[Portugal] BRuTalization of public transport in Portugal

[Giugiaro]

It's been a while since the term BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) was introduced in Portugal. [Wait, now Grammarly forces me to use Passive Voice in this sentence!?)

So far, two old railway projects (or old railway infrastructure, as it once existed) have been converted to BRT systems.
One in Coimbra with Battery Electric Buses (Lousã Branch) and one in Porto with Hydrogen Buses (old Boavista tram line).

This, albeit sad, has been decided and is already under construction with no plans to install rail tracks.

But, weirdly, this past year there's been a significant bet on BRT systems in basically any public transport-oriented discussion all over the country.
Even weirder, is how readily available there's financing for these projects, while rail projects remain stuck without investment for years on end.

The Light Rail project for the Algarve has been recently reconverted into a BRT project.
Some politicians ferociously defend the idea of converting the Vouga Line into a BRT line.
Others in Lisbon want a similar system between Cascais and Lisbon, with one line through the A5 motorway, and the other replacing the Cascais Line.
The Portuguese Government has announced a 700M€ plan for Metro and/or Metrobus investments, between 2024-2030.
And yesterday, a 1M€ plan was announced to build a BRT line between Guimarães and the future HSR station in Braga.

Meanwhile, some questions about these "new" transport systems remain unanswered, like if pedestrians will have to give right of way for BRT buses, and if their length will still be limited to the legal value of 18,75m.

I would like to ask you if, by any chance, you find any of this... weird.

 

[gordonthemoron]

I don't think converting Cascais-Lisbon line to BRT is a very good idea at all, it'd take the line out of use for a long time

 

[Bletchleyite]

There are a couple of things that can make BRT a good choice.

1. Where you want the buses to travel along a traffic free core section then fan out to a load of destinations at the far end because no specific one is more important than the others. This was the original concept for Cambridge but has now been abandoned in favour of connections at St Ives and Huntingdon. Dunstable does still work this way which probably makes it more effective for local travel at least than the other obvious option of extending the Thameslink Luton terminators to a Dunstable station to terminate (but no other stations along the way).

2. Where the railway station is a long way from the town centre, but there's no established tram system to run onto and little or no prospect of one (this is true of Cambridge).

If neither of those two things applies, BRT is to me doing things on the cheap. If Cambridge does ever get a tramway, given that (1) has been near enough abandoned on that system, I would be unsurprised were the Busway converted to tram operation.

Thus I suspect it's a means of saving money in the context you mention.

 

[MarkyT]

For a high-frequency near-metro-like service such as Cascais, you'll need a heck of a lot of buses to match the capacity of the current multiple units. I hope they've factored staffing costs and recruitment difficulties for that into the business case. Also as an electrified railway (Portugal's first), any conversion would need to remain 100% electric to not worsen the environmental impact, and rubber-tired vehicles of equivalent capacity are likely to use more energy than rail vehicles. I've no problem with using BRT if that is easier for new routes along the motorway, and a rubber-tired solution for the other more lightly trafficked branch lines, but the Cascais line strikes me as a big step in the wrong direction. As to why financing seems to be available for BRT while not for rail-based schemes, are bus manufacturers offering incentives? Clearly, there's some transatlantic influence from South American public transport practice in Portugal which does not seem to occur in other European nations to the same extent. Many S. American systems were promoted in new and rapidly expanding cities as a fast low-cost means to establish large networks much of which was in wide new highway medians that might one day be converted to rail as demand grows, and this is happening on some lines today.

 

[eldomtom2]

BRT is heavily promoted in Japan as a solution to the problem of unprofitable rural lines, with conversion of rail lines to BRT being seen by some as a preferable alternative to closure or takeover of the line by the local government (with the attending loss of cross-subsidization).

 

[37201xoIM]

For a high-frequency near-metro-like service such as Cascais, you'll need a heck of a lot of buses to match the capacity of the current multiple units. I hope they've factored staffing costs and recruitment difficulties for that into the business case. Also as an electrified railway (Portugal's first), any conversion would need to remain 100% electric to not worsen the environmental impact, and rubber-tired vehicles of equivalent capacity are likely to use more energy than rail vehicles. I've no problem with using BRT if that is easier for new routes along the motorway, and a rubber-tired solution for the other more lightly trafficked branch lines, but the Cascais line strikes me as a big step in the wrong direction. As to why financing seems to be available for BRT while not for rail-based schemes, are bus manufacturers offering incentives? Clearly, there's some transatlantic influence from South American public transport practice in Portugal which does not seem to occur in other European nations to the same extent. Many S. American systems were promoted in new and rapidly expanding cities as a fast low-cost means to establish large networks much of which was in wide new highway medians that might one day be converted to rail as demand grows, and this is happening on some lines today.

