Quote Originally Posted by ghettopalmetto View Post
Why hasn't Southeastern Michigan embraced bus "rapid" transit already? I mean, really. What kind of improvements are we talking about here?
Depending on the funding, for which we will have to compete with other regions [[and which requires a long term, dedicated source of local funding which we do not and have never had):

1. Articulated buses
2. Dedicated bus lanes where possible
3. Transit signal priority
4. Stations
5. Off-board fare collection to speed loading
6. Frequency of service
7. Reconfiguration of existing routes to maximize efficiency of the overall system

The actual paper is buried somewhere in the land of semcog.org.

The only thing light rail has that isn't mentioned above, service wise, and I'm talking here about your higher-speed regional type of rail, is 100% separation from traffic. That would be lovely to have, but that single extra feature is what drives up the cost.