Light Rail or Rapid Bus Transit?

[Trainmaster.Curt]

How many people n this forum think that Light Rail Trains, or LRT's are a better solution in modern cities than Bus Rapid Transit. I for one am 100% supportive of Winnipeg moving towards a cleaner future by choosing Electric LRT's. Toronto has had Electric Streetcars since the late 19th century. We used to have them, but the trend towards buses and suburbia was prefered, and now we are seeing the environmental effects of too many gas or diesel powered buses and trucks on the roads. I for one admire the Toronto CLRV's, if i had to move to another Canadian city, i think i would live in Toronto just cause they have such a diverse and excellent transit system. If Winnipeg Transit wants to move ahead, Electric LRT's are the future.[:D]
http://transit.toronto.on.ca/streetcar/4503.shtml

[artpeterson]

In the US the Federal Transit Administration that provides capital assistance has been pushing BRT big-time. I think in large measure this is due to high per-mile costs for all the physical plant needed for LRT/streetcars. However, I think that a lot of the suitability of mode has to do with demand on a given corridor and other conditions. For example, 79th Street in Chicago (a major east-west street on the City's south side) is now CTA's busiest bus route with over 32,000 daily boardings. Putting express buses on the route won't work, as the east end is particularly constrained (the expresses would just be stuck in the same traffic jams as now hold up the locals). Going to a rail-based line might be the answer, but it has to have some means of avoiding getting stuck in the traffic jams.

[trainboyH16-44]

Coming from another western Canadian city, Calgary, and LRT is a great system when the city is spread out, as I am guessing Winnepeg is.
In Calgary's case, only driving at night beats taking the C-Train longer distances. Unless there's a long wait for a train to come in, a C-Train is undoubtedly faster as you zip along a backlogged Crowchild Trail, passing busses that only popped out of the circuitous neighborhood routes to make a connection to the train that left five minutes ago.
BRT on the other hand seems to be a temporary solution here, buses get stuck in traffic like any other car, and in the end it's slower, but cheaper than an LRT.

[PBenham]

BRT (or RBT) has one very big [xx(] drawback! They get stuck in traffic, and tie traffic up picking up passengers along the streets they contribute to the congestion thereof! They are only exceeded by regular busses and the scourge of drivers everywhere: the[censored][censored][censored][censored][censored][censored][censored][censored][censored][banghead] School Busses! Even the drivers of school busses hate driving them! Worst are the [censored] Bus aides that insist on talking to adults picking up the monsters they carried, with the red lights still on, thus stopping traffic long after the little darlings have left the area! Here, some one responsible for the kids has to sign for the kids they are responsible for. Does wonders for traffic flow! But, if they lose a kid, then the absentee parents sue the school district, the City, town,village et al and the bus operator! [sigh] When I rode the yellow perils, we were on our own after we got left off, then we had to walk from the end of the road to our home fifty miles away through 10 feet of snow, flooded rivers, and...with a fifty pound pack of homework that had to be done that night, wearing paper shoes. Thats the way it was and we liked it!!!