To Attract Urban Investment, Build a Bus Line. Streetcars may be sexy and light rail may be alluring, but it turns out that building a bus line is how a city can get the most bang for its buck when it comes to attracting development.
A new study from the public transit advocacy group Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), examined the growth of transit-oriented development in 21 cities with various forms of surface public transportation. Compared to streetcars and light rail, the authors found that the bus won out big time in terms of generating high-value development at a low upfront cost. Though transportation planners have argued over the benefits of buses versus light rail, the ITDP study is the first to show that bus lines can leverage development at great savings to cities. Transportation Transformation Information. Siemens and C40, the cities Climate Leadership Group, recently announced the ten winners of the inaugural City Climate Leadership Awards, which are given to different cities around the world that demonstrate “excellence in urban sustainability and leadership in the fight against climate change.”
For me it wasn’t a surprise that Bogotá, Colombia won the award for Urban Transportation, even considering the problems that have challenged the city’s transportation system recently. The Bus Rapid Transit system, “TransMilenio,” launched in 2000, has reached almost 75% of the city and its metropolitan area is near ten million inhabitants. Future projects involve replacing all of the bus fleet with hybrid and electric vehicles and an even more ambitious plan involves the replacement of the entire taxi fleet with electric cars, while completing the transportation system of the city with new “Metro” lines.
The answer is, for cities like Bogotá, that yes, there can be. Connect: San Francisco County Transportation Authority. The Geary Corridor Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Project is a cost-effective way to improve bus service and enhance street conditions for Geary from Downtown to the Outer Richmond.
Based on community input and ongoing technical evaluation, the project team is identifying a staff-recommended alternative and presenting it to community groups along the corridor for feedback. We also hosted three recent open houses to describe the project evaluation process and gather input on the proposed designs.