪ coverage and speed by spacing stations at an optimal This working paper benchmarks China’s BRT systems distance. Many countries space stations 300 to 800 meters against systems in other countries based on the indicators apart, which results in reasonable walking distances used by the Institute for Transportation and Development and rapid operation of the bus system (ITDP 2014a). Policy (ITDP). It assesses 30 of the 38 ITDP indicators, based on their relevance to design characteristics. The As part of best practices, Chinese BRT systems also need to reduce study uses analysis of variance to compare the differences emissions and ensure that all passengers, including passengers between mean Chinese and international BRT, based on with special needs, can access and use stations and buses. 99 data points representing 59 cities (18 in China) and 21 countries. 1. INTRODUCTION China’s urbanization rate reached 57 percent by the end Key Findings of 2016 (World Bank 2017); it is forecasted to reach 70 The paper identifies 11 indicators for which Chinese percent (almost 1 billion people) by 2030 (UNDP China BRT systems exhibit statistically significant lower scores 2013). The number of registered motor vehicles reached than their international counterparts (Figure ES-1). These 154 million by the end of 2014 and is projected to exceed indicators include the following: 200 million by 2020 (EU SME Centre 2015). Intersection treatment: China can improve the ▪ way intersections function by giving more priority to If no decisive action is taken, these trends will result in a BRT buses and reducing bus travel times by employing 123 percent growth in vehicle kilometers traveled between functional transit signal priority systems and 2010 and 2030 (IEA 2016), with large negative impacts prohibiting all or most turns across the BRT busway. on congestion, air pollution, energy consumption, and traffic fatalities. The challenge for Chinese policymakers is Express or limited-stop services and passing therefore to serve growing demand for mobility through ▪ lanes: Increasing the number of BRT systems with a mix of public transit modes, which can address these express or limited-stop service would enable faster urgent challenges and help mitigate climate change. service and increase passenger capacity by reducing cycle times and reducing lines at stations. Passing Chinese policymakers have recognized the importance lanes at stations are needed to provide such services. of investing in public transport to shift away from Addition of these features where appropriate needs to road expansion plans, which constituted the core of reflect the urban context, including required capacity, transport planning in the 1990s. In 2011, the Ministry of availability of space, and travel patterns. Transport (MOT) launched the National Transit Metropolis Demonstration Project. One of its main aims was to increase Minimum station setback lengths: Providing the share of public transport to more than 50 percent in ▪ minimum station setback lengths can expedite BRT selected cities (Velásquez et al. 2016). By 2016, 37 Chinese services by enabling buses to stop for passenger cities had been selected to participate; more than 50 boarding and disembarkation, so that buses are not additional cities are projected to join by 2020 (MOT 2016). blocked by downstream buses at the intersection while waiting for traffic lights to turn green. As a result of leadership from the central government, 26 cities High-quality BRT in multiple high-demand had constructed metros by January 2016, and the government ▪ corridors: To fully realize the potential of BRT has approved another 39 cities for urban rail transit planning systems, where appropriate, systems should create (Goh 2016). Buses also play a very important part of mobility multicorridor and/or multimodal networks. The in Chinese cities, and some of these bus systems have a networks should serve high-demand corridors in higher mode share than metros. For example, Beijing’s cities by implementing median-aligned, dedicated metro, which is over 500 kilometers in length, carries 10 busways, especially in areas with the greatest roadway percent of commuting trips, compared with 25 percent congestion. For relevant cities (such as Guangzhou), carried by buses (Yang et al. 2017). In Chengdu, the allocating scarce corridor land resources more development of metro lines is still in its nascent stage; efficiently by giving higher priority to public transport residents there rely largely on the city’s extensive bus can help achieve high-quality services. networks, which account for almost 30 percent of all travel (Zhao et al. 2014). 2 | Bus Rapid Transit in China: A Comparison of Design Features with International Systems Figure ES-1 | International and Chinese Bus Rapid Transit: Findings from Analysis of Variance CATEGORY INDICATOR PERIOD 2013–14 BRT basics Off-board fare collection 25.7 Platform-level boarding 13.4 Busway alignment 0 Dedicated right-of-way -1.3 Intersection treatments -65 Service planning Control center 20.2 Hours of operation 10 Multiple routes 8.3 Located in top 10 corridors -13.4 Multicorridor network -21.1 Express, limited, and local services -24.8 Demand profile -54.6 Infastructure Pavement quality 24.1 Center stations 16.5 Minimizing bus emissions -29.3 Passing lanes at stations -31.4 Stations set back from intersections -54.1 Station design and Sliding doors in BRT stations 41.8 station-bus interface Number of doors on bus 14.1 Safe and comfortable stations 10.6 Docking bays and substops -7.2 Distances between stations -27.7 Comunications and marketing Passenger information 18.2 Branding 9.1 Integration and access Bicycle lanes 24.5 Integration with other public transport 13.1 Bicycle-sharing integration 1.7 Secure bicycle parking -7.1 Pedestrian access -35.5 Universal access -70.6 Statistically significant difference Yes No Notes: Sample size: 99 data points (23 in China and 76 in other countries). There is a 95 percent likelihood that these differences are not due to random chance. Source: Based on data from ITDP (2014c). WORKING PAPER | October 2017 | 3 Bus Rapid Transit in China: A Comparison of Design Features with International Systems The Importance of Bus Rapid Transit At the global scale, BRT has already proved its capacity to transport large numbers of passengers and to be China seems to be on the right track regarding bus rapid implementable in short time frames at a relatively low capital transit, or BRT (defined in Box 1). It seeks to implement cost. In addition to providing efficient transportation to millions 5,000