The city of Bogota, Columbia, is famous for its BRT project. This is one of the first successful BRT models, and the Delhi BRT is based on it. The BRT system in Bogota, TransMilenio, carries over 1,050,000 passengers daily. The first phase of the system became operational in 2000 and is more than 60 km long. TransMilenio is the only public transport system earning carbon credits.

TransMilenio was based on the BRT system in Curitiba, Brazil. Curitiba's BRT started in the 1960s. Of the 2.7 million people in Curitiba, 1.9 million use BRT. With 70 per cent of commuters using the system Curitiba's use of the public transport system is the highest of all Brazilian state capitals. As a result, the city's fuel consumption is 30 per cent lower than in comparable Brazilian cities.

Today the BRT system is being used in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Boston, Sydney, Adelaide, Quito (Ecuador) and Leeds (UK).Several other cities are planning to implement the BRT concept.

In India, BRT projects are to come up in Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Indore, Jaipur, Pune, Rajkot, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Bangalore. Unlike Delhi, most of these projects are being funded by the central government under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.