1. P ROJECT D ESCRIPTION
This report comprises activities developed within the BRT Observatory. This project is lead
by PUC Chile and EMBARQ Network teams with input from The University of Sydney,
and the participation of MIT and Instituto Tecnico Superior, Lisbon.
1.1
P ROJECT S UMMARY – M AY
TO
S EPTEMBER 2010
The BRT Observatory started on May 2010 and in the first five months advanced in the
following items:
1.1.1
Definition of BRT
After reviewing existing definitions we have developed the following definition for BRT: a
system that (i) operates with wheels on road surface and has (ii) high operational speed, (iii)
good frequency, and (iv) low headway, while including a unique (iv) marketing identity.
However, this definition is still under discussion. We agreed on leaving the definition
general enough to involve a large set of bus systems, but also develop a methodology to
rate the systems based on performance.
1.1.2
Identification of Supply Side and Performance Indicators for BRT Systems
The group devised a preliminary list of 434 BRT-corridor indicators grouped into 23
classes: Socio-demographic-economy; Transport Modal Profiles; BRT Infrastructure
overview; BRT interfaces with other modes; BRT system Specifications; Technology
(Information) Systems; Infrastructure Specification; Intersection treatment; Networks;
Vehicles; Stations, Stops; Fare Systems; Service and Fare Levels; Patronage Performance;
Costs; Ownership/Institutional Setting; Growth; Vehicle Performance; Surveys and
passenger communications; Safety; Branding and Image; Amenity; Customer Information
and Support. The list includes a preliminary definition for each indicator, units and whether
it will be used for shallow or in depth analysis. The list was compiled by University of
Sydney, with input from PUC and EMBARQ, and using previous experience. The group,
through PUC, has continued to work in eliminating redundancies and selecting a subset of
indicators for close review (definition, units, data collection effort, etc.).
1.1.3
Identification of the universe of bus systems around the world that have BRT
features
EMBARQ compiled a preliminary list of bus systems, with some or all the supply side
elements considered for BRT systems, namely bus lanes, stations, buses, information
technology, service and branding. The preliminary list encompasses 120 cities with BRT
and Bus Corridors. These BRT corridors will be observed under the shallow set of
indicators. The initial list with data was used to prepare the report “Status of the BRT
Industry”, which was presented to the CoE Members and Advisors on January, 2011. The
initial list was also used in presentations and paper submissions (see appendix).
1.1.4
Identification of cities for deep analysis
A list of 16 cities has been suggested for “in-depth” review; seven from Latin America, two
from Asia, three from Europe, 1 from Africa, two from Australia and two from US and
Canada.
1.2
P ROJECT S UMMARY – O CT 2010
TO
S EPT 2011
BRT Observatory: O1) Define a framework for PT systems, O2) Develop a methodology
to gather field information for the Observatory, O3) Select a set of cities for data collection
at two levels of detail: deep and shallow, O4) Implement the methodology and collect the
information, O5) Create and provide a benchmark report, O6) Case Studies.
The level of advance is presented as follows.
1.2.1
Observatory Pilot Questionnaire – Shallow indicators
The objective of this activity was to capture and record the experience of elaborating and
filling up the Shallow Indicator Observatory Pilot Questionnaire pertaining to the BRT
Observatory. This first effort was based on the application of the questionnaire to four Bus
Rapid Transit (BRT) corridors: Linha Verde (Curitiba, Brazil), Optibús (León, Mexico),
Trolebus (Quito, Ecuador), and Pajaritos Sur (Santiago de Chile, Chile).
INDICATORS AND QUESTIONS
EMBARQ Network, ITLS, and PUC-Chile agreed on a set of 121 indicators. EMBARQ,
through EMBARQ Brasil, was responsible for elaborating a clear and user friendly
platform to compile and analyze all the data collected. The pilot questionnaire ended up
with 180 questions.
