© Association for European Transport and contributors 2010 1 SQUARING THE CIRCLE: THE BHLS CONCEPT

The transport system known as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) was launched in Curitiba, Brazil, in 1974 as a means of offering efficient and effective bus travel within the fast expanding city. This experience, together with other such Ottawa (since 1983) or Quito (since 1994), has proven to be an efficient and effective solution to mass transport. Throughout Europe similar experiences have started to be developed, but addressing a different concept in terms of quality of service. Indeed, bus systems such as the “trunk network”, in Sweden, the Metrobus, in Germany, or the BHNS (Bus à Haut Niveau de Service in France), approach the quality of service from a wider perspective than the BRT, as it considers aspects such as image and comfort, apart from speed, frequency or reliability. These new systems- BHLS (Buses with a High Quality of Service)- allow to combine quality of service of tramways with the lower costs and higher flexibility of bus systems, offering very interesting solutions in terms of accessibility, as well as a wide range of service levels, that allows the system to be adapted to the different urban contexts (size, population, density, etc) The economic situation we are facing has beard a lack of funds that, at the end, means an opportunity for BHLS, called to play an important role in public transport: less costs with the same quality of service seems to be a very attractive option. The aim of this article is to compare the different European experiences of tramways and BHLS, especially from the economic point of view, considering their respective costs, benefits and advantages