7 Design Lessons From the World's Most Gorgeous BRT Stations

The United States has a lot to learn about quality bus-rapid transit, and great station design is toward the top of that lesson plan. Take the Orange Line BRT in Los Angeles—one of America's highest-rated BRT systems, earning a bronze rating from the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. It's not that Orange Line stations like the one below are unattractive for bus stops. It's just that they still inspire comparisons with bus stops.

Here's the problem: a slightly better bus stop reinforces the false idea that BRT is just a slightly better bus, when in fact it's really a mode unto itself, and a vastly superior one when done right. There's a reason ITDP sees nice stations as "one of the main distinguishing features" between BRT and standard buses. In the absence of such distinctions, the result can be instinctual resistance to BRT adoption.