Tuscon's First Bus Rapid Transit System

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Study Overview Help us Shape Tucson’s First Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) System!

The City of Tucson is studying a 15-mile high-capacity transit corridor that will ultimately stretch from the Tohono T’adai Transit Center/Tucson Mall to the Tucson International Airport.

The north segment of this corridor will be BRT, a new high-capacity transit service that will connect people and places between the Tohono T’adai Transit Center/Tucson Mall and the downtown Ronstadt Transit Center.

The south segment is being further evaluated through the Norte-Sur study but will ultimately connect downtown Tucson/the Ronstadt Transit Center to the Tucson International Airport.

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Tahono T'adai Transit Center Map — Download Map PDF Click to enlarge

Project Timeline

Tucsonans expressed strong support for more high-capacity transit in Move Tucson, the City of Tucson’s transportation vision and master plan adopted in 2021. The City of Tucson’s population and economy are growing, and high-capacity transit means faster and more frequent service that serves more people. The Tucson Rapid Transit project is the first step in delivering Tucson’s transportation vision. Here’s how we got to this point.

2017

An extensive high-capacity transit alignment study was conducted between 2017 and 2018, resulting in the determination of high-capacity transit corridors throughout Tucson. Based on transit route performance, surrounding land use, and population served, two potential corridors at the northern end of the city were identified: Oracle Road and Stone Avenue. Each of these corridors would connect the Tohono T’adai Transit Center/Tucson Mall to the Ronstadt Transit Center in downtown Tucson.

2019

In winter of 2019, the City of Tucson began visioning for the Move Tucson Transportation Vision and Master Plan. Through extensive analysis and community input, several high-capacity transit corridors were identified as priority network improvements, including Oracle Road and Stone Avenue.

2023

The City of Tucson initiated Tucson Rapid Transit to design a high-capacity transit corridor from the Tohono T'adai Transit Center to the airport. This project was split into two portions, the north segment (Tohono T'adai Transit Center to downtown Tucson), and the south segment (downtown Tucson to the Tucson International Airport).

2023

Tucson Norte-Sur is the federally-funded equitable Transit Oriented Development (eTOD) study looking at land use policies and reinvestment potential to support a high-capacity transit system. In 2023, the study team concluded that additional outreach was needed within the southern study area before potential corridors for the south segment could be identified.

2023

In the fall of 2023, the City of Tucson officially kicked off the development of the north segment of the project, focusing on identifying the Locally Preferred Alternative, Oracle Road or Stone Avenue. This included the first phase of community outreach, which coordinated with the Tucson Norte-Sur land use and policy outreach from October to December of 2023.

2024

In early 2024, the project team and the City of Tucson presented early analysis data, as well as the community outreach results, to Mayor and Council for a final Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) decision. On January 23, 2024, Mayor and Council unanimously approved Stone Avenue as the LPA.

2024

The project will move into preliminary design. The project team will also conduct several studies, including a traffic analysis (center vs. side running) and an environmental study. The north corridor BRT system could be built in approximately three to seven years.

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Tuscon's First Bus Rapid Transit System

Survey Results are Now Available

Study Overview Help us Shape Tucson’s First Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) System!

Project Timeline

Where have we been?

2017

2019

2023

2023

Where are We Now?

2023

2024

Where are we going?

2024

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