From October 15th to November 29th 2010 a total of 191 person-hours (EMBARQ Brasil)
were invested in the edition of two versions of the pilot questionnaire:

VREF 1.0_ pilot questionnaire_12nov: 149 questions

VREF 1.1_ pilot questionnaire_29nov: 180 questions (including the ones proposed
by ITLS for the BRT-ALC Laboratory Strategic Project 1 LS1)
PILOT BRT CORRIDORS
Four corridors were selected to test the Observatory Pilot Questionnaire (VREF 1.1). The
selection was based on two principles:


Test how many answers we could get from cities/systems we have good relations
and are close enough to grab field data if needed (Curitiba and Santiago).
Test how much information we could get from cities/systems where we do not have
substantive local presence and/or a contact person to help us out (León and Quito).
DATA COLLECTION
Data collection started on November 29th on the four cities. EMBARQ Brasil collected data
for Curitiba, CTS-México for León and PUC-Chile for Quito and Santiago.
Linha Verde Bus Rapid Transit Corridor – Curitiba, Brazil



156/180 answered questions from one corridor
total of 169 person-hours dedicated to data collection
trip to Curitiba (URBS) to explain the project and facilitate data sharing
Optibús Bus Rapid Transit System – León, Mexico


121/180 answered questions from five corridors
total of 64 person-hours dedicated to data collection
Trolebus Bus Rapid Transit Corridor – Quito, Ecuador

151/180 answered questions from one corridor
Pajaritos Sur Bus Rapid Transit Corridor – Santiago de Chile, Chile

116/180 answered questions from one corridor
AVAILABILITY MEASURES
Measures the degree to which the information requested as part of the indicators was
available and the type of source used. The following categories were used to evaluate the
difficulty on getting the data in Curitiba, León and Santiago:
Availability Category
Indicated As…
Could Not Get
CNG
Very Hard to Get
VHG
Difficult to Get
DG
Straightforward to Get
SG
Description
The information was not available
through any available sources
(publications, internet, emails, direct
contact, etc.)
The information was not available
through public (i.e. internet, publications,
etc.) sources, it was however available
through direct contact but not possible to
obtain within a reasonable effort (2
weeks)
The information could not be found in
most cases using internet or additional
sources within a reasonable amount of
time (more than 40 minutes per question)
The information was obtained within a
reasonable amount of time and effort
(less than 40 minutes per question)
Linha Verde Bus Rapid Transit Corridor – Curitiba, Brazil

156/180 questions answered for one corridor
The following graph represents the proportion of questions that pertained to each of the
four categories defined previously.
2%
34%
SG
DG
VHG
60%
4%
CNG
Optibús Bus Rapid Transit System – León, Mexico

121/180 questions answered for five corridors
The following graph represents the proportion of questions that pertained to each of the
four categories defined previously.
1%
26%
36%
SG
DG
VHG
37%
CNG
Trolebus Bus Rapid Transit Corridor – Quito, Ecuador

151/180 questions answered for one corridor
No information available for composing the graph.
Pajaritos Sur Bus Rapid Transit Corridor – Santiago de Chile, Chile

116/180 questions answered for 1 corridor
The following graph represents the proportion of questions that pertained to each of the
four categories defined previously.
36%
42%
SG
DG
VHG
22%
AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION
According to the graph below, more than half of the information required was available for
all corridors analyzed. On the other hand, around 17% of the information was not available
for more than half of the corridors and had to be rethought.
14%
3%
available for all the
corridors
available for 3 corridors
16%
available for 2 corridors
available for 1 corridor
10%
unavailable for all the
corridors
57%
MAIN FINDINGS
As expected, increasing amount of time was required to answer the most difficult questions.
This implies that (a) the pilot questionnaire could not be completely filled up using internet
sources, and (b) if a complete list is required, a lot of time would have to be devoted to
obtain a 100% response rate.
Some indicators were very hard to get, and some of them none of the four teams could
obtain within a reasonable effort. We needed to revisit the set of shallow indicators that
would be part of the final questionnaire.
Some information is not available on a per corridor basis; it belongs to the whole system of
corridors within the city (e.g. subsidy for the system, population of the catchment area). We
needed to define some system indicators to be able to capture the required information.
