On 2018 the BRT+ CoE hosted the Workshop Innovation in Africa, on Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. These are the slides of the main sessions of the event.

1. Bus Rapid Transit for Africa
Manifesto for BRT Lite
Ian Barrett
Integrated Transport Planning
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2. Content of Presentation
• What do we mean by BRT Lite?
• What are its principal objectives?
• How do we attain those objectives?
• How does this differ from BRT Classic?
• What is the economic and financial outturn?
• What are the critical success factors?
• Worked example
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3. Overview of BRT Lite
• Use of the bus mode for the carriage of large
volumes of passengers at higher speed - BRT
• Focused on customer needs and economic
benefits, rather than just on infrastructure
• Prepared to accept performance compromises
to attain these consumer objectives
• Planned for an urban corridor/catchment and
defined by its service plan as the foundation
• Sensitive to the local development context
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4. Customer needs
• Focus on whole-of-journey, not just trunk
• Reliability and predictability, not just speed
• Maximise area of direct-service outreach
• Minimise transfers for speed and convenience
• Integrated tariffs and ticketing for transfers
• Easy boarding and alighting from the bus
• Maximum bus seats and no over-crowding
• Safety and security on buses and in stops
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5. Economic and financial benefits
For society:
• Return on investment recognising opportunity
cost and scarcity of development capital
• No additional requirement for operating subsidy
• Minimal reduction in general traffic capacity, and
acceptable constraints at junctions
For the passenger and operator:
• Fares no higher than previous paratransit
• Reasonable return on capital invested in fleet
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6. Service plan
• Direct tributary and CBD distributor services,
wherever economical to provide by large bus
• Mixture of stage-carriage, limited-stop and
express services to minimise total dwell time
• Based on measured demand in the peak hour,
and in the inter- and off-peak periods
• Update based on analysis of ticket validations
• Peak-spreading through reductions in off-peak
fares and retained service quality
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7. Service integration
• Integration through fares and ticketing system
• Direct service provision wherever justified
• Planned interchange where this not practical
• Facilities to minimise personal cost of transfer
• No fares penalty for transfer, and retained
benefit of any fares taper on longer trips
• Modalities for fare allocation between service
providers on linked trips
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8. Service contracting
• At route (or route group), not corridor level –
size of business units compatible with sector
experience and management capacity; retains
competition potential; minimises system risk
• Net-cost, not gross-cost, contracting – aligns
operator and manager incentives; minimises
revenue risk to authority; clear public service
obligations, and their associated costs
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9. Fares
• Integrated fares throughout corridor and
eventually across network
• Balance of benefits to operator and passenger,
so distance-related component
• Simple zonal fare structure – ca. 5km bands
• No fares penalty on transfer
• Off-peak fare reductions for discretionary
travel, using marginal cost pricing
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10. Ticketing
• Account-based automatic fare collection (AFC)
with cloud-based back-office administration
• Mobile ticketing as base modality, with
printed 2D bar-code tickets for casual use
• Standardised validation modality, with GPS
location, and 4G communication capability
• Validation at boarding and alighting (transfer),
and for driver control of overloading
• On-bus validators, or smart-phones for MBTs
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11. Intelligent transport systems
• Based on location / communications of AFC
• Automatic vehicle location and monitoring
• Real-time passenger information – mobile app
and at multi-route stations
• Holding in real time for operational control
• Control centre for BRT system manager
• Data feed to route operators and despatch
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12. Bus / platform interface (1)
Near-side boarding:
• Only practicable option for tributary services;
most boarding / alighting outside of trunk
• Retains value in previous bus investments, and
minimises life-cycle cost through cascade
• Provides comfort to potential bus investors
• Enables progressive roll-out with infrastructure
• Enables station lay-bys for easy insertion in RoW
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13. Bus / platform interface (2)
Stepped entry:
• Compatible with tributary infrastructure
• Platform over-sweep at docking for minimum
bay length in multi-bay stations, and enables
broad-echelon bay stacking if width available
• Step slope can be set for mobility impaired,
and so not act as a system entry barrier
• No significant impact on station dwell time
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14. Bus / platform interface (3)
Platform height and design:
• Standard kerb height – 150mm to 200mm
• Kassel kerb for passive bus guidance, so as to
minimise kerb to bus separation
• Concrete road surface for retained height only
in high wear / distortion area of station
• Block pavior construction for speed of repair
when required
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15. Bus specification
• Maximum length rigid bus permitted
• Maximum seating capacity in Class I or II use
• Floor height 650mm for E+1 stepped entry –
suitable for poor roads; allows front engine;
seats on wheel-boxes; wheel-chair access
