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Photos of MAX BRT courtesy Transfort Connecting to jobs and other transit modes as well as supporting economic development were big boons cited. Last year's sequestration hurt some projects, but not enough to keep this from being a strong year for the mode, with 10 new lines opening. BY NICOLE SCHLOSSER, Senior Editor METRO's bus rapid transit (BRT) sur- vey results for 2014 include 41 projects, 40 of which are located in the U.S., with one in Canada. This year, we updated our sur vey to include questions about the num- ber of doors per vehicle, more spe- cific passenger amenity information and boarding characteristics, of ering options such as curb level boarding, floor level platforms or bridge plates at doors. T e upcoming year will be a big one for BRT. Launching new routes are Aus- tin, Texas; Los Angeles; Orlando, Fla., El Paso, Texas; San Bernardino, Calif.; Seattle; Fort Collins, Colo.; and San Di- ego, totaling 10 new lines, nearly dou- 2 0 1 4 B R T S U R V E Y Projects Abound, Bring Economic Benef ts ble the number slated for last year. T e projects planned for the farthest in the future are the San Francisco Munici- pal Transportation Agency's Geneva (2020) and Minneapolis-based Metro Transit's Orange Line (2019.) Two of Florida's projects were in the spotlight recently: U.S. Transportation Secretar y Anthony Foxx toured the nearly completed East-West Circula- tor in downtown Orlando, Fla. T e new line, scheduled to open this spring, will connect area residents with several em- ployers and attractions. T e Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is providing approximately $8 million in funds toward the $10 mil- lion project. In addition, the U.S. Department of Transportation committed $13 million in Transportation Investment Generat- ing Economic Recovery (TIGER) fund- ing for construction of another BRT line to link the Parramore neighborhood — one of Orlando's lowest-income neigh- borhoods — to other rapid bus and commuter rail service. Construction of the Parramore BRT line is expected to begin this spring. Me a n w h i l e, i n O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3 , t h e Minnesota Public Transit Association (MPTA) awarded its annual Manage- ment Innovation Award to the Min- neapolis/St. Paul Metro Red Line BRT project as an example of a creative part- nership designed to address the 14 < m ETRO m AGAZINE APRIL 2014 metro-magazine.com M E T R O 0 4 1 4 _ B R T . i n d d 1 4 METRO0414_BRT.indd 14 3 / 1 8 / 1 4 1 : 0 0 P M 3/18/14 1:00 PM