Bus Rapid Transit in China

Urban Sustainability Initiative: Integrated Transit in Chengdu, China

UC Berkeley's Institute of Transportation Studies has joined forces with the city of Chengdu, China, and Southwest Jiaotong University to design and implement a wholly integrated transit system. The UC Berkeley team has created a feasibility study for a novel feeder bus system that will enable riders to seamlessly transfer between the city’s planned subway and bus rapid transit lines.

UC Researchers and Planners in Chengdu, China
Academic researchers from ITS and Southwest Jiaotong University, along with municipal partners from Chengdu city government at meeting in Chengdu last summer

Accomplishments and Next Steps:

1. MOU with the Chengdu Municipal Committee of Communications and the Southwest Jiaotong University for collaborative research on sustainable public transportation in Chengdu
2. Suggestions made by the USI team have been integrated into the updated version of Public Transportation Plan of Chengdu
3. Surveys and data collections are under way
4. UCB researchers and students will be in Chengdu in Summer 2008 to conduct further field work on the transit network

Integrated Mass Transit

Chengdu traffic with planning map Chengdu traffic and map of planned transit system

The project will involve design and implementation of an integrated mass transit operation that will enable riders to seamlessly transfer between various components of the system. The ITS team major contribution will be to design the feeder bus system to connect with the city’s planned subway and bus rapid transit lines. Scheduling, trip planning and comprehensive signal coordination are among the elements needed for implementing the scheme. Additionally, extensive understanding of trip-making decisions will be developed through analysis and modeling using expertise developed by ITS researchers. They will be working closely with Southwest Jiaotong University researchers, who have developed an extensive data library of travel patterns and preferences for Chengdu residents.

Bus Rapid Transit Taxi Service Proposed Transit Taxi Service

A Mandate to Increase Transit Use

For Chengdu, the partnership represents a response to a government requirement that transit in China’s larger cities represent at least a 30 percent share of travel within 10 years. In Chengdu, that share is roughly 14 percent currently. The main modes the city’s decision-makers are hoping to replace are taxis and electric and gasoline-powered motorbikes, which contribute large amounts of pollution, both during their operation and in their after-lives and production.

Collaboration on Two Campuses

The collaboration extends beyond a simple exchange of knowledge. As part of the project, a professor from SWJTU will be spending time in Berkeley working with researchers and students at ITS, and students from ITS will be working in Chengdu with their counterparts at SWJTU, fulfilling another mandate of the Moore Foundation’s grant: intellectual cross-fertilization and exchange.

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