• Articulated buses not suitable for poor roads;
don’t add capacity at multi-bay stations; only
economic in peak operation; depot problems
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16. Station specification
• Terminals only at outer end of routes
• Off-line lay-by, or passing lane for all routes
with more than one service or service type
• Extended lay-by off-line for bunched buses
• Station access by at-grade signalised crossing
• Open station (ticket validation on boarding)
• Kerbside transfers, with pedestrian provision
• Adjacent bicycle storage, where required
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17. Station location
• Positioned to reflect demand, not just spacing
• Kerbside in a highway with service lanes
• Kerbside in a road with low side friction
• Median only if traffic must have kerbside access
• Asymmetric location to facilitate insertion
• Location close to cross-streets for transfers
• Use road width of turning lanes at junctions
where available
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18. Running way location
• Within existing highway right-of-way
• Exclusive lanes, segregated but not discrete
• Reallocation of existing road space if possible
• Separated in couplets if needed for insertion
• Tidal flow option where appropriate
• Kerbside unless traffic access is essential
• Median construction to be avoided if possible
because of utilities and drainage relocation
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19. Running way specification
• Geometry suited to urban operating speeds
• Lane width 3.5m maximum, 3.25m ideal
• Low-height lane separators; emergency crossable
• Passive barriers to light-vehicle intrusion
• Passing lanes at all stations with multi service
• Not concretised, as axle loading is controlled, but
overlay of existing highway for durability
• Assured drainage, for operation and durability
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20. Junctions
• BRT Lite operating in mixed traffic at signalised
junctions and roundabouts
• Design emphasis to reduce number of phases
through restricting certain movements and
providing alternative routeings – jug-handle
• Signalised roundabout for high volume turns
with tidal flow capability
• Square-about has low queuing capacity and
no tidality; not suited to median BRT
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21. Non-motorised transport
• NMT access paths to / from BRT stations
• No cycle provision along line of route
• NMT crossings of BRT wherever high demand
– signalised at grade, or underpass if possible
• Specific pedestrian provision for transfers
• Sidewalks protected from encroachment by
parking, motorbikes, handcarts or hawkers
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22. Variances from BRT Classic
• Avoidance of ‘big bang’ launch and costs
• Migration potential for existing operators
• Phased implementation, by route not corridor
• Trip integration by ticketing not infrastructure
• Nearside stepped boarding to standard buses
• Asymmetric running ways and stations in CBD
• Avoidance of median construction, if possible
• No integrated NMT alignment along trunk
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23. Planning parameters
• Bus capacity dependent on local regulations
and efficiency in design – typically ca. 100
• >1,000 pphpd for large-bus operation
• >6,000 pphpd for exclusive use of traffic lane
• 85 per cent planned peak load factor
• 3 to 6 minute peak-service headways
• 5 to 10 minute off-peak headways
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24. Investment returns
Re-investible benefits:
• Vehicle operating cost savings per passenger
kilometre – but lower scheduled load factor
Non re-investible benefits:
• Passenger time savings – but real valuation
• Reduction in vehicle exhaust emissions
Disbenefits
• Traffic disruption during / after construction
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25. Errors in economic analysis
• Optimism bias: sensitivity test at 40% uplift
• Strategic bias: test against best alternative
• Under-estimate cost / delay of contested land
• High value of time: use displayed, or equity
• Expansion from peak hour: use all-day data
• External impacts: during / after construction
• Low hurdle rate: opportunity cost of capital
• Long assessment: increasing uncertainty
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26. Financial viability
• Should be financially viable over the vehicle life
cycle at current paratransit fares – greater
productivity and economies of scale – but load
factors will be lower in scheduled service
• May be cash negative during fleet acquisition,
depending on financing terms and duties on
imported buses where required
• Fleet assembly, driver training, and other launch
costs cannot be recovered from service operation
– initial investment support may be required
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27. Critical economic success factors
• Minimum transfer need within service plan
• High travel demand, both peak and off-peak
• Bad traffic congestion, both peak and off-peak
• Insertion from reallocation of existing road
space, and construction within right of way
• Low infrastructure investment cost, and little
disruption during and after construction
• Minimal land acquisition requirement in CBD
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28. Critical financial success factors
• Rational fare structure and tariff levels
• Mechanisms to adjust tariffs for input costs
• Low price of buses meeting functional needs
• Low lease interest rate / long tenor for fleet
acquisition
• Low duties and taxation for imported buses
and other necessities
• Return on capital attractive to investors
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29. Worked example - Nairobi
BRT Classic
• NPB $0.26bn
• NPC $0.88bn
• NPV -$0.62bn
• BCR 0.29
• IRR 3.9%
BRT Lite
• NPB $0.38bn
• NPC $0.21bn
• NPV $0.17bn
• BCR 1.79
• IRR 20.5%
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