Branding

Include Bus Rapid Transit on Rapid Transit Maps?

Most large transit agencies have a map that shows just their rapid transit services, which are usually rail.  One good test of how an agency thinks about bus rapid transit is whether they include it on their rapid transit maps.  Los Angeles County MTA’s rapid transit map, here, does include the Orange Line, which is exclusive right of way but is hampered by signal delays.  But they don’t show their non-exclusive Metro Rapid product at this scale, which makes sense to me. Continue Reading →

Bus Rapid Transit: Some Questions to Ask

There’s been lively comment on the last several posts about Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), including its recent history in America and elsewhere, the usefulness of the term, and the suspicions that it raises.

Still, “Bus Rapid Transit” is not going away.  So as you consider new BRT proposals that arise in your community, possibly as alternatives to a rail project that you’d prefer, here’s a wise bit of advice I was once given about conversing with people who have differing viewpoints and incomplete information:

        Don’t state a judgment.  Ask a question. Continue Reading →

Bus Rapid Transit and the Law of Multiple Intentions

In recent posts on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) I’ve been dealing with the widespread feeling among US transit advocates that BRT proposals are designed to serve the interests of people who want transit to be cheap to build and don’t care whether it works.  But of course, there’s a contrasting stream of intention also built into BRT, well described by commenter Alexander Craghead: Continue Reading →

Paris: Do We Have Enough Logos Yet?

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A lot has improved about transit in Paris since I was last there in 1991, and certainly since I lived there in 1986.  But I’m having trouble finding any positive angle on the partial re-branding of the crucial commuter rail and long-distance metro service, the RER.  Because Paris does everything on such an operatic scale, the new RER brands may offer a useful parable about the perils of agency-centered communications, especially in an era where European public transit operating companies are expected to act like private businesses. Continue Reading →

Frequent Network Maps: An Obvious Idea That Took Forever to Happen

Muni bit If you know San Francisco at all, take a look at Steve Boland’s new map of its high-frequency “main lines.”   It’s quite deservedly copyrighted, so I’ve shown just a taste of it here.

For years I’ve advocated that transit agencies need to produce clear maps of their high-frequency networks, so that people can quickly see where they can go without waiting long.  I also argue that these maps should be on the wall of every planner, everyone making decisions about social services, indeed everyone who decides where to locate anything.  Because ultimately, the most effective public transit is what happens when the city grows in response to the transit network — just as all cities did until about 1945.

Continue Reading →

When Expansion is Dilution

Demonstration-1-Large Metro Rapid

My post on crowdsourcing bus stop design included a pitch for the importance of branding in making a particular quality of service visible.  I cited the obvious example of the Los Angeles Metro Rapid, the region’s network of frequent and relatively fast buses.   Integral to the Rapid product was a distinctive logo, colour scheme, and on the first lines at least, shelter design.

But Los Angeles commenters such as Wad pounced, reminding me that as the Rapid brand expanded, bits of it started falling off:

Continue Reading →