www.elpasotexas.gov - Rapid Transit System Corridors

Sun Metro Moves Forward on Rapid Transit System
Station and Corridor Design Begins

BRT Corridors Graphic

Communities across the nation are constantly searching for innovative and effective ways to improve the manner in which their residents travel across their cities.

One option many cities, including El Paso, are beginning to design is the Rapid Transit Systems (RTS), or Bus Rapid Transit as it is more commonly known. RTS is a high-quality transit service that offers similar benefits to light rail transit, such as improved speed and reliability, but at a much lower implementation cost.

Sun Metro began the process of creating a Rapid Transit System (RTS) in El Paso in 2009 with an Alternative Analysis after the City Council, acting as the Mass Transit Department Board, directed Sun Metro to look at providing more and enhanced transportation choices for El Paso.

Typical RTS Elements

Frequent service (10 to 15 minute frequency)
Less frequent stops (locations of stops about one mile apart)
Branded vehicles and stations (uniquely painted buses and stations to easily identify service)
Amenities at stops (such as real-time bus schedules)
Signal prioritization (buses will have ability to shorten red or lengthen green traffic signals)
Fare prepayment (save time by paying for your fare before boarding)
Local bus feeder network (circulators take passengers to RTS stops faster to reduce overall travel time)

Performed by Jacobs Engineering, a consulting firm out of Austin, the analysis evaluated the opportunities, challenges, costs and impacts of creating RTS in El Paso along Alameda Avenue, Mesa Street, Montana Avenue and Dyer Street, four of the City’s major corridors.

After more than a year of research to include several public meetings and presentations, the Mass Transit Department Board voted to move forward with the RTS alternative known as Transportation System Management (TSM, or RTS Light) on all four corridors. Alameda will be locally funded and Sun Metro will seek Federal Transit Administration funding for Mesa, Montana and Dyer. Alameda and Mesa are expected to be completed in late 2013, followed by Dyer in 2015 and Montana in 2016.

Under the RTS Light alternative, the new bus system would have various amenities to include: uniquely branded 60-foot articulated buses in mixed traffic; a frequency of 10 minutes (peak service) to 15 minutes (off-peak service); have less frequent stops; branded and landscaped stations with improved pedestrian amenities and signal prioritization (shorten red or lengthen green traffic signals).

Initial assessments of the 15.5-mile Alameda corridor show that RTS would improve travel time for Mission Valley commuters to the Downtown area by 20 to 25 minutes, making travel time on public transportation nearly equal to that of a private vehicle.

See the BRT Corridor Presentation

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