Report and Recommendation for a Bus Rapid Transit System on the Berkeley-Oakland Corridor

CAMBRIDGE SYSTEMATICS, INC., AC TRANSIT BERKELEY/OAKLAND/SAN LEANDRO CORRIDOR MIS SUMMARY REPORT (2002).

In 2002, Cambridge Systematics, Inc., of Oakland, presented the results of a 2-year study commissioned by AC Transit regarding the feasibility of new or augmented transit options in the Berkeley-Oakland area. Currently, buses operating along the Berkeley/Oakland corridor carry 40,000 passengers a day, 20% of AC Transit’s total ridership. The report projects that ridership will increase to over 250,000 riders a day, of which roughly 115,000 would be better served by a new system than the current options available from BART and AC Transit.

The study was primarily concerned with improving access to the major employment and educational centers of downtown Berkeley and downtown Oakland, improving connectivity with other transit providers, improving reliability, and increasing ridership to reduce the percentage of transportation made via automobiles in the region. The study considered expanding the existing bus system, the creation of a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, and the construction of a new Light Rail Transit (LRT) system. These options were evaluated considering factors including reliability, comfort, ridership, capital and operational costs, and impacts on traffic. The creation of a BRT system was found to best meet these considerations, although the report includes the caveat that a Light Rail system “should be considered as a long-term goal.”

The report, therefore, recommends the creation of a BRT system, running from the Berkeley BART station, down Telegraph Avenue to downtown Oakland, and continuing on to the Bay Fair BART station. The recommended system, which would be easily convertible to an LRT system at a later date, would include:
• Special transit lanes dedicated to BRT
• Traffic signal priority
• Frequent service, with busses running every 5 to 8 minutes
• Stations spaced at wide intervals of 1/3 to 1/2 mile
• Well-developed stations with shelters, boarding platforms, security, and fare machines
• Multi-door, low-emission busses.

Citing the importance that riders place on reliability and speed, the report concludes that a BRT or LRT system is preferable to expanding the existing bus system, as the dedicated lanes and traffic prioritization would ensure greater speed and increased reliability. While a BRT system would provide a 15 to 25% improvement in speed over an expansion of the existing system, the incremental improvement of an LRT system over the proposed BRT system would only be in the range of 2 to 10%. The corridor currently sees roughly 40,000 riders each day. A BRT system is projected to increase ridership to roughly 60,000 passengers per day, while an LRT system is projected to increase ridership to 66,000. Again, the adoption of either a BRT or LRT system would substantially increase use, but an LRT would show declining marginal increases when compared to a BRT system. The construction and operational costs associated with an LRT system, however, greatly surpass those of a BRT system, and the construction of an LRT would entail substantially longer delay until completion. The report, therefore, recommends the adoption of the BRT system rather than the LRT for the time being.