Transit agencies have to balance the bus
rapid transit characteristics they want with
what they can aff ord and with what the cities
they operate through can commit.
By Maile Bucher T
O ACHIEVE THE PERFORmance
and benefi ts of its more
expensive rail counterpart
while maintaining the fl exibility
of a bus service, BRT
employs a number of key characteristics.
However, these elements
are customized by agencies to best
meet the needs of the community.
Building on a service
Th e Massachusetts Bay Transportation
Authority’s (MBTA) BRT is
the Silver Line, with fi ve diff erent
routes along two lines. Each route
of the high-capacity bus line was
built in a separate phase.
Th e latest line, the SL3-Chelsea,
opened on April 21 of this
year. Th e line provides more effi
cient service for riders headed
to Chelsea, East Boston, Logan
Airport, the Seaport District
and to South Station by off ering
fewer stops and traveling in an
exclusive bus lane in Chelsea to
avoid traffi c.
Construction of the $54.7
million SL3-Chelsea route began
in 2015 and was managed by the
Massachusetts Department of
Transportation’s Highway Division
and jointly funded by the
MBTA and Mass DOT.
30 | Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | JUNE 2018
MBTA Manager of Transit
Planning Scott Hamwey explained
that two Silver Line routes
started about 15 years ago and one
of those, the Washington Street
corridor, had a dedicated lane for
a signifi cant portion of the route.
“One critique as a result of the
transit project was that the dedicated
lanes were in places that
there was not a lot of traffi c,” he
said. “Th e places where there was
a lot more congestion, we weren’t
able to have street space from the
city in order to provide a faster
service in those areas.”
Having areas with priority
traffi c was more expensive to implement,
but they’re having more
success now thanks to a dedicated
bus lane pilot project.
“We have a dedicated bus lane
piloted a year and a half ago in the
city of Everett during rush hour.
Th at was really successful and the
city quickly committed to making it
permanent.” He added, “We started
to see a lot more opportunities for
those kinds of services.”
First-time BRT
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Metropolitan
Tulsa Transit Authority
(Tulsa Transit) is currently in the
process of creating its fi rst BRT,
Aero, a nod to Tulsa’s aerospace
industry. Th e initial route will run
along its current Peoria route, one
of its highest ridership routes.
Th e current service along the
Peoria corridor is a 30-minute,
standard fi xed-route service. By
August 2019, they anticipate the
new BRT service being up and
Exploring the Diff erent
Aspects of BRT
MBTA
THE CHELSEA
line has stations
placed in higher
capacity areas.
MBTA’S BUSES
display the
same branding
as the original
buses that were
introduced onto
the initial Silver
Line.
MBTA
/MassTransitmag.com