Enhanced bus
system proposed
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Published
Thursday, October 17, 2002, in the Contra Costa Times
For $2.5 billion, Bay Area could get 200,000 people
daily out of
cars, Transportation and Land Use Coalition report says
By Lisa Vorderbrueggen
Contra Costa Times
A Bay Area environmental group has called upon the region
to build a
high-tech, less-polluting bus network that operates like a
train but
at a fraction of the cost.
The Transportation and Land Use Coalition unveiled
Wednesday morning
a $2.5 billion bus rapid-transit system it says would lure
200,000
riders out of their cars every day.
"We're proposing a system in which public transit does not
just
compete with the automobile but in many cases beats it,"
said Stuart
Cohen, coalition executive director.
With its study, called "Revolutionizing Bay Area Transit
on a
Budget," the coalition positioned itself to lobby for a
share of
several pots of transportation money on the horizon.
In particular, the group has its eye on a bridge-toll hike
proposed
by state Sen. Don Perata, D-Alameda. Additionally, San
Francisco and
Contra Costa counties will soon ask voters to reauthorize
their half-
cent transportation sales taxes, which would generate
nearly $3
billion.
The coalition, composed of 90 environmental, social
justice and faith-
based organizations, wields considerable influence in
regional
transportation policy.
Its members helped shift cash into transit as part of
Alameda
County's sales-tax reauthorization in 2000.
It also put its stamp on the Bay Area's transportation
spending plan,
which dedicates $77 of every $100 in transportation
dollars for the
next 25 years to public transit. That's the highest
percentage of any
metropolitan area in the nation.
But the coalition emphatically opposes as too costly one
of the
largest chunks of cash earmarked for transit expansion:
multibillion-
dollar BART extensions to San Jose, Livermore and Antioch.
Bus rapid transit emulates what people love about trains
but without
costly and time-consuming rail construction, according to
the
coalition's report.
Passengers would board low- or zero-emission buses that
would use
dedicated lanes and signal interrupting technology to zip
past
ordinary traffic.
Specially designed transit stations with boarding
platforms and low-
floor buses would allow for a quick on and off, another
convenience
of a light rail or BART train.
Instead of the single door found in conventional city
buses, new
coaches would allow patrons to enter and depart through
several
entrances.
Satellite-tracking systems would allow transit agencies to
provide
riders with real-time bus arrival and departure schedules.
The Bay Area could build the system in a few years rather
than the
decade or more it can take to expand highways or extend
rail,
according to the study. Cities could easily expand or
alter it.
The coalition's three-part plan calls for:
* A full-scale bus rapid-transit network on 81 miles of
the region's
most congested streets such as Geary and Van Ness
corridors in San
Francisco and the International and Telegraph corridors in
the East
Bay.
* An enhanced bus network on 129 miles of urban and
suburban
corridors. Buses would not have dedicated corridors but
would use
signal priority, improved stations and low-floor vehicles
to give
passengers a time advantage over driving.
* An expanded express bus network on 275 miles of existing
car pool
lanes. It would build on a regional express bus system
launched in
September, which features 94 luxury buses. Buses could use
highway
shoulders to bypass congestion.
The group modeled its proposal after Los Angeles'
successful bus
rapid-transit system, where ridership has increased 40
percent in two
years. The city plans to add 24 routes.
AC Transit has the only bus rapid-transit proposal in the
Bay Area.
Its board seeks to build an 18-mile corridor from San
Leandro to
Berkeley -- at half the per-passenger cost of building a
light-rail
system -- but lacks the funds.
Curitiba, Brazil, built the first bus rapid-transit system
in the
1960s, but its popularity has spread recently.
Pittsburgh, Orlando and Miami have operating bus transit
systems.
Seattle; Eugene, Ore.; Las Vegas, Chicago; Boston and
several other
East Coast cities have bus networks under construction.
ON THE WEB
To view the report on a bus rapid-transit system, visit
http://www.transcoalition.org.
Lisa Vorderbrueggen covers transportation and land use.
Reach her at
925-945-4773 or lvorderb@c...
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