From oil dependence to local resilience

Bus Rapid Transit

I have been campaigning for over 8 years to have the bus rapid transit concept investigated in Christchurch by Environment Canterbury and Council. While Auckland and Wellington might have a case for rail (based on size, for Auckland; and on geographic footprint, Wellington) it is just a non-starter in Christchurch.
If we take the outermost half of the population in Christchurch, they don't live up long narrow corridors, as in greater Wellington but in a collar of outer suburbs. Nor is the distance huge, even Rangiora is close. This footprint suits having five or six bus rapid transit corridor trunks, each branching out into conventional doorstep bus routes to two or three terminii. Instead of one hugely expensive rail or light rail system, in effect this system offers peak time very fast (non-stop) direct runs into the city from about 15 different outer routes areas. The key is creating not just bus priority traffic lights and on-street bus lanes, but also link corridors, green boulevards cut between existing streets by removing several houses, to give buses uncontestable advantage over cars in rapid access.

Tags: bus rapid transit, buses, light rail, public transport, trains, transit

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Kate and Olly on May 6, 2010 at 13:55

You are so very right to highlight the fact that no city is the same and there will consequently not be a one size fits all mass transit system for every city. New Zealand has developed a series of very different cities with different characters but I feel that there is at least one issue that can benefit them all. Pedestrianisation of urban areas goes hand in hand with mass transit improvement thinking. I see more and more examples of cities (Copenhagen for example) embracing clean and higher living standards for its population by turning to pedestrian friendly initiatives.

I think that perhaps your quest for an improved bus service to the various outer route areas woudl benefit from a consideration of making the outer and central areas more focused on local needs and economies? With less people having to drive from one to the other to get what they need then there is less traffic for the buses to compete with. This reduces travel times and perhaps over time reducing the number of car owners as the need for them is no longer essential.

With your work towards more reliable, frequent and dense bus routes coupled with this transition from essential car ownership to occasional travel needs, your bus routes have more customers too.
I don't put this forward as a "this will fix everything" comment but I think that pedestrianisation can potentially benefit any public transport reform.

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