Mercedes-Benz South Africa (MBSA) bus and coach divisional manager Jan Aichinger has lowered his forecast for the 2009 bus market from the 3 000 units he expected last year, to between 1 700 and 2 000 units. “The tenders for the various bus rapid transit (BRT) systems and government’s 2010 FIFA World Cup tender are…
Streetsblog: What are the options for configuring BRT on First and Second Avenue? If a three-lane configuration is not politically feasible, what else might we end up with? Walter Hook: It would take a lot of political courage to take three lanes out of First and Second Avenue exclusively for buses, but the current plan, de facto,…
Streetsblog: What would you say are the defining characteristics of a real BRT-level system? Walter Hook: To be called BRT, a line must be a package of physical and operational components (stations, vehicles, running ways, passenger information, services, fare collection, traffic signal priority and other Intelligent Transportation System applications) that form a permanently integrated, customer-friendly, high performance…
Streetsblog: What’s your evaluation of the SBS pilot route on Fordham Road? Does it qualify as BRT? Walter Hook: The Fordham Road “Select Bus Service” pilot route was a very successful bus service enhancement—including a number of BRT elements. The city is not calling it “BRT,” though, and I think that is reasonable. A rule of thumb…
Perhaps no one knows the ins and outs of BRT better than Walter Hook (right). As director of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, Hook has advised cities on four continents about BRT implementation, including Jakarta’s seven-corridor network, the first full-fledged BRT system in Asia. Streetsblog caught up with Hook—in between trips to Cape…
(Stuttgart, Germany) – Das Metrobus-Projekt der Stadtverwaltung Istanbul wurde kürzlich bei der Verleihung des Sustainable Transport Awards in Washington D.C. mit einem Preis ausgezeichnet. Dieser Preis wird Projekten verliehen, die Treibhausgase reduzieren und die Lebensqualität in Innenstädten von großen Metropolen weltweit verbessern. In der Begründung hob die Jury hervor, dass Istanbul mit dem 2007 in…
(Washington, DC – January 13, 2009) New York will be honored tonight as the first U.S. city to win the 5th annual Sustainable Transport Award. The other award finalists, Beijing, Istanbul, Mexico City and Milan will receive honorable mentions. The award presentations will take place at 6:30pm-7:30pm at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC as…
2009 Winner New York City, USA Throughout 2008, the city continued to implement PlaNYC 2030, its comprehensive long-term sustainability vision. The city took 49 acres of road space, traffic lanes and parking spots away from cars and gave that space back to the public for bike lanes, pedestrian areas, and public plazas. Protected on street…
Washington, January 13 – Chinese Beijing, because in 2008 in the improvement mass transit, facilitates the result which the resident journey and the reduction air pollution aspect obtains, evening attains the American Transportation Research Council on 13th in 2009 the sustainable transportation honorary award. This award item the appraisal committee voting which by the Non-governmental…