Rapid transit proposed for valley buses

The ability to fly past traffic jams and get preference at intersection lights could be coming to the Wasatch Front's bus system.

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), a system of dedicated bus lanes used successfully to help more people move faster in some larger U.S. cities, is slated to come to Weber, Davis, Salt Lake and Utah counties within the next few years.

Deseret News graphicRapid transit routesRequires Adobe Acrobat.

Last December, elected officials from those counties voted to add several BRT lines to the state's long-range transportation plan. The BRT lines would augment TRAX lines to be built to West Jordan, West Valley, Draper and the Salt Lake International Airport.

With TRAX coming at a pricey $25 million per mile, BRT can be built at a third the cost, said Sam Klemm, Wasatch Front Regional Council. BRT lines, he said, would help shuttle commuters to TRAX hubs at a pace faster than the existing bus system.

According to the Utah Transit Authority, nine BRT lines would cost about $13.5 million, compared with $39 million if light-rail tracks were built instead.

The system would be based on a series of dedicated bus lanes, which would be used exclusively by transit authority buses. Buses would also be equipped with a technology that would give them green-light preference at intersections.

"This will essentially put buses ahead of the traffic," Klemm said. At some points, buses would merge with traffic because of lane limitations, but buses would be expected to arrive faster overall.

Other technologies, such as global positioning sensors, would also tie into UTA's information center, allowing bus and TRAX drivers to better coordinate departures from TRAX stops, UTA spokesman Justin Jones said.

"BRT essentially tries to take all of the elements that makes light rail successful," said Hal Johnson, BRT project manager for UTA.

Johnson said passengers would purchase tickets from kiosks, much like TRAX passengers do, to save time. The number of stops on BRT lines would be much fewer.

"Some bus corridors have like 90 stops," Johnson said. All of these time-saving elements would result in a bus ride that is about 50 percent faster, he added.

In Salt Lake County, several BRT lines are planned for several major north-south corridors, including 1300 East, Redwood Road and the future Mountain View Corridor. To the west, a BRT line is planned to go to Tooele City.

BRT lines are also planned in downtown Ogden as well as in the Provo/Orem area, where it would service Brigham Young University and Utah Valley State College.

Johnson said currently a transit study is being funded by south Davis County cities, as well as Davis County, to consider a BRT line from Salt Lake City to Farmington. The line would help supplement the commuter rail line to be built by 2007.

Jones said UTA is still studying the feasibility of BRT and that no plans have been solidified. If anything, Jones said, plans for BRT could very well materialize into a new TRAX line in the future if demand for transit in those areas is strong enough.

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