Synthesis of Information Related to Transit Practices. Topic SD-07. Red Tinted Bus Lanes Experience

Bus lanes have been around for decades and were initially identified with white pavement markings. Tinted pavement bus lanes first surface in international cities. In the US, city bus lanes conformed to signage and markings described in the Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUCTD). This began to change in 2017 with pilot tinting allowed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and was formally approved by the FHWA in 2020. Since then, many cities have implemented red tinted bus lanes as part of both bus rapid transit (BRT) projects and non-BRT bus lane projects. The expansion of the concept suggests wide success, but little is known about their successes/failures and policy, technical and operational issues. How do tinted bus lanes compare to physically separated exclusive BRT lanes? What have been key factors to the success of the painted bus lanes and what are the key challenges? Observations in San Francisco indicate that right turning motorists better understand the red tinting and that enforcement is critical to their success. Other regions are exploring this approach as a means to help motorists better navigate an increasingly multimodal arterial cross-section. Foundational questions remain - are the tinted lanes safer, do they improve operations and how important is enforcement? OBJECTIVE: The objective of this synthesis is to document the current state of practice in the performance and implementation of red tinted bus lanes.

• Record URL:
  • http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=5557

Language

• English

Project

• Funding: $55,000.00
• Contract Numbers:

  Project J-07, Topic SD-07

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Transit Cooperative Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC    20001

  Federal Transit Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Garcia-Colberg, Mariela

• Performing Organizations:
  ,   Germany 

  Texas A&M Transportation Institute

  Texas A&M University System
  3135 TAMU
  College Station, TX  United States  77843-3135
• Principal Investigators:

  Blume, Kelly

• Start Date: 20250224
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bus lanes; Bus rapid transit; Color; Red; Road markings
• Geographic Terms: San Francisco (California)
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Pavements; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01884618
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project J-07, Topic SD-07
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: Jun 5 2023 4:44PM