San Jose State University Professors Tsao & Wei Complete a Study on Feasibility of One-Lane Two-Way BRT/Light-Rail Systems and Their Expansion to Two-Lane Systems Requiring Least Right-of-Way

Study Proposes Various Designs to Maximize Ability to Deploy Bus and Rail
Transit Systems by Minimizing Space Requirements
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
The Mineta Transportation Institute has published a research report on bus rapid
transit (BRT) and light-rail implemented on dedicated space. San Jose State
University engineering professors Drs. H-S Jacob Tsao and Wenbin Wei, with
graduate student Agus Pratama, co-authored the report, Feasibility of
One-Dedicated-Lane Bus Rapid Transit/Light-Rail Systems and Their Expansion to
Two-Dedicated-Lane Systems: A Focus on Geometric Configuration and Performance
Planning. It is especially valuable for transportation or transit planners, or
for anyone planning transit-oriented developments.

The authors propose a BRT or light-rail system that effectively requires only
one dedicated but reversible lane throughout the system to support two-way
traffic in the median of a busy commute corridor with regular provision of
left-turn lanes. Key to the design is the observation that the median space
between the two left-turn lanes on two opposite ends of a roadway section is
currently unused or underused for traffic purposes. But it could be used,
together with one dedicated (but slanted) lane, for bus or train crossing. (In
selected sections, the left-turn lanes can be sacrificed and the vacated spaces
can accommodate passenger platforms, resulting in a system requiring dedication
of virtually only one lane.)

Based on similar ideas, the authors next address how to implement a
two-dedicated-lane BRT or light-rail system with minimum right-of-way width. In
such systems, the currently unused median space can be used to accommodate a
passenger platform. Then they propose ways to expand a one-dedicated-lane system
to two dedicated lanes.

The report includes several conceptual design options and many
geometric-configuration sketches for the bus stop and crossing space of a
one-dedicated-lane system, and it discusses system performance in terms of
travel speed, headway of operations, distance between two neighboring crossing
spaces, and the number of crossing spaces. To ensure practicality, the authors
study how to implement such a system on an existing corridor. This type of
system is also useful as an intermediate step toward a two-dedicated-lane system
because of its potential for facilitating transit-oriented development.

The one-dedicated-lane portion of this report was published in Transportation
Planning and Technology. A follow-on project is funded by Caltrans through
California Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways (PATH) of UC Berkeley to
develop operating rules and signaling plans for optimized performance of
one-dedicated-lane BRT and light-rail systems.

Download the free report at www.transweb.sjsu.edu. Click "Research," then
"Publications." Scroll down for the document.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

DR. H.-S. JACOB TSAO

Dr. Tsao received his PhD in operations research from The University of
California, Berkeley in 1984. Since 1999, he has been with San José State
University, where he is professor of industrial and systems engineering. Prior
to 1999, he worked for the Institute of Transportation Studies of UC Berkeley
for seven years and for private companies, including AT&T Bell Laboratories, for
eight years.

DR. WENBIN WEI

Dr. Wei is a faculty member in the Department of Aviation and Technology at San
José State University. He received his MS in civil engineering with a
concentration in computer aided engineering and management from Carnegie Mellon
University in 1996, and his PhD in transportation engineering from UC Berkeley
in 2000.

MR. AGUS PRATAMA

Mr. Pratama received his BS in industrial engineering from Parahyangan Catholic
University of Indonesia in 2005 and his MS in industrial and systems engineering
from San José State University in 2007. He is pursuing his MS in computer
engineering with a concentration on software systems.

ABOUT THE MINETA TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE:

The Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) was established by Congress in 1991 as
part of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) and was
reauthorized in 1998. The institute is funded by Congress through the US DOT`s
Research and Innovative Technology Administration, by the California Legislature
through the Department of Transportation (Caltrans), and by other public and
private grants and donations. The US DOT selected MTI as a national "Center of
Excellence" following a 2002 competition.

The Institute has a Board of Trustees whose internationally-respected members
represent all major surface transportation modes. MTI`s focus on policy and
management resulted from a board assessment of the industry`s unmet needs and
led directly to choosing the San José State University College of Business as
the Institute`s home. MTI conducts research, education, and information and
technology transfer focusing on surface transportation policy and management
topics and issues. Visit www.transweb.sjsu.edu

For Mineta Transportation Institute
Donna Maurillo, 831-234-4009
maurillo@mti.sjsu.edu
or
Riki Rafner, 415-385-5052
riki.rafner@gmail.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009