BRTHandbook_p01_cover:BRTHandbook_p01 26/10/11 18:35 Page 1 A review of key developments 2011/12 Bus Rapid Transit Has Arrived • World’s longest system opens in Cambridge • Setting standards in Belfast • BRT for low-density suburbs • Ridership results from Adelaide • Achieving quality in ticketing and information Published by Supported by The Handbook BRTHandbook_p02-03_contents:BRTHandbook_p02-03 26/10/11 18:40 Page 2 BRTHandbook_p02-03_contents:BRTHandbook_p02-03 26/10/11 18:40 Page 3 Introduction. 3 The belated but successful opening of the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway has given a real shot in the arm to BRT in the UK, says Rik Thomas he mood of optimism at the BRTuk made being not that far short of a quarter to consultation on its ambitious three- conference in Cambridge in of a million in the first month alone. corridor network of BRT lines, and those are TSeptember was unmistakable. True, a But there was more to it than a bunch of just the projects that were discussed in very large part of this optimism was relieved Cambridgians, because it does detail by speakers at the Cambridge generated by politicians and officers at seem as if a significant number of green conference. Cambridgeshire County Council who, after shoots are about to burst through into the Last year the introduction to this annual a few weeks of tentatively sticking their sunlight more or less simultaneously in the review and handbook for BRTuk said: heads above the parapet once the CGB UK. BRT schemes in Luton and Hampshire “Overall the message is clear – BRT has a scheme opened in August, are now are, hopefully, within months of opening. bright future in the UK.” A year on, it is very beginning to positively bask in the reflected The South Essex scheme has put its bid into hard to argue with this assessment of glory of the scheme’s undoubted success, the Department for Transport and is now future prospects. with the number of passenger journeys holding its breath, and Belfast has gone out Rik Thomas, Handbook Editor P25 Getting smart on the street Contents..................... A first in smarcard ticketing has been keen to developments in Cambridgeshire P5 P13 2011: A momentous year Adelaide makes BRT work BRTuk chair Dr Bob Tebb examines the The city’s O-Bahn project has attracted a impact of the Cambridgeshire busway lot of car commuter trips P7 P16 Hants springs into action Bus Rapid Transit in the UK P26 The Gosport to Fareham busway is due to We chart BRT schemes in operation and The right kind of technology open in April next year those that are in the planning stage around Britain A mix of information and ticketing technology is improving the passenger’s lot P18 BRT in low-density suburbia Parsons Brinckerhoff looks at how BRT can be made to work in an autocentric world P28 A brave new world dawns The BRTuk conference in Cambridge look P10 forward to a promising future Belfast develops standards System standards have been key in the P23 evolution of Belfast’s BRT plans Waiting over in Cambridge It’s two years late and significantly over budget – so was it worth the effort? P30 BRT on the world stage New research shows just how strongly the BRT concept is developing globally HANDBOOK EDITOR BRTuk MEMBERSHIP BRTuk SECRETARY ADVERTISING PRINT & DISTRIBUTION ISBN 978-1-899650-67-5 Rik Thomas OFFICE David Eve, Daniel Simpson Hastings Printing E: [email protected] c/o Keith Gellaitry, Parsons Brinckerhoff E: [email protected] Company Ltd, Drury Lane, Brought to you by T: 0845 270 7878 Dundas & Wilson, c/o A Hopcroft, 6 T: 0845 270 7861 St Leonards-on-Sea, Saltire Court, Devonshire Square, East Sussex TN38 9BJ EDITORIAL OFFICES DESIGN & PRODUCTION 20 Castle Terrace, London EC2M 4YE & Landor Links, Apollo Edinburgh EH1 2EN Production Dept. House, 359 Kennington E: [email protected] © Landor LINKS Ltd & Lane, London SE11 5QY BRTuk Ltd 2011 BRThandbook_p04-06_Tebb:BRThandbook_p04-06 26/10/11 15:00 Page 4 BRThandbook_p04-06_Tebb:BRThandbook_p04-06 26/10/11 15:00 Page 5 5 BRT systems, described in this handbook, operational in the UK today. If I take 2011: A momentous- nothing else from my career, I like to think that I put at least some passengers back in the ‘bus’! Part of that strength is contained within year for BRT in the UK- the objectives and activities of BRTuk, a multi-disciplinary body that seeks to provide factual information and advice on BRT has, finally, with the opening of the what BRT can offer, and how it can best be progressed. This is not always obvious; Cambridgeshire busway, begun to make a serious easy-to-compile statistics on self- impact in the UK, explains BRTuk chair Dr Bob Tebb contained fixed-track rapid transit systems flow seemingly endlessly from governmental sources and pressure groups, giving them a sometimes-spurious y piece for last year’s handbook