For the past few years, Lower Hudson Valley residents have been hearing a lot about Bus Rapid Transit as the state figures out what to do with the Tappan Zee Bridge, and what kind of mass transportation will be used to connect Rockland and Westchester.

After eight years of study, the state expects to make its recommendations next month. We'll know if it supports a new bridge or rebuilding the 52-year-old span.

And we'll find out if it's going to be Bus Rapid Transit or commuter trains running the 30 miles between Suffern and Port Chester, or if it will be trains or BRT, or both, from Rockland to Tarrytown with either light rail or BRT going across Westchester.

People understand trains, but BRT remains a mystery to most.

To see BRT in action, people will need to look no farther than New York City. On June 29, the city will start its first BRT service on the Bx12 route, which runs along Fordham Road and Pelham Parkway, between Broadway and 207th Street in upper Manhattan across to Co-op City in the Bronx.

By then, we'll probably know the state's decision for the Tappan Zee Bridge and can either get a preview of what we'll be getting or lament what might have been.

The city's BRT is known as Select Bus Service - the name is not nearly as catchy as NJ Transit's new "Go Bus" BRT service in Newark - and it will allow passengers to board faster, give bus drivers the ability to control traffic signals and provide dedicated bus lanes, painted a bright red, along half of the 7-mile crosstown route.

All of the features, common to BRT systems, are intended to speed up the trip, which is desperately needed in the city, New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan said yesterday morning.

Sadik-Khan spoke at a symposium that looked at bringing BRT to New York City and how the systems work around the world. Two blue and white articulated buses, which are part of the city fleet and have been converted for BRT use, were parked in front of the Garden Terrace Room at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, where the half-day event was held.

Sadik-Khan noted that New York City had the highest bus ridership in the United States - 2.4 million passengers use buses each weekday - but the lowest bus speeds in the country - the buses average just 7.9 miles per hour.

"The need is clear," she said.

The city also has plans to introduce BRT on First and Second avenues in Manhattan, Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn and Hylan Boulevard on Staten Island in the coming years. The program was dealt a severe blow this month when the Assembly rejected Mayor Michael Bloomberg's congestion pricing proposal, which would have paid for the improvements.

"It didn't pass this time, but I do believe that with any ... change it sometimes takes a couple of times to get it done," Sadik-Khan said. "It's absolutely critical that we get this done, and I think we will see it again in our future."

So for now, all eyes will be on the Bronx route, which will make stops at six subway lines and two Metro-North Railroad stations, and serve the Bronx Zoo, New York Botanical Garden, Fordham University and the Jacobi Medical Center.

Riders will notice an immediate difference before even getting on the bus. Fares will be paid at 26 stations at fareboxes that accept MetroCard and transfers from other lines. There will also be a vending machine that takes cash. People won't be able to pay with credit cards for the time being.

One of the biggest contributors to delays is the time it takes for people to get on the bus and pay.

People will receive a receipt at the station, but will not be required to show it to the bus driver.

"We will have inspectors who will be patrolling the buses, making sure that people in the back have paid their fare, as anybody who rides in New York City knows is not currently always the case," New York City Transit President Howard Roberts said.

Bus drivers would receive priority at traffic signals, meaning they can hold a green light longer or shorten red lights by several seconds when behind schedule.

Along with the red bus lanes, there will be "aggressive signs" warning drivers to stay out of them and increased police enforcement along the route to ensure priority status for the buses.

The changes could end up shaving 10 minutes from what is now a 45-minute trip end to end.

"What this is doing is taking us in the right direction in terms of efficiency," Roberts said.

Transit officials have also built in a two-hour window on each side of Fordham Avenue to accommodate delivery trucks, which will be allowed to park in the BRT lanes.

Roberts said the city is having "great difficulty" finding a manufacturer who can provide low-floor, articulated buses with six doors on each side. Ideally, BRT buses operate in the left lanes with stations along the center median.

Supporters of BRT point to its low startup costs and fast startup time compared with putting in rail tracks. It is also more flexible in that routes can be adjusted as population and work centers change, unlike rail, which is permanent.

"In New York City's boroughs, just like in Westchester and in Rockland in some cases, there's just no space or ability to put in something like rail, so this gives you another option to play with," said Kate Slevin, executive director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, one of the sponsors of yesterday's event.

The Pratt Center for Community Development, the Straphangers Campaign and Transportation Alternatives co-sponsored the event.

The other challenge is the stigma in the suburbs of using buses.

"In New York City, everyone's on the bus," Slevin said during a break between presentations. "The farther away you get from a very dense urban environment, the more likely people are to see buses as something that only serves this certain population, and it's not true and needs to change."