We had to improve the excel spreadsheet. We faced difficulties when dealing with 4
corridors, and believe it would be very hard to keep 100+ BRT corridors in that current
format. Managing pictures in an excel platform is one of the difficulties.
As a main result, we redefined the scope of the information to be captured in three levels:



1.2.2
Basic level was created, comprising 68 very basic information on cities for
100+cities, 300+ corridors.
Indicators previously called shallow are now part of the Medium level set of
indicators which are important for econometric analyses. Define dataset (50-60
cities, ~100 corridors) and mechanism to get to medium level indicators
(EMBARQ will collect data for 15-20 cities, 30-40 corridors).
Detailed information to be compiled for Deep analysis and selection of the cities
(EMBARQ will concentrate on 7-8 cities where it has strong contacts).
Observatory Basic Questionnaire
The objective of this activity was to capture and record the progress of data collection in the
Basic level. This effort includes results from 87 corridors across 11 countries: Brazil (58
corridors), Mexico (7 corridors), Chile (7 corridors), Ecuador (5 corridors), India (3
corridors), Guatemala (2 corridors), Panama (1 corridor), Peru (1 corridor), Turkey (1
corridor), Venezuela (1 corridor) and Australia (1 corridor).
BASIC INDICATORS
EMBARQ-Network (convened with International Energy Agency, IEA) and PUC-Chile
agreed on a set of 68 basic indicators to be validated on the basic questionnaire. The
indicators are classified into 14 categories: general information, system image, running
ways, comfort, system information, ITS, stations, traffic engineering, vehicles, quality of
service, corridor info, travel time, services and costs. EMBARQ, thought EMBARQ Brasil,
was responsible for elaborating a clear and user friendly platform to compile and analyze
all the data collected.
From January 24th to February 22nd a total of 110 person-hours (EMBARQ Brasil) were
invested in the Basic Questionnaire indicators selection and questionnaire. Since then, data
collection is ongoing in 11 countries.
Main results are below, divided per country.
1. BRAZIL
EMBARQ Brasil identified a total of 25 cities with BRT and bus corridors in Brazil, adding
up 78 corridors.
This report consolidates data from the first effort in 15 Brazilian cities, adding up 58
corridors: Porto Alegre (12 corridors), São Paulo (10 corridors), Belo Horizonte (7
corridors), Curitiba (6 corridors), Joinville (5 corridors), Campinas (4 corridors), Recife (4
corridors). Salvador (3 corridors), Fortaleza (1 corridor), Goiânia (1 corridor), João Pessoa
(1 corridor), Maceió (1 corridor), Natal (1 corridor), Santos (1 corridor) and Uberlândia (1
corridor). These cities were selected for the first year of data collection due to two reasons:
(i) availability of data on internet; (ii) together they represent the majority of Brazilian BRT
and bus corridors length (more than 400 km).
The following picture illustrates Brazilian cities selected for this first effort (in green).
DATA COLLECTION
Data collection started on February 23rd in the 25 cities. According to the availability of
data, we selected the 15 most promising ones to the first year. The data collection effort so
far summed 489 hours for 58 corridors, resulting in an average of 78% of response. Work is
still in progress in some of the 15 cities, as Joinville for example. Next 10 cities will be
included in the database by the coming year.
City
Number of corridors
Belo Horizonte
7
Campinas
4
Curitiba
6
Fortaleza
1
Goiania
1
João Pessoa
1
Joinville
5
Maceió
1
Natal
1
Porto Alegre
12
Recife
4
Salvador
3
Santos
1
São Paulo
10
Uberlândia
1
Total
58
km Answered indicators (%)
24,9
77%
41,8
74%
81,4
85%
2,0
75%
14,0
91%
1,4
77%
15,5
56%
13,0
82%
3,5
85%
55,7
79%
25,1
75%
18,5
77%
2,5
72%
121,6
84%
7,5
87%
428,4
78%
AVAILABILITY OF DATA
The following table describes the percentage of answered questions in each category for all
15 cities. This table represents the ongoing data collection. Percentages trend to increase.
