There are many sequential and overlapping tasks that a transit agency must undertake in bringing a new bus rapid transit (BRT) service to fruition. Las Vegas is one of the fastest growing communities in the United States with nearly the youngest publicly-owned transit system for a metropolitan area its size. Citizens Area Transit (CAT) is operated by a service provider under contract with the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (RTC). Responding to the need to reduce congestion and improve air quality, the RTC is trying to attract more riders from single occupant vehicles (SOVs) by implementing innovative transit system options. The latest, and most ambitious, transit service element is now being developed for deployment in late 2003 that being a BRT service operating along CAT's third busiest route in a transit-dependent area. The system's features, services, special equipment, and BRT stations required to initiate such a service are new to the RTC and require many considerations. In addition, a variety of concurrent projects and project management details are involved in starting up a brand new service. The technical presentation covers these issues in broad terms, and describes the establishment of a traffic priority feature in some detail as a focused example.
Samenvatting