Taxi-Transit Integration: Thinking Outside the Bus

Описание: A submission to the 2014 Cameron Rian Hays Outside the Box Competition (http://outsidethebox.gmu.edu/)

Learn more at: http://taxiplanning.com

Bus rapid transit (BRT) has been lauded as a transportation solution that delivers the speed, comfort, and reliability of a "subway" experience at a fraction of the cost. No expensive digging, no contentious displacement, and no technological breakthroughs are required for BRT; all BRT needs is the political will to take scarce road space away from personal vehicles, and rededicate it to mass transit. And yet, if the number and quality of BRT systems in the US is any indication, even this cost has proven too high. Even where political champions do exist, the continuous rights-of-way so critical to success rarely survive the negotiation process intact. Circumscribed by compromise, these fragmented, diminished forms of BRT offer—at best—marginal improvements over existing transit service.

This video dissects the political barriers to successful BRT implementation, and proposes taxi-transit integration as a strategy for overcoming them. It argues that taxi-transit integration—by making more visible use of dedicated lanes, and by engaging a long overlooked stakeholder that stands to reap concentrated benefits from these lanes—will not only build support for BRT, but also increase the effectiveness of our transportation system in ways that maximize economic efficiency, social equity, and environmental sustainability.