General info
100%
System info
84%
Corridor info
70%
Running ways
97%
Traffic engineering
90%
Stations
88%
Vehicles
67%
Services
57%
ITS
94%
Travel time
36%
Comfort
100%
Cost
1%
Quality of service
98%
System image
100%
MAIN FINDINGS
- It´s very difficult to get costs information from existing bus corridors in Brazil. Bus
corridors of Porto Alegre and Curitiba, for example, were first build on the 70s and 80s,
with no reliable data about planning and implementation costs. Costs related to Linha
Verde, the BRT corridor just inaugurated in Curitiba, diverge from source to source, and a
deeper analysis should be done to identify reliable information.
- Basic indicators were defined aiming to be answered by internet search or quick contacts
with key persons in transit agencies. However, some of them revealed to be very hard to get
even with deep conversations. For example, Brazilian agencies do not have information
about total length of feeder routes available.
- It was not difficult to find local staff responsible for the data we are looking for, but it´s
hard to make this person to answer our questions. Most cases we had to call several times to
get a feedback.
- Different transit agencies collect different indicators for internal analysis. Several times
we had to adjust the information they send us to fill out the questionnaire. For example,
demand data is frequently associated to each bus operator, and not divided by corridor. The
same situation occurs regarding to fleet and bus frequency by corridor.
2. MEXICO
This report consolidates data from 5 Mexican cities, adding up 7 corridors: Mexico City (2
corridors + 1 corridor in Distrito Federal), Ecatepec (1 corridor), Guadalajara (1 corridor),
León (1 corridor) and Monterrey (1 corridor). The following picture illustrates Mexican
cities selected for this study.
DATA COLLECTION
Data collection started on February 23rd in the 5 cities. The data collection effort resulted in
an average of 82% of response.
City
Number of corridors
km
Answered indicators (%)
Ecatepec
Guadalajara
León
Mexico City + DF
Monterrey
Total
1
1
1
3
1
7
16,3
16,0
31,0
65,1
15,6
144,0
82%
96%
82%
80%
69%
82%
AVAILABILITY OF DATA
The following table describes the percentage of answered questions in each category for all
cities.
General info
100%
System info
94%
Corridor info
97%
Running ways
100%
Traffic engineering
100%
Stations
90%
Vehicles
46%
Services
100%
ITS
100%
Travel time
100%
Comfort
100%
Cost
49%
Quality of service
86%
System image
100%
MAIN FINDINGS
- Some of the data collected from Leon BRT represents the data from the whole system,
due to the difficulty to define the routes and corridors. One clear example is the demand:
transit agency treats demand by system, so the data provided in the questionnaire is for the
entire system.
- Most of the data that are incomplete refers to the costs of the BRT or bus corridors. All
the cities have the questionnaire almost complete except for costs.
3. CHILE
This report consolidates data from one Chilean city, Santiago, with 7 corridors. The
following picture illustrates the location of the city selected for this study.
DATA COLLECTION
Data collection started on February 23rd in Santiago. The data collection effort resulted in
an average of 84% of response.
City
Number of corridors
km
Answered indicators (%)
7
35,4
84%
Santiago
AVAILABILITY OF DATA
The following table describes the percentage of answered questions in each category.
General info
100%
System info
100%
Corridor info
63%
Running ways
100%
Traffic engineering
100%
Stations
100%
Vehicles
63%
Services
100%
ITS
100%
Travel time
100%
Comfort
100%
Cost
29%
Quality of service
100%
System image
100%
MAIN FINDINGS
- The main difficulty with the form was to adjust the information obtained to the questions
in the form. The information obtained were averages or aggregate totals, which used to
include more routes/lines than the ones operating on the corridor.
- Another difficulty was to compute the total length of feeder routes, because there were
around 200 of them. This information was obtained by hand using Google Maps, which
took a lot of time. Some other pieces of information were easier to obtain by field
observation.
- Information that is left incomplete: costs, number of buses operating in the corridor, buses
performance, numbers of boarding per day, load factor during rush hour. Most of this
information could be obtained from the operators. PUC Chile tried to contact them by
emails but did not succeed.
