Light Rail vs. Bus Rapid Transit - Battle of the Titans?: Ep. 2

Bus rapid transit in the U. S. is often touted as a cost-saving alternative to light rail. We cover the history and context of both systems in depth: light rail arose as a cost-effective way to reconstruct the rail systems of yore in a modern era of government. Bus rapid transit has a rockier history, starting in the U. S. but only really getting off the ground in South America; it then came back to the U. S. in cost-cut form. We explain what has gone wrong with modern American BRT and ask the raging question: should the competition between light rail and BRT even be a competition at all?

Links and stuffs

Twitter:   / theredline_pod  
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xIduYk...
Patreon:   / theredlinepodcasters  
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://www.trlpod.com/

Timestamps

00:00 Light rail vs. bus rapid transit, or should it even be a battle?
03:03 Theme song
03:33 Welcome & what we're talking about
04:24 Light rail transit (LRT) [3] [5] [6]
05:24 History of passenger rail
06:16 Modern light rail [4]
08:12 Success of light rail
09:04 Light rail vs. streetcar [10]
10:36 Ridership
11:14 Flexibility of light rail
12:48 Metro, if only
14:09 Characteristics of light rail
15:06 Capacity
15:52 Frequency
16:27 Stations & length
17:21 Bus rapid transit (BRT) [12]
17:59 What is BRT? [9]
19:08 Origins
20:00 Failures in ridership
20:42 Modern BRT (Brazil)
22:05 BRT enters the United States
23:06 Interests pushing for BRT [7]
24:07 South America loves BRT: TransMilenio
25:10 New York subway
25:50 Explosion of BRT, nothing wrong with excellent bus service
27:45 Flexibility of BRT
28:12 Iconic stations
28:58 Bendy buses, double-decker buses
29:53 Branded as different and faster than normal buses
31:06 LRT vs. BRT [8] [14] [16] [17] [22] [26]
31:26 Cost to build [25]
31:59 Vehicle cost, Made in America tax
32:52 Cost per mile
33:54 MBTA Silver Line [15]
34:50 Tracks aren't that expensive
36:20 Long-term costs
37:20 Real-world operating costs [13] [23]
38:48 Vehicle replacement
40:59 Light rail is cheaper overall
41:29 Attracting development
42:48 Real BRT isn't what's getting built [11] [19] [20] [21] [24]
43:57 BRT creep
44:39 Not a substitute for light rail
45:50 BRT in the U. S. is slow
47:05 Attracting ridership [1] [2] [18]
48:16 People want trains, qualitative factors
49:56 Meeting people from a fancy hotel
50:54 Car dependency
52:34 We are pro-improved bus service
54:02 Summary
54:18 Spotify, YouTube, website, Twitter, and Patreon plugs
54:53 Bye!

References

[1] https://lightrailnow.org/myths/m_lrt0...
[2] https://lightrailnow.org/news/n_den00...
[3] https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/30467
[4] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_r...
[7] https://www.dissentmagazine.org/artic...
[8] https://reason.org/transportation-new...
[9] https://www.itdp.org/library/standard...
[10] https://ggwash.org/view/36980/how-to-...
[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_rap...
[12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_rap...
[13] https://www.transit.dot.gov/ntd
[14] http://www.reconnectingamerica.org/as...
[15] http://archive.boston.com/news/local/...
[16] https://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2...
[17] https://lightrailnow.org/features/f_b...
[18] https://lightrailnow.org/facts/fa_brt...
[19] https://ggwash.org/view/8595/brt-cree...
[20] https://www.itdp.org/library/standard...
[21] https://ggwash.org/view/29962/the-us-...
[22] https://journalistsresource.org/econo...
[23] https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
[24] https://ggwash.org/view/8595/brt-cree...
[25] https://brtguide.itdp.org/branch/mast...
[26] https://www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta...