But what type of public transport systems best fit our cities? How can we integrate public transport with urban planning to achieve the best results?
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Light Rail Transit (LRT), and Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) are public transport systems whose fit in our cities depends on a combination of factors such as space, required capacity of the system, duration of construction or period to implement the system, available capital, and operating and maintenance costs.
Integrating public transport into urban planning
Cost-wise, BRT is cheaper (estimated average of $1 per 20 million per km), faster to implement (about 2-3 years), and provides different levels of passenger capacity (3,000 to 50,000 per hour per direction). LRT is more expensive (estimated average of $30 million-$60 million per km), but its passenger carrying capacity is similar to BRT. MRT has the highest passenger capacity (30,000 to 80,000 per hour per direction), but also has the highest cost ($150million-$250 million), and takes the longest time to build (7-10 years).
Looking beyond costs and time to build, finding the best fit also depends on how the selected system can be integrated in a city’s development plan.