4. ECUADOR
This report consolidates data from 2 cities from Ecuador, adding up 5 corridors: Quito (3
corridors) and Guayaquil (2 corridors). The following picture illustrates cities selected for
this study.
DATA COLLECTION
Data collection started on February 23rd in the 2 cities. The data collection effort resulted in
an average of 92% of response.
City
Number of corridors
km
Answered indicators (%)
3
2
5
32,6
36,8
69,4
88%
97%
92%
Quito
Guayaquil
Total
AVAILABILITY OF DATA
The following table describes the percentage of answered questions in each category for all
cities.
General info
100%
System info
100%
Corridor info
96%
Running ways
89%
Traffic engineering
80%
Stations
97%
Vehicles
96%
Services
80%
ITS
93%
Travel time
80%
Comfort
100%
Cost
53%
Quality of service
80%
System image
100%
MAIN FINDINGS
- In Quito, the two first corridors, Ecovía and Trolebus, were completed almost entirely,
except for the Total planning costs. Regarding the Metrovía corridor, the situation was
different, because it is managed by a 5 private operators cooperative, and a lot of the
information was left incomplete because the only source was the internet. No personal
contact was established.
- In Guayaquil, Fundación Metrovia controls both corridors, and a big part of the
information they have is aggregated for Troncal 1 and 3. Even with the contact of the
President of the Foundation, it was not possible to obtain contacts from the operators,
which might have given me more disaggregated info. Total planning costs and Operational
costs were not available. Most of the info came from internet and from the President of
Metrovia.
5. INDIA
This report consolidates data from 3 Indian cities, adding up 3 corridors: Jaipur (1 corridor),
New Delhi (1 corridor) and Pune (1 corridor). The following picture illustrates Indian cities
selected for this study.
DATA COLLECTION
Data collection started on February 23rd in the 3 cities. The data collection effort resulted in
an average of 97% of response.
City
Jaipur
New Delhi
Pune
Total
Number of corridors
km
Answered indicators (%)
1
1
1
3
7,1
5,8
17,0
29,9
100%
95%
97%
97%
AVAILABILITY OF DATA
The following table describes the percentage of answered questions in each category for all
cities.
General info
100%
System info
100%
Corridor info
100%
Running ways
100%
Traffic engineering
100%
Stations
100%
Vehicles
99%
Services
100%
ITS
100%
Travel time
100%
Comfort
100%
Cost
58%
Quality of service
100%
System image
100%
MAIN FINDINGS
- As other countries, in India was also hard to find information regarding to costs.
6. GUATEMALA
This report consolidates data from 1 city from Guatemala, the city of Guatemala,
comprising 2 corridors. The following picture illustrates the city selected for this study.
DATA COLLECTION
Data collection started on February 23rd on Guatemala. The data collection effort resulted in
an average of 91% of response.
City
Number of corridors
km
Answered indicators (%)
2
29,8
91%
Guatemala
AVAILABILITY OF DATA
The following table describes the percentage of answered questions in each category.
General info
100%
System info
90%
Corridor info
90%
Running ways
100%
Traffic engineering
100%
Stations
100%
Vehicles
89%
Services
100%
ITS
100%
Travel time
100%
Comfort
100%
Cost
25%
Quality of service
100%
System image
100%
MAIN FINDINGS
- As other countries, in Guatemala was also hard to find information regarding to costs.
7. PANAMA
This report consolidates data from 1 city from Panama, the city of Panama, one corridor.
The following picture illustrates the city selected for this study.
DATA COLLECTION
Data collection started on February 23rd in Panama. The data collection effort resulted in an
average of 59% of response.
City
Number of corridors
km
Answered indicators (%)
1
28,1
59%
Panama
AVAILABILITY OF DATA
The following table describes the percentage of answered questions in each category.
General info
88%
System info
40%
Corridor info
60%
Running ways
100%
Traffic engineering
100%
Stations
83%
Vehicles
14%
Services
100%
ITS
100%
Travel time
Comfort
Cost
0%
100%
0%
Quality of service
100%
System image
100%
MAIN FINDINGS
- Panama was the city where we got the minor response. Main lack of information regards
on costs, travel times and vehicles characteristics.
