The City of Yichang yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in bus rapid transit (BRT), transit-oriented development (TOD) and green development with the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP). Vice mayor Mao Chuanqiang represented the Yichang city government, and CEO Clayton Lane represented ITDP in the ceremony. The MOU has a duration of three years and is an extension of an earlier MOU signed in December 2012 between the City of Yichang and ITDP. The earlier MOU in turn followed the preparation of a BRT conceptual design for Yichang by ITDP-China in the second half of 2012 under an Asian Development Bank technical assistance project. Part of the cooperation will involve Yichang hosting a major international summit on sustainable transport in late September 2016.

The subject matter of the cooperation all relates to green transport and green development:

1. BRT phase 1 improvements, including improving signals along the BRT corridor to improve BRT and mixed traffic speeds; full installation of lane dividers between BRT and social traffic; BRT route adjustments to reduce passenger transfers and improve operational efficiency.


2. Pedestrian & bicycle facility and urban design improvements, including implementation and operation of a bikesharing system; implementation of greenways including a greenway network connected from the BRT corridor to the riverside; BRT station connectivity improvements to reduce the large additional walking distances required from some developments along the BRT corridor to BRT stations, and to provide covered walkways accessing selected stations; and landscaping and street furniture improvements in BRT station areas.


3. Transit-oriented development (TOD) and transport demand management (TDM) measures, including introduction of special zoning provisions within a 500m radius of BRT stations (following the example of Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Shanghai and other cities), further improvements to on-street parking management along the BRT corridor, and application of a parking cap to replace current parking minimums required for new developments along the BRT corridor (also in line with the approach around metro stations in Shenzhen).


4. BRT phase 2 planning, design, implementation and operation, and city wide BRT network planning and design.


5. Analysis of the impacts of these projects, and documentation of best practice approaches and innovations in Yichang.


6. Promotion of Yichang as a best practice in sustainable transport and green development.

Seethis linkfor one of the news items from the MOU signing.