Toll and transit authorities in Tampa, Florida, are to jointly propose a first bus/toll lanes (BTL) project for the region this autumn.
7384 Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority (THEA) in Florida is developing a bus/toll lane (BTL) project in partnership with Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART), the regional governments' bus service provider.
BTLs are toll managed lanes added to existing expressways that are designed for express transit buses plus toll-paying vehicles in volumes capped by dynamic pricing to assure free flow for all.
The lanes would be located in corridors that lend themselves to dedicated express bus lanes and primarily designed for buses. However, since even the busiest bus corridors will have surplus capacity the spare space can usefully be provided to other vehicles, toll managed in density to maintain free flow speeds.
Joe Waggoner, THEA’s chief executive, said the BTLs are first and foremost a bus transit concept. "Transit would 'own' these lanes and give priority to bus operations in its management of them,” he says. Toll and bus fare revenues could be pooled to cover operating and some capital costs.
"We don't really have any rail in this area so for transit we're heavily dependent on buses. We need to make them work better. We don't have any HOV lanes here either, so our proposal would toll all vehicles other than buses."
BTLs are toll managed lanes added to existing expressways that are designed for express transit buses plus toll-paying vehicles in volumes capped by dynamic pricing to assure free flow for all.
The lanes would be located in corridors that lend themselves to dedicated express bus lanes and primarily designed for buses. However, since even the busiest bus corridors will have surplus capacity the spare space can usefully be provided to other vehicles, toll managed in density to maintain free flow speeds.
Joe Waggoner, THEA’s chief executive, said the BTLs are first and foremost a bus transit concept. "Transit would 'own' these lanes and give priority to bus operations in its management of them,” he says. Toll and bus fare revenues could be pooled to cover operating and some capital costs.
"We don't really have any rail in this area so for transit we're heavily dependent on buses. We need to make them work better. We don't have any HOV lanes here either, so our proposal would toll all vehicles other than buses."
