china’s brt development in the last decade

Xumei CHEN Associate Professor

China Urban Sustainable Transport Research Center (CUSTReC) China Academy of Transportation Science

19 April, 2016

China’s BRT Development in the

Last Decade

Outline

9 Overview of BRT development in China

9 BRT System in typical cities

9 Lessons learned

National Policies for Promoting BRT Development in China To scientifically identify the public transport mode based on the practical

development and planning of the city, which include BRT and modern trolley-bus etc.

——”Guideline of promoting public transport priority development “ issued by the State Council in Dec. 2012

Promoting BRT development……..

——”Guideline of promoting Urban infrastructure Construction “ issued

by the State Council in Sep. 2013

1 2 3

15

21 26

44

52

64

70

1 2 3

9 10 13 13

17 22 23

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Num

ber o

f City

year

Operating Lines Operating Cities

Source: National Report on Urban Passenger Transport Development 2014

Multiple Modes to Develop BRT

Beijing

Xiamen

Guangzhou

Kunming

快速公交系统功能定位和标准选择的差异 Differences in function and standard of BRT 系统运行效率和外部效能千差万别（ Operation efficiency and external benefit）

Peak throughput (passengers/hr/direction)

City Centre peak hour speed（km/hr）

Data: chinabrt.org

（high capacity, high speed)

(high capacity, medium speed) (medium capacity, medium speed)

(medium capacity, high speed)

9000

20 km/hr

•第一代系统 1st generation systems •第二代系统 2nd generation systems •第三代系统 3rd generation systems

Kunming: • Opened 1999

• 5 corridors, 47km bus lanes • 63 stations

• Peak demand 8,600 pphpd

Kunming. Many problems are concentrated at the intersection.

Kunming in Beijing Rd – peak volume 8,600 Passengers Per Hour Per Direction (pphpd), ~10km/hr

Daily experience in Kunming’s busway corridors

Kunming: unsafe access to a mid-block bus station

Beijing: • Opened 2005



Pedestrian access tunnel to BRT station (with flash)

Pedestrian access tunnel to BRT station (without flash)

Passengers wait for a regular bus at a Beijing BRT station (this situation has been greatly improved, and regular buses also operate in the BRT corridor)

Crush loading during peak hours

Runway degradation in corridor 1

Damaged station in the BRT Corridor (BRT line2)

Better stations in outer part of corridor 2; overtaking mixed traffic; right-side doors

Offset station in corridor 2

In all corridors the large majority of bus demand is outside the BRT, making an overall time saving benefit for bus passengers unlikely. Corr. 2&3 demand ~2,000 pphpd in BRT

19km dedicated bus lanes; 27.2km corridor, 3rd corridor recently opened

Hangzhou: • Opened 2006


• Peak capacity 6,600 pphpd

Hangzhou’s BRT features impressive station architecture and BRT buses

Severe bus and mixed traffic congestion

Hangzhou's BRT is now open to 12m 'feeder' buses serving 4 routes in addition to the two trunk line 18m BRT bus routes.

Flexible routing has been introduced to boost demand

High quality station environment

Runway degradation

Only one bus can open doors at the station at one time. The others have to queue

Corridor 2: now operational; curbside bus bay-style stops and very poor results for buses, bicycles and pedestrians

Corridor 2: now operational; curbside stops and very poor results

Changzhou: • Opened 2008

• 51 stations • 2 corridors, 41km bus lanes • Peak demand 6,200 pphpd

Operation Mode：Combination line � Line 1:1 branch, 3 regional

lines； branch-5；regional-13. � Line 2:1 branch, 2 regional, 1 loop

line; branch-4；regional-32.

System Exchange： � Same station,same direction

exchange for free (36) � Fare: the same as regular bus. � Ticket：RMB 1Yuan； � Discount：IC card, 60%

discount；student IC card, 30% discount；elder IC card, 20% discount.（Since 1 Oct.,2009, free of charge for those elder more than 70 years old, 50% discount for those elder during 60-69 years old.)

Most stations are offset across intersections. Some are facing with each other.

A critical 500m section of the city centre BRT corridor is open to mixed traffic and is congested during peak periods

Stations located at the intersection sometimes result in queues which block the intersection and the pedestrians crossing, even the traffic flow is not so high at present.

