In New York, for instance, the speed of subway trains is from 25-32 km per hour. The bi-articulated buses in Curitiba average 20 km per hour, which is double the speed of buses in conventional service. If passengers have to transfer from one subway line to another, the passenger may find that there is a walk of 20 minutes or more in some cases. A surface transfer at ground level can be only a few minutes. Even the time consumed going from an underground station to the surface can be several minutes.
Speed can be comparable in many cases.
The use of the bi-articulated buses on an exclusive bus way is substantially less costly than construction of a subway or even a light rail system. This is 80 times less than the cost per kilometer for a subway system. It is also important to consider that the bi-articulated bus system in Curitiba was operational in a matter of months, whereas building a subway could take several years. Wise decisions in urban planning have resulted in Curitiba becoming a comfortable, livable, growing city. In addition, it has attracted economic expansion.