Project Title: Improving Efficiency and Reliability of Bus Rapid Transit

Research Needs: Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is an innovative, high capacity, lower cost public transit solution that can significantly improve mobility (National BRT institute, 2014). It is usually defined as an integrated system with a strong, transit-oriented identity, which consists of running ways (very often exclusive lanes), specially designed rail-like stations, high-capacity low-floor vehicles, improved services, and state-of-the-art Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) (Levinson et al., 2003). It provides similar quality of service as rail transit, at much lower construction and operational costs to the transit organization, and retains the flexibility of buses. BRT has the potential to significantly improve efficiency and reliability of public transit, which leads to an increase in the ridership. Certain operational strategies significantly help BRT in improving travel times, speeds and headway adherence, with the most beneficial seen from the implementation of Transit Signal Priority (TSP) and off-board fare collection (Zlatkovic et al. 2010). ITS technologies, such as GPS tracking devices, Automated Passenger Counters (APC), Ticket Vending Machines (TVM), advanced detection systems, signal performance monitoring systems etc., are now widely used by transit and state DOT agencies. These systems, b