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Will "BRT" begin the end of new "LRT" development?

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[quote user="JT22CW"] [quote]BRT has one clear advantage over rail. Flexibility[/quote]No, that's not an advantage, nor is it even a characteristic.  Bus routes tend to not change very frequently, especially at their cores.  Things get very expensive relating to startup costs to create limited-service alternate routes (created via pandering, to boot) that end up fizzling out due to lack of demand or inability to recoup costs to a certain requirement.  Furthermore, bus routes that change too frequently tend to drive away passengers due to the confusion it creates.Also, BRT special routes are just as fixed as rail.  Not to mention more expensive to maintain than rail.[/quote]Please show us the numbers for these assertions.  The DOT does not agree with you.  It is one of the reasons why they are pushing BRT in a number of environments.  In Dallas and Fort Worth the light rail and commuter rail lines converge downtown.  That's because they were designed as a hub and spoke systems when almost everyone worked downtown.  Many of the bus routes also converge downtown.  Routes through downtown tend to stay the same, but they have changed over the years.  Many of the newer bus routes run across town, i.e. from one outlying employment center to another, in response to the changing employmnet centers in the Metroplex.  It was easy to switch the buses to run across town as the new centers unfolded.  The rail lines cannot be moved although they can be abandoned.  New ones could be built, but as I have pointed out in previous posts, but the cost is prohibitive.  More than 80 per cent of the Metroplex light rail and commuter rail systems run on former railway lines.  That is the only way the communities could have afforded them.  Funding new rail lines, of whatever stripe, to run across the Metroplex, is simply out of the question.  Its too costly!The HOV lanes in Dallas, which carry nearly twice the number of passengers as the light rail lines, are used by buses and other vehicles.  If the buses are switched to other routes, the HOV lanes would still be usable by other vehicles.  The same thing applies to the dedicated bus lanes in downtown Dallas and Fort Worth.   Several Texas cities that were enthusiastic about light rail have taken a second look at it because of the cost.  Just today (July 28, 2008) Capital Metro announced a plan to implement BRT in Austin.  One reason is the cost of the proposed light rail line from the airport to downtown Austin and the University of Texas.  Having spent all of its extra resources on the Leander to Austin commuter rail line, which is yet to begin service, finding the money for a light rail system will be difficult.
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