When all is said and done about BRT, one simple fact remains: when you build a rail transit system, it’s very hard to build it wrong. When you build a BRT, it’s very hard to build it right.
The reasons lie in the planning and execution. Rail is known to be complex and expensive. Extensive planning hones every point to the finest possible specificity- the general route, the specific route, the gradients and curvatures, platform lengths etc ad infinitum. Governing bodies deliberate long and painfully on the wisdom of the choice.
In contrast, BRT is presented as something economical that can be tried out with a few routes and buses, and expanded in a haphazard way if it seems to be working. Naturally this almost begs for ‘bait and switch’ proposals, and failures are rationalized and explained away with equal facility. In fact, BRT calls to mind the oldest excuse in the book for socialism (or libertarianism)- it’s never really been tried. All of those previous efforts were only partial efforts.
The world has literally hundreds of successful rail transit systems, and only a handful of ‘real’ BRT systems, making it hard to say what exactly, besides third-world pay standards and crush loading factors, might make BRT a success.
For all I know there may be a BRT system that would work. But the chances are pretty good that it would never work as well as a rail system built in the same location. It’s just human nature.
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