Themes

1. Bringing the benefits of BRTS to your city

The focus of this theme is to establish BRTS as a solution to enhanced urban mobility in addition to leveraging guided urban development. The theme also covers impact of BRTS on city’s social, economic, cultural, environmental, travel and urban form aspects. The theme accommodates discussion on BRTS as an effective tool for embedding policies that promote social equity and environmental sustainability; by ensuring better air quality, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, reduced travel times (and exposure levels), improved road safety, and affordable, reliable & superior transit services.

2. Genesis of a world class BRTS

The focus of this theme is to discover the circumstances that led to development of BRTS in a city starting with visioning, planning/conceiving and designing the BRTS. The theme establishes the fact that to create a successful, world class BRTS; it’s essential to think of BRTS as part of the city’s comprehensive mobility management plan and not just another infrastructure. This will bring in light aspects like city demographics, travel characteristics, land-use/zoning regulations, human resource & capacity, potential of technology applications, roadway configurations and viable construction technology. The theme also covers BRTS design aspects like system type (closed, open or mixed), corridor alignment, engineering, architectural design and infrastructure components (busways, stations, terminals, depots, intersections).

3. Operating & Managing a world class BRTS

The focus of this theme is to cover operations planning and management for BRTS systems to maintain high efficiency and desired performance standards. The theme also covers network/service design, fleet size & type, system capacity (peak and daily ridership), allowable headway, frequencies in peak & lean hours, running speeds, scheduling, staffing, priority at intersections, area traffic control systems, database systems and contingency planning. The theme accommodates discussion on contractual arrangements for bus operations, bus procurement, corridor and station area maintenance, and fare collection & revenue distribution.

4. Prioritizing BRTS through policies

The focus of this theme is to cover policies initiated by governments that support and encourage use of BRTS in the city. It may typically include travel demand management strategies like improvements in transit facilities, incentives for using alternate modes (walking and cycling), restrictive measures on driving, parking management and introducing policies/institutional reforms that prioritize sustainable modes.

5. Bringing world class BRTS to your doorstep

The focus of this theme is to cover comprehensive BRTS design incorporating pedestrian and cycle infrastructure, universal access, first & last mile connectivity (feeder services, cycle sharing, park & ride etc) and BRTS integration with other public transit facilities. This theme accommodates discussion of these aspects across contexts like policies, planning & design, institutional setup and public information systems.

6. Moving people: a new paradigm- high capacities, reliable and safe BRTS

The focus of this theme is to cover the potential of BRTS as a sustainable and cost-effective alternate for mass transit in developing cities, with capacities as good as rail based systems. The theme also covers BRTS components that enable rapid, safe, reliable, convenient and most importantly, affordable transit to large section of the society. The theme accommodates discussion on route rationalization for bus services to reach maximum people and destinations with minimal transfers/access distances.

7. Innovating BRTS to meet local challenges

The focus of this theme is to cover potential application of innovations in BRTS to suit local requirements especially in small cities with low demand such that most merits of a full BRTS system can be harnessed. The theme also covers discussion of personalized approaches to special requirements like historic city center, central business districts, tourist attractions, popular destinations, industrial townships etc. The discussion largely revolves around the design and application of BRTS in streets with narrow right of way, and the ongoing debate whether such an alternate should be preferred as against a full BRTS system in small cities.

8. Reaching out to the customers- effective communications & branding

The focus of this theme is to cover initiatives by governments and civil society that promote and position BRTS system as ‘a smart choice’ in the community and all stakeholders. The theme also covers discussion on creating a brand and identity, user information, marketing campaigns, public relations, communication materials, user feedback systems and online customer engagement as ways to create a positive outlook for BRT.

9. Unleashing the potential of ITS in BRTS

The focus of this theme is to cover potential use and application of intelligent transport solutions and area traffic control systems for BRTS. The theme accommodates discussion on application of IT solutions for passenger information system, automatic fare collection, vehicle tracking systems; and localized solutions for intersection/traffic management.

10. Bus Technology and Innovations

The focus of this theme is to cover various aspects of BRTS bus like design, specifications, and vehicle standards etc. The theme also covers aspects of bus procurement (manufacturing & supply) and operations in terms of arrangements by the city (or public sector) with industry (or private sector). The discussion also revolves around vehicle types (standard, articulated, bi-articulated and double-decker buses), fuel type (diesel, CNG, LPG, bio-diesel, electric/battery, hybrid-electric, hydrogen, and ethanol) and bus guidance systems (optical, physical, or magnetic). The theme investigates potential of available bus technologies with respect to targeted emission standards, in Asian context.