[sustran] [sustran] RE: bus lanes research

Brendan Finn bfinn at singnet.com.sg
Tue Apr 9 12:32:23 JST 2002


Dear Sustran colleagues,

An additional Asia-Pacific city which has an active busways project is
Sydney, Australia. This aims to implement six linked sections of busway in
western suburban Sydney, in a district which is served mostly by private bus
operators with historic operating rights. The website is
www.transitways.nsw.gov.au

I bring this example to your attention since it has been the subject of
lawsuits by the existing bus operators, based on their interpretation of
their historic rights. They have had some success in the courts, and this
could have very serious impacts on the project, on the services which will
be operated on the busways, and the extent to which the incumbent operators
can dictate access to the market. It ties into the need for significant
restructuring of the regulatory and institutional approach to bus services
in New South Wales (the state in which Sydney is located).

For those of you who are more interested in the transportation issues than
the civil engineering aspects of busways, I suggest that you examine the
Sydney case. It offers some very interesting lessons of the advance
preparation you may need to do in your home country (or application site if
you are a consultant or adviser). A busway is simply a piece of
infrastructure, and there needs to be an appropriate framework to stimulate
and integrate the transport services offered to the users.

For those who are interested in the functioning of a busway, I strongly
recommend a visit to Adelaide. Although I have worked in the bus industry
for more than 20 years, I was not prepared for the impact of being able to
travel at 100 kph on an urban bus. In my opinion, it totally negates the
argument that only light-rail etc. can attract users.

With best wishes,


Brendan Finn.
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Barter" <geobpa at nus.edu.sg>
To: "'curiotransport'" <curiotransport at yahoo.com.br>
Cc: <sustran-discuss at jca.apc.org>
Sent: 05 April 2002 08:59
Subject: [sustran] RE: bus lanes research


2.  The Asia-Pacific cities with major busway projects or existing busways
to my knowledge include:  Taipei, Taiwan; Nagoya, Japan; Kunming, China;
Brisbane, Australia;  Adelaide, Australia (guided busway); and there are
apparently proposals for Bangalore in southern India.  Karachi in Pakistan
considered an elevated 'transitway' but has apparently abandoned the idea.

In addition numerous cities in the region have networks of bus lanes of
varying quality and size. Among the most significant (to my limited
knowledge) are: Seoul, Korea;  Hong Kong SAR, China;  Bangkok, Thailand
(including some successful contra-flow lanes); Singapore;  but there are
many others of course.





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