Bus Rapid Transit in Guangzhou, China from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

Streetfilms, in collaboration with the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), recently released a video highlighting Guangzhou, China’s bus rapid transit (BRT) system, which we covered here on TheCityFix back in January. Guangzhou’s BRT system won the 2011 Sustainable Transport Award for making great strides in increasing mobility, reducing greenhouse emissions and air pollution, and improving safety for pedestrians and cyclists.  

The 23-kilometer (14.3-mile) corridor is the first BRT in China that integrates bicycles in its design. According to Karl Fjellstrom, vice-director at ITDP, there are 5,000 bikes and 5,500 parking docks included in the BRT.

“What the Guangzhou BRT has done is to raise the bar,” Fjellstrom says. “So this is more than three times bigger than any other BRT system in Asia, 800,000 passengers a day and 27,000 passengers per hour carried in a single direction.”

The most significant improvement in the views of the citizens has been the decrease in travel time. Distances that once took 40 minutes to an hour have now been reduced to 10-20 minutes thanks to the multi-modal integrated BRT.

You can learn more about Guangzhou’s BRT by visiting their website.