8. PERU
This report consolidates data from one Peruvian city, Lima, with one corridor. The
following picture illustrates the city selected for this study.
DATA COLLECTION
Data collection started on February 23rd in Lima. The data collection effort resulted in an
average of 91% of response.
City
Number of corridors
km
Answered indicators (%)
1
26,0
91%
Lima
AVAILABILITY OF DATA
The following table describes the percentage of answered questions in each category.
General info
88%
System info
100%
Corridor info
100%
Running ways
100%
Traffic engineering
100%
Stations
100%
Vehicles
100%
Services
100%
ITS
67%
Travel time
100%
Comfort
100%
Cost
0%
Quality of service
100%
System image
100%
MAIN FINDINGS
- As other countries, in Peru was also hard to find information regarding to costs.
- Overall, the hardest part was to find a contact able to send the information not available
online.
9. TURKEY
This report consolidates data from one city form Turkey, Istanbul, with one corridor. The
following picture illustrates the city selected for this study.
DATA COLLECTION
Data collection started on February 23rd in Istanbul. The data collection effort resulted in an
average of 81% of response.
City
Number of corridors
km
Answered indicators (%)
1
42,0
81%
Istanbul
AVAILABILITY OF DATA
The following table describes the percentage of answered questions in each category.
General info
100%
System info
93%
Corridor info
100%
Running ways
100%
Traffic engineering
100%
Stations
100%
Vehicles
37%
Services
100%
ITS
100%
Travel time
100%
Comfort
100%
Cost
50%
Quality of service
100%
System image
100%
MAIN FINDINGS
- Main lack of information regards to vehicles. Costs were also hard to find.
10. VENEZUELA
This report consolidates data from one city from Venezuela, Mérida, with one corridor. The
following picture illustrates the city selected for this study.
DATA COLLECTION
Data collection started on February 23rd in Mérida. The data collection effort resulted in an
average of 96% of response.
City
Number of corridors
km
Answered indicators (%)
1
10,4
96%
Mérida
AVAILABILITY OF DATA
The following table describes the percentage of answered questions in each category.
General info
100%
System info
100%
Corridor info
100%
Running ways
100%
Traffic engineering
100%
Stations
100%
Vehicles
100%
Services
100%
ITS
100%
Travel time
100%
Comfort
100%
Cost
25%
Quality of service
100%
System image
100%
MAIN FINDINGS
- About half of the information was obtained from internet, at Trolmerida’s website. The
city information was not easy to find, since it is very small. It is important to point out that
the corridor is operating in an informal way, it is free, and it is not using its capacity, nor a
specific schedule, so the data collection was a bit difficult. Personal contact was crucial, not
only to fill the missing information, but also to confirm some data from the internet that
was not reliable.
- Costs of the project were unavailable, only an approximate amount for the Infrastructure
costs per kilometer.
11. AUSTRALIA
This report consolidates data from one city, Sydney, with one corridor. The following
picture illustrates the city selected for this study.
DATA COLLECTION
Data collection started in Sydney as a pilot experience and the effort resulted in an average
of 98% of response.
City
Number of corridors
km
Answered indicators (%)
1
31,0
98%
Sydney
AVAILABILITY OF DATA
The following table describes the percentage of answered questions in each category.
General info
100%
System info
100%
Corridor info
100%
Running ways
100%
Traffic engineering
100%
Stations
100%
Vehicles
100%
Services
100%
ITS
100%
Travel time
100%
Comfort
100%
Cost
67%
Quality of service
100%
System image
100%
MAIN FINDINGS
- Some information related to costs has been given as confidential and thus is not included
in the questionnaire.
