BACKGROUND

Recognising that a bus-based transit system in general and Bus Rapid Transit in particular are central to sustainable development of cities; many Asian cities have planned Bus Rapid Transit Systems (BRTS) as an integral element of their urban transport strategy. BRTS has been able to provide high quality rapid transit service at much lesser cost than rail based transit modes. As a result, several cities across the world have been experimenting with different form of BRT. Within Asia, more than 40 cities are operating/developing BRTS with varying degrees of success and many more are at various stages of planning and implementation.

CONFERENCE OBJECTIVES

BRTS being a relatively new mode, sharing of practical knowledge on BRTS planning, operations and management across Asian cities would go a long way in helping to build capacities of cities where BRTS is still in its development phase. While most of the discussion around BRTS has tended to focus on - architectural and engineering aspects (cross-sections, transit infrastructure, pavement design etc), there is potential for far greater learning from cities on aspects like ensuring stakeholder involvement, branding and communication strategy, network selection, operations planning, development of integrated systems etc.

Sharing of BRTS experience across Asian cities would therefore help build capacity in developing cities as well as create a pan-Asian forum to leverage exchange of ideas, best practices and technological innovations. This 'Asia BRTS Conference' is expected to be the first step in building an 'Asian BRTS Community', an initiative kick-started by the first Asia BRTS Conference held in Ahmedabad in September 2012.

The conference has the following objectives: