Thanks to Bernie Wagenblast’s Transportation Communications News for the tip, I learned via Wired that New York’s MTA has begun a bus rapid transit upgrade for one of the Bronx-Upper Manhattan bus routes.
Travel times get faster by (a) skipping lots of bus stops (b) pre-payment of fares with a machine that generates a receipt at the station instead of paying on the bus, allowing riders to get on in both doors quickly (c) bus-only traffic lanes and (d) traffic signal prioritization so the traffic light stays green for the bus.
The MTA is calling this Select Bus Service with a new brand. Instead of bus stops, they are now stations. I think the MTA has an opportunity to launch a monthly newsletter to riders where they promote the faster travel times and generate a sense of shared aspiration to shave minutes off the trip (hurry up and board!) so the MTA can build up some community support for skipping past the local bus stops. It can also build up support for better police enforcement of cars stuck in the bus-only lanes and educate riders and local elected officials about the centrality of faster travel times — helping to push the police to actually enforce the law by getting riders and residents to call. Finally, this is a chance to really generate some word-of-mouth marketing by riders. To get that, though, the agency has to ask riders to spread the word.
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