I'd agree with this post. Cascais sounds like an idea that won't go far - and I thought there was already a concrete upgrade plan anyway for the line, with voltage conversion and a new fleet?

For the Vouga, I can't see BRT being sensible - BRT is an urban / suburban mode, not something to replace a moderately long and partly rural single-track narrow-gauge railway; you would surely have to do a hell of a lot to the alignment of the Vouga line to make it remotely suitable for BRT vehicles in terms of width, height and curvature, wouldn't you? Probably comparable in cost to gauge-converting it to Iberian standard? (And rather costlier than just modernising and upgrading the metre-gauge.)

BRT is one of those things it's easy to sell to politicians, because it sounds great: the advantages of rail (i.e. proper!) rapid transit without the cost. In reality I reckon 'bus rapid transit' is an oxymoron......

(It probably does have its place, such as some routes in the Netherlands that need a fast reliable bus and separation from general car traffic, but can't [yet] justify a tram in demand terms.)

 

[Bletchleyite]

(It probably does have its place, such as some routes in the Netherlands that need a fast reliable bus and separation from general car traffic, but can't [yet] justify a tram in demand terms.)

The only one I recall riding in NL is the one around Hoofddorp and Schiphol, and because of the elevated infrastructure I very much doubt it was much cheaper than a tram, and was markedly inferior.

 

[37201xoIM]

The only one I recall riding in NL is the one around Hoofddorp and Schiphol, and because of the elevated infrastructure I very much doubt it was much cheaper than a tram, and was markedly inferior.

Happy to be corrected, thanks! I must admit I did have in mind that sort of "peri-urban" situation, though, yes.

 

[gabrielhj07]

Buses of any description are likely to struggle meeting summer demand on the Cascais line, unless I’m misunderstanding the proposal. Although the trains are old, they are capacious and run at sensible intervals.

 

[gordonthemoron]

Buses of any description are likely to struggle meeting summer demand on the Cascais line, unless I’m misunderstanding the proposal. Although the trains are old, they are capacious and run at sensible intervals.

And there’s nowhere to turn the buses round

 

[edwin_m]

I have visions of it being re-gauged to 900mm and integrated with tram 15E...

 

[Giugiaro]

Another BRT network was announced for 100M€ in Braga.

So far we have five six new BRT projects announced in Portugal, of which four have replaced previous railway connections or planned railway networks, and 3 of them were announced just the past 30 days:
- Braga/Guimarães;
- Porto;
- Gaia;
- Coimbra;
- Leiria;
- Faro/Loulé/Olhão.
EDIT: On my research I was able to find another BRT project currently under construction that was sort of forgotten, since it's not as... *sigh* revolutionary as the other five projects.
But still marketed as such!

 

[dutchflyer]

The only one I recall riding in NL is the one around Hoofddorp and Schiphol, and because of the elevated infrastructure I very much doubt it was much cheaper than a tram, and was markedly inferior.

Even though this is far away from Portugal -and in fact I rode the Cascais line on my current InterRail only 2 weeks ago-on sat/sun it has a basic 20 min frequency this section is by far not the only BRT-line in NL -I just rode the one in Eindhoven, also used by the 400 airport shuttle-and sit now in that airport for a new adventure-this 300 BUSline runs AMSteram/Bijlmer (a major source of living for airport workers)-via Airport-to Haarlem and this viaduct section is just some 5-6 KMs of a >30 KMs line-so turning it into tram would make pax need to transfer 2 times if unlucky. Plus that it is also used by several other buslines coming of the south.
Major disadvantage of this Cascais line is its isolation from the other rail-network, though I also doubt if it would be cost-effective to bore a tunnal under that prized quayside till it reaches the other side- SA. Apolonia. All very much explained by the history. The inner-city end is parralled by a tramline (new trams, not those old ones where Lisboa is so famous for) but this sector seems out of use for the trams and is bus-replaced. A fair bit of it looks like separate tracks as such.

 

[SouthEastBuses]

I've been on the Cascais line when I was roughly the age of 4. I remember it being a very frequent service connecting densely populated areas like Belem and Estoril, so converting the Cascais line into a busway (BRT) is an absolutely stupid idea.