Bus Rapid Transit, Volume 2: Implementation Guidelines (2003) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 107-129
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From page 107... ...
6-1 CHAPTER 6 BRT VEHICLES BRT vehicles must be carefully planned and selected for a variety of reasons. Vehicles have a strong impact on every aspect of transit system performance, from ridership attraction to operating and maintenance costs.
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6-2 levels and planned service structure and frequencies. Vehicles ranging in length from 12.2 to 13.75 meters (40 to 45 feet)
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• Guidance systems, both mechanical and electronic, are available that can impart rail-like passenger boarding and alighting service at stations, reduce right-of-way requirements, and provide a more comfortable ride than vehicles that can only be steered. • Cost should be considered on a life-cycle basis because some of the features that add to initial acquisition costs (e.g., guidance, hybrid drives, stainless steel frames, and composite bodies)
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6-4 to be standing at or even beyond policy maximums (e.g., on longer "commuter express" routes operating on HOV lanes and/or transitways) , a lower standee density may be appropriate.
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6-5 (Illustration Credit: Irisbus North America) Figure 6-1.
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area around the doors on the Las Vegas vehicle is much clearer than it is one the Ottawa vehicle, easing circulation. Although both vehicles have essentially the same external dimensions, one has 7 boarding/alighting streams and 32 seats whereas the other has 5 streams and 54 seats.
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vehicles have the option of a door installed to the rear of the rear axle. Irrespective of how fares are collected, doors should be positioned and configured so that no single door (e.g., the front door)
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6-8 that heavy rail systems have passenger boarding and alighting times as low as 2 seconds per passenger. Boarding and alighting times for street running LRT, even where fares are paid off-board, are approximately 3 seconds per passenger.
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equivalent standing area merely because of the engine and drive train's intrusion into the vehicle. One of the reasons that many specialized BRT vehicles have electric drive trains utilizing hub-electric motors and single bogies with special, wide, high-load-limit tires is to avoid the packaging difficulties with internal combustion engines and mechanical transmissions requiring intrusive connecting drive shafts, differentials, and axles.
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From page 116... ...
As shown in Photo 6-K, a wide, no-step aisle supports circulation and makes it easier to access the rear of long, articulated vehicles. Photo 6-L illustrates no-step boarding and alighting, as enabled by precision docking through an optical guidance system.
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stations that match the vehicles' high floors unless a combination of doors is provided.
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From page 118... ...
have additional fuelling infrastructure costs compared with clean diesel vehicles. In the future, clean diesel engines using catalytic converters enabled by low-sulphur fuels and either CNG spark ignition or diesel hybrids promise an almost complete elimination of emissions as a planning and project development issue.
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second can be obtained with any type of vehicle, regardless of motive power. Electric traction allows high acceleration from a standing start, which is useful when there is frequent starting and stopping.
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bus. Dual mode vehicles are also more complex than conventional buses.
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mix emitted by internal combustion engines. Fuel cell technology promises to be an environmental boon for the transit industry as well as the entire large-vehicle industry because it can run on hydrogen created from a variety of renewable sources.
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6-16 Nova-Allison RTS Hybrid LS Diesel Orion-LMCS VI Hybrid Moss Gas New Flyer C4OLF CNG Series 50G Orion VCNG Series 50G Neoplan AN440T CNG L10280G NovaBUS RTS Moss Gas Series 50 Orion-LMCS VI Hybrid Diesel NovaBUS RTS Diesel Series 50 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 gram/mile (Chart Courtesy of Northeast Advanced Vehicle Coalition) Figure 6-7.
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6-17 Nova-Allison RTS Hybrid LS Diesel Orion-LMCS VI Hybrid Moss Gas New Flyer C4OLF CNG Series 50G Orion VCNG Series 50G Neoplan AN440T CNG L10 280G NovaBUS RTS Moss Gas Series 50 Orion-LMCS VI Hybrid Diesel NovaBUS RTS Diesel Series 50 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0 gram/mile (Chart Courtesy of Northeast Advanced Vehicle Coalition) 120.0 NOx NMOC (non-methane organic compounds)
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alighting times (up to 3.4 seconds per passenger) compared with no-step heavy rail systems (as low as 2.0 seconds)
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6-19 The system facilitates very tight trajectories (approximately 5 centimeters) , allowing close passing in the opposite direction and error-free steering along narrow streets.
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which all wheels follow the same track. This is the case with most tracked BRT vehicle systems.
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6-21 (Photo Credit: Barry Gyte, Brisbane, Australia) Photo 6-W.
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6-22 example, the plushest interior with the largest seats available might be required. Because specialized BRT vehicles are currently produced only in Europe and South America, they do not comply with Buy America requirements for 60% U.S.-produced content.
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From page 129... ...
vehicles with a different warranted life. As of this writing, this issue has not yet been fully resolved, but a change in overall investment policy to treat all BRT expenditures the same as expenditures for rail-based modes (as capacity and ridershipattracting enhancements eligible for "New Start" assistance)
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