As I stated in the Mideast forum, transportation policy is an interest of mine, so I'd be happy to fill the Governor in.
"Rapid Bus Lines" could be interpreted a number of ways, but the most common meaning is for bus systems that have a dedicated lane in the road separate from cars and enclosed stations more like a rail line rather than just a bus stop. Often times it also refers to routes with bus priority signaling, a cool technology which involves GPS systems in each bus that relay data on bus locations to a central grid controlling streetlights, which then adjust traffic lights to prioritize the buses. So for example if a bus is approaching a light that would otherwise turn red the system keeps it green for an extra 10 seconds. The net result is that buses wait at stoplights very little, which can massively improve travel time, especially in urban areas.
A good picture of what this looks like (from Bogota, Colombia):
Most often the buses will be larger, articulated buses with a higher passenger capacity than "regular" buses:
Also BRT generally has fewer lines with fewer stops and the lines are more publicized and easier to understand than normal bus routes, so that for example you could produce a map that looks more like this:
Rather than this:
The general idea being that the bus system is functionally equivalent to a tram/light rail system without having to pay the cost of laying down rails. It's supposed to be the best of both worlds; the cheapness of a bus system combined with the ability of a rail system to actually be faster than travel by car in some cases. It is very successful in a lot of developing countries. In North America, though, it's been slower to catch on, partly because a lot of North Americans have an image that buses are slower/less "quality" than rail systems, even when that isn't actually true in that particular case. So it's a tradeoff in some ways; significantly cheaper than a light rail/tram system but potentially attracting fewer riders. It also has somewhat less capacity than a rail system.
Overall, I'd support a bill expanding it.
