KCRag Forum

Here are a couple of pics of the Burlington Bus lane.  I really hope this catches on as people see buses pass them while they sit in traffic.

How was the ridership that you saw?  Is there only a southbound bus lane?  I was there over the weekend and didn't see anythig painted for northbound.

Great pics, GRID!  Did they make this bus lane out of an existing parking/curb lane?  I counted three lanes of regular traffic in your photo and I wasn't sure if I was counting a left turn lane.  How far north do the lanes start?

KCExile wrote: Great pics, GRID!  Did they make this bus lane out of an existing parking/curb lane?  I counted three lanes of regular traffic in your photo and I wasn't sure if I was counting a left turn lane.  How far north do the lanes start?

Burlington is 3 lanes each direction.  I believe the lanes start at about 28th.

dangerboy wrote: How was the ridership that you saw?  Is there only a southbound bus lane?  I was there over the weekend and didn't see anythig painted for northbound.

No, it's just SB.  I’m not sure one the exact reasons for that, but I would assume that the NB traffic does not que up as bad because it’s a bridge situation and the hard part it getting to the bridge, after crossing the bridge, traffic tends to flow better.  Another reason is probably political.  I’m sure the businesses along Burlington can put up with the no parking from 6-9 AM, but taking away parking from 4-6 PM might be a bit harder to for them to accept, those are peak business hours.

The buses are not very full, about average.  The new route from the new park and ride at I-29 and N Oak had only a half dozen or so riders all morning or less then two people per bus??!!

Like I said, I hope this catches on.  I think this is the first time in KC where buses could potentially be faster AND cheaper than driving.

The Bus lane works very will though.  The signal at 12th at the end of the bus lane has preemption technology allowing buses to get a head start of all that traffic to get on the HOA Bridge.  Here is a photo of a bus getting a head start.



The Star wasted a perfect opportunity to show off the bus lane and it’s advantages.  Why they did not get this same shot with a couple of buses passing all of that traffic I don’t know.

The quintessential example of the American Nightmare in practice:

Just a thought... The Burlington bus lane with a signal-jump at 12th Street is quintessential BRT planning.  Funny how the ATA could put this together in no time with a budget that didn't require public inquiry and input.  Yet south of the river we're doing the exact same thing just with prettier bus stops and buses... for $20 million plus community meetings.  Kinda makes me wish there were a Paseo Bridge in every part of town... we'd have a bus system to rival Curitiba/Bogota in no time!