RALEIGH -- As the Triangle examines future transit options, it should take a serious look at setting up busways. And a far-away city - Brisbane, Australia - is a good place to watch them work.
This summer I led a study-abroad class of civil engineering students to Australia. One purpose was to explore technologies that we do not routinely encounter in North Carolina or in the United States. In Brisbane, a lovely city of 2 million in on Australia's eastern coast, one exotic technology that we encountered was an extensive system of busways - roads carrying only buses.
Many of us felt that this system was superior to light rail, subways or any other type of rail transit we had seen elsewhere, and that the Triangle would be doing itself a great disservice to choose rail transit without at least a thorough look at busways for moving people within our region. (The high-speed rail proposal for travel between East Coast cities is a separate matter).
At the heart of the Brisbane busway system is a two-lane pavement that carries only buses. Busway shoulders seemed no more than 4 feet or so wide, so the whole busway was perhaps 32 feet wide. The buses are normal transit buses, albeit quieter versions burning cleaner fuel, with low floors and wide doors for easy boarding. On popular routes the vehicles are hinged versions with higher capacities.
Busway stations are similar to rail stations with roofs, benches, ticket machines and electronic signs showing when the next few buses will arrive. Road and station designs ensure that pedestrians never have to cross the bus route. The busways have traffic signals where a bridge or tunnel is not feasible, but for the most part buses run fast, separated from the congested local streets and motorways.
The advantages of a busway over rail transit system are immediately obvious. Because buses can make tighter turns and climb steeper grades than trains, the busway can fit into tighter spaces than rail can. Brisbane did not have to tear itself up to install its busway. The route mostly follows the railroad, but designers used the busway's flexibility to place it sometimes in a tunnel, sometimes on a bridge and sometimes at grade.
A busway has a great advantage over a rail system during implementation. It can be built a little at a time, with each mile being immediately useful to carry the bus routes in the area more quickly than on the streets. Other than as a tourist amusement, a mile or two of rail line is useless.
With a busway, the same vehicle serves both long distance lines and shorter circulation functions. Buses reaching the end of the busway move seamlessly to the surface streets and begin circulating to get passengers near their destinations. Rail transit, in contrast, often involves a transfer from the train to the bus. In the Triangle, no-transfer circulators would be useful to get passengers around the downtowns, around the university campuses, around the state fairgrounds and stadium complex, to the airport, and, especially, around RTP.
Busways offer plenty of passenger capacity, far more than the Triangle would be able to use in the foreseeable future. With line-haul speeds comparable to rail transit, more frequent buses and fewer transfers, service in Brisbane is of a generally higher quality than rail. We also observed that a busway can affect development patterns: Brisbane sported impressive concentrations of development around stations. If a busway generates great transit patronage, much of bus right-of-way could be converted to rail use.
It is good to travel and see how others solve problems similar to those we face. On our trip to Australia, we learned a great lesson in efficient public transit. After observing the Brisbane busways, we hope that the Triangle does not jump on the rail transit bandwagon without serious investigation of busways. They may not be as exciting as rail transit - and may not keep us in lockstep with Charlotte, Atlanta and Washington, D.C. - but in Brisbane they looked like the smart choice.
Joseph E. Hummer is professor of civil engineering at N.C. State University.
