Bus Toll Lanes: A New Transit-Toll Partnership to Improve Mobility

Bus toll lanes (BTLs) are a transit-based solution for creating sustainable new transportation capacity by making transit a partner in the toll road business. A BTL would maximize passenger throughput by employing proven bus technologies, electronic open road tolling, and dynamic, congestion-based pricing techniques on new, multi-modal high-speed express lanes. With BTLs, capacity would be dedicated first to public transit. The remaining highway capacity would be sold to all other vehicles, using dynamically priced tolls, to ensure that the facility's level of service would always be high enough to maintain the competitive quality of the transit service. Revenues generated from tolls would be used first to cover any debt service related to the construction of the lanes and the cost of the infrastructure's operation and maintenance. Revenues in excess of these costs would be shared between the transit and toll agencies involved based on the percentage of their respective capital contributions to the lanes' construction.