The Bus Renaissance – International experience with Bus Rapid Transit
About the speaker:
Brendan Finn has over 30 years experience in the public transport sector. He is a Civil Engineer and holds a MSc in Transport Operation and Engineering. He worked with Dublin Bus from 1980 until 1993, and since then he has been a transport consultant. His main areas of expertise are institutional and organisational frameworks, operations, and ITS for urban public transport. He has worked extensively in Europe, South-East Asia, China, Middle East and Africa
About the event:
Urban bus systems have undergone something of a renaissance over the past two decades, as many cities realise that they can achieve high-quality mass transit using bus-based systems. This has major advantages in terms of cost and delivery time. This presentation introduces the innovations that has made this possible, and presents a wide range of international experience from North and South America, Australia, Asia and Europe.
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is based on dedicated infrastructure to allow rapid efficient operations and is supported by upgraded vehicles, intensive service plans, and strong customer focus. The ridership of many BRT systems match or exceed those of LRT, while the ridership of the most intensive systems match or exceed those of metro. Meanwhile, in Europe a new wave of enhanced bus system called BHLS (Bus with High Level of Service) has emerged. These usually focus on quality and reliability rather than on outright capacity or speed, since Europe already has a historic legacy of rail-based mass transit systems.
This topic is highly relevant to Irish engineers. On one hand, the economic downturn means that Ireland needs to take a fresh look at how to meet the current and future urban transport requirements. On the other, Irish consultancies and construction firms are increasingly looking abroad for opportunities, and need to be aware of developments in urban transit markets.
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Register here: https://engineersireland.webex.com/engineersireland/onstage/g.php?d=843964334&t=a
Admission: Free. All welcome!