Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems with dedicated lanes have shown advantages over traditional bus systems and have attracted more transit riders. However, it is not always possible to build BRT systems with two dedicated lanes due to physical and cost constraints. A BRT system with a single dedicated lane is more practical and desirable in such situations. In a single lane configuration, buses approaching from opposite directions share the same road section and can overtake or pass each other only at the bus stops. We propose an optimization model to describe the synchronization requirements of the BRT buses with the objective to minimize the total travel and dwell time. The computational results show that a BRT system with a single dedicated lane yields similar total travel time to a BRT system with double dedicated lanes when the headway is not very short (e.g., more than 20 minutes). In addition, in order to manage the possible delay at intersections, a simple speed control algorithm is implemented to adjust the bus speed in real-time if the bus is delayed considerably. A microscopic simulation based on the simulation tool VISSIM is conducted to examine the impact of the BRT bus on other traffic and the performance of the speed control. The simulation result shows that the speed control effectively handles the delay at the intersection and that other traffic is rarely impacted by the speed control.

This report proposes a generalized process for evaluating the ridership impact and traffic impact of a bus rapid transit system. The process proposed aims at providing such evaluation at the sketch planning stage and has a specific focus on two aspects -- the ridership forecast based on the implementation of various ITS technologies and the degradation of level of service that results from converting a traffic lane into exclusive bus lane for the implementation of a bus rapid transit system. The proposed process is tested on the Van Ness Blvd site in San Francisco, California. It is also implemented as a web-based toolbox that is easily accessible.

The US DOT RITA Volpe Center entered into a cooperative agreement with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to establish the inaugural SafeTrip 21 field test site in the San Francisco Bay area [named Connected Traveler].  Specifically, the site encompasses I-880 from Oakland to San Jose on the east bay and from San Jose to just south of the San Francisco International Airport, along U.S. 101 and California State Route (SR) 82. The site includes the SR-84 Dumbarton Bridge toll crossing, which links I-880 and U.S. 101. Caltrans's partners include the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the University of California-Berkeley's California Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways (PATH), the California Center  for Innovative Transportation, Nokia, Inc., NAVTEQ, Santa Clara  Valley Transportation Authority, and Nissan. The cost of the $12.4 million field test was funded by private and public sector partners, including the USDOT contribution, equally. (Public Roads, September/October 2008)