1.2.3
Observatory Case Studies
The original project plan called for 2-3 in depth case studies, detailing a specific BRT
system or industry-wide issue, starting in year 2. We completed one case study in August
2011 on Bogotá’s Integrated Public Transport System. In collaboration with a researcher
from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, EMBARQ studied the process Bogotá
has initiated to integrated its BRT system with reorganized bus service across the city. The
study focuses on user perception and education, critical issues in previous bus reforms in
developing cities. Using expert interviews and a semi-structured community survey, the
researchers identifies awareness, expectations and aspiration gaps, as well as equity
concerns. The case study provides a framework for direct identification of user needs and
suggests specific actions to improve user information during system implementation. The
research findings and recommendations were presented to TransMilenio, Bogotá’s BRT
agency, and a paper was submitted for review to the Transportation Research Board in
August 2011.
EMBARQ Network has also initiated three additional case studies: National Mass Transit
Programs Evaluation Criteria (with the support of a visiting fellow, Mr. Ben Owen, from
the Federal Transit Administration); Accesibility Issues in BRT Corridors and Application
to Istanbul, Turkey; and Fare Evasion in BRT Systems. Research projects are expected to
be completed during the third year of the project.
1.3
P ROJECT S UMMARY – S EPTEMBER
TO
D ECEMBER 2011
EMBARQ signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the International Energy Agency
(IEA) to collaborate on the creation of a global BRT database having a common set of
parameters enabling comparison and evaluation of BRT. EMBARQ’s dataset includes the
Observatory’s 68 shallow indicators, collected for 87 BRT and bus corridors in 11
countries, while the IEA’s dataset includes a similar set of indicators for other worldwide
systems. Under the MoU, the two organizations will share their BRT data, creating a joint
database. EMBARQ has created the technical specifications for a website through which
the public, other partners and cities can access, sort, query and map the joint BRT data. The
website will be developed and launched by December 2011.
Regarding the BRT Observatory, in the next months the technical team in Brazil will
continue to gather missing information to deliver a “version 1” of the dataset on September
30th, 2011. To be able to deliver this first version on time, all the information collected must
be analyzed and inconsistencies must be double checked with local partners to avoid
publishing wrong data. After that, we will focus on applying the basic level questionnaire to
the remaining 200+ BRT and bus corridors in the world. Some of this data will be obtained
from IEA, and data will be collected to fill in the gaps.
SIBRT, the Latin American Integrated Systems and BRT Association, is a key partner on
the data collection as the association is also compiling some indicators on physical
characteristics and operational performance for Latin American BRT and integrated
systems. Until now, we have checked information of 4 Brazilian systems: Belo Horizonte,
Curitiba, São Paulo and Goiânia. The work will follow in the next months to check all
systems information.
EMBARQ is in the process of finalizing an agreement with the Institute of Transport and
Development Policy ITDP, to support the preparation of the BRT Planning Guide Fifth
Edition. This document, in which members of EMBARQ Network have contributed in the
past, is well known for practitioners and researchers in the field, especially in developing
countries. EMBARQ responsibility may include development of particular sections and
general review. EMBARQ is expected to represent other members of the CoE ALC-BRT
and will call for their participation as peer reviewers. An Memorandum of Understanding is
expected to be signed in October 2011.
2 F UTURE P LANS
During 2012, the basic-level data collection will be completed, and the team will refine the
definition of a BRT and how to rate the different systems based on basic information
collected. The team will also agree on a strategy to keep the database always updated. The
basic-level data will be synthesized and summarized in a publication detailing the state of
the global BRT industry. This will be the seminal publication from the Observatory.
The BRT Observatory will also start the in-depth data collection, analysis and case studies.
The group will agree upon a methodology for collecting in-depth data from at least nine
systems. The detailed data collection, consolidation and analysis will be completed.
In addition, in accordance with the original project plan, we will complete two case studies
in Year 2, further investigating one particular BRT system’s strategic, tactical or
operational issues. The specific BRT projects to be studied in detail will be determined by
the end of 2011.
3 I MPACT
The BRT Observatory identifyed 194 cities running, planning, implementing or expanding
BRT systems around the world, summing more than 400 BRT and busways corridors. The
database being consolidated is an unique and very valuable set of information that can help
cities to better define future systems and also improve existing ones.
The BRT Observatory, through its analysis and consolidated best practices, can benefit
more than 26 million riders every day in 127 cities all over the world.