"The thing about BRT, a little less so with streetcar, is it can be done incrementally, and so we'd have the potential for some bus lines — if it's a BRT or some right-of-way for the future streetcar — in the next year," Scott said. "But before you saw a full-fledged (BRT system), we're talking probably 10 years."

Davis County leaders are pushing to have the system sooner. While commuter rail is on track for completion in 2008, South Davis mayors say BRT will be a better alternative into Salt Lake City.

"Commuter rail is good, but for the people on the south end, it's not good for us," said Bountiful Mayor Joe Johnson. "We're not going to go under the freeway, drive two miles and end up on the west side of (Salt Lake City.) What we need is a different form of trans portation."

Johnson has been organizing South Davis mayors, encouraging them to contribute money to the study. Further donations may be needed to complete environmental studies for BRT potential in South Davis — something Johnson says mayors should support, considering the tight race for federal transit dollars.

"If you don't start getting a vision set out there and start talking about it, you know what, you might as well go in the cemetery and die because nothing is going to happen," he said. "I just think it's the thing we need to be looking at. If you don't start fighting for it, you won't get it."

Individual city councils in Davis County soon will be asked if lanes in their cities should be dedicated for a BRT or trolley route and what type of design they want for the system. It is possible a single lane could be dedicated for the BRT route. The lane would reverse directions between the morning and evening rush hours.

"If your traffic is very directional, like it is a lot in South Davis, then the bus runs one direction — it runs in the (dedicated) lane when it's in the congested flow, and it runs in the general-purpose lane in the other directions," Scott said. "You would do one in the morning, one in the afternoon. And those are some of the questions that need to be resolved still."

BRT routes are also being considered as possible alternatives along 1300 East and Redwood Road in the Salt Lake Valley. UTA and UDOT are considering it in their 3500 South corridor study and along the Mountain View Corridor.

Michael Packard, a construction safety consultant and Sandy resident who has watched local transit trends with a critical eye, says BRT is a winning proposition — but not as it is currently being envisioned in Utah.