Summary

Bus Rapid Transit systems is a new form of transit system that applies integrated land use and planning, advanced design concepts and intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and bus technologies to provide significantly faster operating speeds, greater service reliability, and increased convenience, matching the quality of rail transit when implemented in appropriate settings. BRT has become a cost effective alternative to rail systems that can potentially attract non-traditional riders therefore help to reduce overall congestion. Over 200 transit agencies including many agencies in California such as LACMTA, AC Transit, Valley Transit, Riverside Transit, Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, are either planning or deploying BRT. FTA has formed a BRT consortium to demonstrate the effectiveness of BRT and to encourage BRT deployment. One of the critical needs identified by BRT consortium members and BRT interested transit agencies is that there is a lack of well organized information related to BRT and there is very little knowledge-based information for decision support. The National Bus Rapid Transit Institute (NBRTI) was formed by the University of California at Berkeley's Institute of Transportation Studies and the Center for Urban Transportation Research of the University of South Florida based on recommendations by the Federal Transit Administration. One of the first tasks that NBRTI at UC Berkeley proposed to do is to develop a one source information clearinghouse.

This proposed information clearinghouse will include three major components:

1. A BRT Database: A bibliographic database containing fully abstracted citations for BRT publications and Web documents.
2. An electronic portal: The BRT electronic portal, accessible via the Internet, will provide direct hotlinks to BRT resources including the BRT Publications Database (see below), information on the Clearinghouse and its activities, information regarding best practices, standards & practices, new and ongoing research, equipment, outreach activities, training activities and expert contacts.
3. A BRT decision support tool, tentatively named BRT Decision: This decision support tool will include synthesized reports to help BRT interested transit agencies, planners and implementers in decision-making, planning and deployment.