Aside from the Gold Line LRT, most LRT systems around the country are horrible. I’ve ridden many (if not most) of them, and live in a city that has a system. In most cities, they are a hybrid of commuter rail and streetcar, and combining the two doesn’t work. Commuter rail needs limited stops and fast service, and streetcar is slower and more localized–LRT often tries to do both. The Orange Line is a unique specimen in that it connects to a subway. If it went all the way to Downtown LA, it would be just as horrible as most LRT systems when going on the streets.

I think you’d really have to do a costs/benefits/pollutants analysis to determine just how “bad” the Orange Line is. I think when you look at the whole picture (and factor in the LRT experience around the country), I think it’s probably a lot better than you give it credit for. Oh, and the Orange Line BRT is definitely not in a dense area and it’s a way more comfortable ride than most LRT or subway systems I’ve been on (aside from the sardines part, but real transit systems have that problem).

There is not a successful BRT line in the US that was built on a privet right of way. Miami, Pittsburg, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles are all failures.

The Orange Bus Line was a failure from the start. It was at capacity and could not begin to handle the required ridership. The busses are small and cramped inside though very heavy, rough riding and very difficult to handle a wheelchair. Capacity can not be increased do to blocking traffic of the cross streets. It now takes twice as long to make the trip that it would if it were a light rail line. It cost three times as much to carry a passenger on the Orange bus as it does on a LRT train in Los Angeles. LRT trains use electricity and do not require imported oil based fuels including CNG with less pollution. The costs to service the busses and maintain the right of way is also higher than if it were a rail line. Because the busses are full, cramped and uncomfortable, many people who would be riding an Orange Line LRT train are now driving. The Orange bus line is a failure, not the successes that it is touted to be.

PRT, Monorail and other gadgetbahns do not have the capacity needes for moving high volumes of people.

I want to tell you that if you want more imformation about the BRT projects that are in development in other cities, I will be glad to send you more information.

We have already to other cities with BRT (Cali and Pereira) and in other 4 major cities BRT systems are under construction.

Transmilenio is a very good initiative (It has some problems) but it is a good and cheap alternative to fight pollution and global warming.

The numbers are disastrous.Half of the peruvian cars and buses are trashed units( that is, the cars were obsolete and some countries thought that selling their junk to our corrupt government was a good opportunity to trash them while gaining lots of money), each one emitting huge plumes of dark smoke that cover tens of metres.

When there are only few clouds in the sky, the horizon is brown instead of blue even at noon!In my university there is a weather station, I was collecting the data of solar insolation in last 40 years.According to my first data, in recent years the smog dim nearly 50% of the sunshine.

The city major, Castañeda Lossio, is building a BRT corridor inside Lima. But he is doing it at an turle-like speed. The work is just the first stage , and should have been finished more than one year ago. It appears that may be finished in 2010.

Meanwhile, the citicens of Lima will continue to suffocate in a fog made of soot(black carbon) and sulfate aerosols for a lot years more.