aura of dominance and respectability. was entitled 2011: The year that But how does one define the scale and MBRT comes of age?. Sadly that statistics of any BRT system – its ‘track’ question mark proved more perceptive mileage, its route mileage and its operating than I had then hoped but I need no fleet, as well as its patronage, are all ‘as question mark this year! There is no doubt long as a piece of string’. A good example whatsoever that, with the opening of the is the Bradford Manchester Road BRT Cambridgeshire busway on August 7, BRT scheme, which is primarily an urban radial really has arrived on the UK scene with a corridor but with passengers on its vengeance. services using it, for example, all the way But don’t ask me – ask its passengers; from Huddersfield to Leeds, and from they have been flocking to the new system Bradford to Halifax – urban, suburban and The opening of the Cambridgeshire busway marks and new travel opportunities in scenes a turning point for BRT in the UK, says Bob Tebb inter-urban limited-stop all rolled into one, unlike anything ever seen before on any and thus making the best possible use of mode of rapid transit in Britain. High-speed the provided infrastructure (reminds me of rapid transit – by bus (note that – BY BUS) tram-train without any of the – has arrived in Britain with 60mph High-speed rapid transit complications). running! – by bus (note that – BY This demonstrates again the supreme We should, and will, celebrate this flexibility and value-for-money of BRT. I success in East Anglia, but let us not forget BUS) – has arrived in look forward in the coming months to also the many longer-established BRT Britain with 60mph hearing of progress on the ground with schemes that continue to flourish, despite those schemes now past their gestation the gloom-mongerers of their day. I’m running period, and of other projects under proud to have been involved throughout in development. Cambridgeshire is hopefully so many of them – Leeds, Bradford, the catalyst to show the remaining sceptics Edinburgh, Swansea, Cambridgshire, etc. enhanced frequencies). that bus-based transit works – and works For example, the Leeds Scott Hall Road Somehow these two schemes today – supremely well. BRT scheme opened in September 1995 Leeds Scott Hall and Cambridgeshire – I hope you find this latest, 2011, edition with a dedicated new single-deck fleet of although far apart in operational start of the BRTuk handbook interesting and (then!) environmentally-friendly high-floor dates, scale and performance parameters, useful, and that this demonstrates that you Euro 1 buses, driven by a dedicated team of epitomise not just the success of BRT but are part of a mainstream transit industry. drivers and painted in a special silver livery also my own personal satisfaction with, I finish this year as I concluded last year with blue and red trim, unique in the city. and deep involvement in, a career in transit – good luck for the future – and please This September, this BRT corridor will be development. When I started ‘tub- continue to support BRTuk in the uncertain completely refreshed with a complete new thumping’ the concept of BRT (which at months ahead. ■ dedicated fleet of double-deck, leather- that time I called BEST – Bus ExpresS seated, low-floor, hybrid buses, again with Transit) in 1987 I felt very much a lone a dedicated team of drivers (one of whom voice in the then-wilderness of doom and remains from that first day in 1995!) and gloom as bus services declined across the Dr Bob Tebb is chair of BRTuk and specially painted in a new distinctive silver country. operations technical manager for livery with blue and pink trim (sounds Fortunately, other like-minded FirstGroup’s UK bus division. A long-time familiar!), once again unique in the city. individuals from operators, local advocate of Bus Rapid Transit in the UK, he Infrastructure improvements are in hand authorities, manufacturers, and was heavily involved in the introduction of too and patronage growth continues apace consultants were in, or joined, the fray, the guided busway schemes in West (hence double-deck for single-deck, and leading to the splendid and lengthy list of Yorkshire in the 1990s. BRThandbook_p04-06_Tebb:BRThandbook_p04-06 26/10/11 15:00 Page 6 BRThandbook_p07-09_Hants:BRThandbook_p07-09 26/10/11 15:00 Page 7 7 Hampshire BRT prepares to- spring into action- Hampshire County Council’s £24m dedicated busway between Gosport and Fareham has been a long time coming, but the team delivering it is confident that, when it opens in April 2012, it will have been worth the wait inanced with £20m from the Government’s communities Finfrastructure fund and £4m from the county council’s capital programme, the scheme’s full title is the South East Hampshire Bus Rapid Transit, Phase 1, Fareham to Gosport.