The South American Bus Rapid Transit Systems and the Renaissance of Tram and Light Rail in Europe

Bus Rapid Transit, like TransMilenio, and Light Rail Transit are different approaches in public transport of high demand. A comprehensive comparison, which is still missing, is being envisaged within a joint master thesis at the University of Los Andes and the Kaiserslautern University of Technology, Germany. This article focuses on the renaissance of tram and light rail systems in France and Germany. Significant innovations are low-floor trams, track sharing with railways, appealing design of the vehicles as well as the stops and the streetscape in general.