Xiamen: • Opened 2008



BRT tunnel under the airport

BRT feeder route map

7 June,2013, a fire occured in Xiamen BRT , 47 death.

Hefei: • Opened 2010



BRT platform and vehicles in Hefei

Delays at 4-phase intersections

31 BRT routes, express lines during peak hours, short lines; ‘Direct service’ BRT system, BRT bus can run outside the corridor

Some key statistics for Guangzhou BRT � Peak passenger flows : 26,900 passengers per hour per

direction. More than any metro line in mainland China, except for the Beijing subway Line 2.

� Daily ridership :around 800,000 passenger-trips per day. More than any metro line in Guangzhou.

� Passenger boardings:8,500 passengers per hour (not including transfers) at the biggest station during morning and evening peak hour; world records for the busiest BRT system.

� Passenger boardings :more than 55,000 passengers per day at a single station (not including transfers), also a world record.

� The world's longest BRT stations – around 260m including bridges, at the largest stations.

Some key statistics for Guangzhou BRT

� The world’s highest BRT bus volumes: 350 per hour in a single direction, or roughly 1 bus every 10 seconds.

� The first BRT system in China to include bike parking and bike sharing in the BRT station design.

� The first BRT system in the world to include direct connecting tunnels between metro and BRT stations.

� The first BRT system in China with BRT station bridges connecting to adjacent buildings.

� The first BRT system in China with more than one BRT operator: three corporate groups consisting of seven different bus operating companies all operate BRT routes.

� The first BRT system in Asia to determine station size based on passenger demand, for all stations in the BRT system. This results in a range of station lengths from 55m to 260m.

Bus stop congestion

A typical scene at Gangding BRT station before the BRT implementation.

Gangding BRT station, after the BRT implementation

Gangding BRT station

V V

机动

车道

人

行

道

自

行

车

道

BRT

车

道

BRT

车

道

人

行

道

自

行

车

道

机动

车道

西段道路标准横断面图

Two lanes for BRT between stations, 4 lanes at stations

Integration of BRT station bridge & building, with double-tier bike parking under the bridge.

Shipaiqiao

Gangding chebei Xiayua

n

Shuanggang

Miaotou

Guangzhou BRT integrated with Metro

换乘通道

线

左

心

中

线

付费区电梯井

右

BRT石牌桥站

换乘通道

BRT-metro connection at Shipaiqiao station

BRT-metro-mall connection at Shipaiqiao

•Along Zhongshan Dadao, there are 18 stations, 1000 buses. •On 2 Aug. the BRT system has extended to 113 station, 5000 bikes, distributed along Huajingxincheng Station to Xiayuan Station, Surrounding residential, commercial , to meet the ‘last kilometer’ travel demand and a short trip in the corridor .

Public bikes at Huajing Xincheng BRT station. The bike lane is paved with asphalt and separated by a line of trees

Bike sharing station in Tianhe Park Station

Lessons learned (1)

� Many critical aspects to BRT project success: � corridor selection, � data collection & analysis, � operational design, � institutions & regulation, � communications and

outreach � control centre & ITS

� stations (placement relative to intersections, configuration, length, width, spacing, and architecture),

� fare collection, � vehicles, traffic engineering &

management, � intersection design & signal

phases, � modal integration (metro,

bicycle, pedestrians), � ancillary measures such as

parking & urban design.

Lessons learned (2)

� The first BRT corridor should serve high demand, congested locations, including the city centre.

� The infrastructure has to be correctly planned and designed together with an operation plan that meets

passenger demand

� BRT stations should be designed to meet passenger

demand levels and accommodate growth

Lessons learned (2)

� There are many advantages to involve multiple BRT operators

� Intermodal integration is often neglected during BRT planning

� A successful BRT corridor should also be a beautiful urban landscape.

谢谢！ Xumei CHEN Associate Professor Director for Policy and Standard Division China Urban Sustainable Transport Research Center China Academy of Transportation Sciences Add.Room502,No.240, Huixinli, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China Email:[email protected] Tel:+86 10 58278584, Fax:+86 10 59278599.

THANK YOU!

china’s brt development in the last decade

Engineering