Triangle Transit releases five-year plan for regional public transportation

Given the skepticism of the Lockies to mass transit as a forerunner of Soviet-style encouragement over "desirable" land use planning -- they're already grousing about the local-option transit tax option for the Triangle wending its way through the General Assembly, a subject we'll tackle shortly -- one might think that from a pure P.R. standpoint, terming something a five-year plan for transit might evoke too many Stalinist comparisons.

Happily, the transit folks in the region aren't stymied by such worries, though at least they've couched this latest plan under the more benign term "Short-Range Transit Plan." This half-decade proposal provides a near-term list of priorities for the regional agency, which operates intraregion bus services and was intended to deliver rail-based transit to the region, an effort stopped at the Federal level during the George W. Bush administration, leading the agency to regroup through the recent STAC process.

The proposal recommends coordinating planning with the transit development plan process underway for DATA's own services in this coming fiscal year, while adding a demonstration on-bus wi-fi program on up to twenty fleet vehicles. Triangle Transit also plans a long list of "passenger amenities" improvements, including a park-and-ride lot for transit latecomer Wake Forest, though Durham should expect to only see a bus shelter added at the NC 54/NC 55 intersection this coming year.

FY2010 would see more benches, shelters, trash cans and bike racks added in Durham, particularly in the Duke/medical center, downtown and South Durham areas. A park-and-ride lot supporting Person-to-Durham service along with expanded fleetwide wi-fi is proposed for the last three years of the plan, as is a Burlington-to-Durham service proposed for partnership with Duke University.

Also in the 2010 fiscal year, the agency proposes increasing the frequency of the Route 600 Durham-to-Raleigh service to half-hourly departures from today's hourly schedule, assuming "adequate demand." (A new automated passenger counting technology has recently been implemented on fleet buses and is expected to give better guidance on demand levels.)

Intriguingly, that year also calls for the implementation of "RTP demonstration projects" in parternship with the Research Triangle Foundation and with employers to improve access between TTA services and major campuses, a common source of complaint in today's bus world.

Shuttle routes within the Research Triangle Park (RTP) are among the lowest performing routes in Triangle Transit’s system despite the large concentration of employment. We will work with the Research Triangle Park and RTP employers to generate innovative ideas for providing service within RTP and engage external resources to plan and implement pilot programs to determine the best way to improve regional access to RTP. 

A real-time bus arrival system available via phone or web is also planned systemwide.

FY2011 calls for a start to Sunday service similar to today's Saturday offerings. Triangle Transit also proposes to work with DATA, Duke Transit and Chapel Hill Transit on "aligning" service offerings along the 15-501 corridor that year, to reduce duplication amongst agencies and to improve local and express service. (A logical step, give the density, commuting patterns and growth along this congested transportation axis.)

The draft plan is available for review at Triangle Transit's web site, with a public hearing on the plan set for June 25 before its final presentation to the agency's board of trustees on July 23.

Comments

[Dan R]

Uh, guess what Locke Foundation, your predictions on everything are wrong. Gas isn't cheap and plentiful-see $4 gallon (SUV sales are plummeting); deregulation has not stimulated but rather wrecked the economy (see Wall Street, mortgage crisis); the war has been an unmitigated disaster (gas prices have actually gone up contrary to what their arguments were), and the list keeps going. Should we really listen to what these boneheads think?

[barry]

"FY2010 would see more benches, shelters, trash cans and bike racks added in Durham, particularly in the Duke/medical center, downtown and South Durham areas."

Kevin - i assume these are at TTA stops, and not necessarily DATA stops. The question i have, and maybe this is answered in the document, is to what degree do these overlap? If TTA finances these amenities at stops that they share with DATA, will that free up DATA funds to install benches and shelters at bus stops that are not in those areas?

[Michael Bacon]

Well, TTA doesn't have all that many stops to begin with, so the impact on DATA is likely to be minimal. Most of the "high performing" stops already have benches and shelters, so it's only going to be a handful that get new ones.

[chris]

I skimmed the draft plan, and it seems like TTA wants to provide a very limited service to more new areas in the Triangle. In my opinion, TTA should focus on a few key routes, and just make sure the a bus shows up at least every 30 minutes, all day long, and into the evening.

I'll give an example. I need to get from the RTP to NCCU, and then back to the RTP, in the middle of the day. TTA does provide bus service to get between these locations, but the bus comes once every two hours. I just don't view this as a legitimate service. If TTA asked me, I would tell them to not even bother running a bus by NCCU in the middle of the day, because they aren't providing any meaningful level of service.

I'd like to see TTA adopt a very simple Service Level Agreement: "A bus comes every 30 minutes from 6 AM to midnight". I understand that TTA wouldn't be able to reach as many areas with this type of SLA, but isn't the the same trade-off we make with rail systems?

Oh well. I will give TTA this feedback, but I doubt it will make any difference. They seem committed to a general strategy of poor-to-mediocre service to a bunch of different places. Just wondering if anybody else had similar thoughts on this.

[barry]

Michael - as i suspected. The number i keep hearing is that DATA provides benches/shelters at somewhere around 15% of its stops. Considering that on most routes, service peaks at half hour between buses, that's just ridiculous. Every fifteen minutes between 6:30 and 9:30 am, and 4 and 6:30 pm should be the minimum goal. And benches, shelters, and sidewalks and crosswalks at most bus stops as well. Watching two young women wrestle with baby strollers on what passes for a bus stop on northbound Avondale Drive yesterday afternoon at 5:45 was appalling. I think i'll do a photo essay this summer on people at bus stops.

Chris - every two hours? Yikes. That is less than one step better than useless. Regional bus lines obviously don't need to run as frequently as local bus lines, but yeah, half an hour should be the minimum. If bus service is even minimally convenient, 5 buck a gallon gas will be a pretty strong incentive for a lot more people to ride the bus.

[KeepDurhamDifferent!]

agreed that the RTP shuttle service is retarded. Last bus leaving our office is at 5:27pm! Does anyone leave work that early? It might be OK if you work at the DMV, but not for an investment bank.

[Dan S.]

Frankly, I'm shocked that there hasn't been more outrage at the lack of effort by our Senate delegation on behalf of regional transportation efforts.

Had the original TTA rail plan (the one that was a approved by DoT, then had it's knees broken by the Bush Administration and Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-KS)) gone ahead, I would now be able to ride to work daily. Instead, I face either an 18-25 minute/8 mile commute by car (I know, it's nothing compared to the 35min/3mi commute by car that I faced in D.C.) that is seeing increasing traffic on already overcrowded roads, a 10 mile bike ride on a couple of 5-lane divided highways (due to the lack of bike accommodations/sidewalks), or a 2 hour ride on three DATA buses. (I'd carpool, but my schedule is too irregular for the neighbors who work nearby.)

Given that the region already has at least 1.7 million people living here, it's ridiculous that there's no rail-based commuter transportation. The area is far too spread-out and suburban/exurban for buses to be effective, and frankly, the costs of road-based transportation are climbing so high, so quickly that it's only a matter of time before people begin reconsider their decision to live in a metropolitan area without adequate, accessible mass transit.

[KH]

I don't know where to start on this one...

Shelters/Benches - Barry, while you're taking pictures, make sure you get the shopping carts that are left near bus stops. It's not because these people are "criminals" but because stops near grocery stores/shopping centers are very popular. Somebody's grandma would definitely not be able to sit on the ground.

Service Level - Chicken and Egg...TTA provides a service to test demand but demand can be constrained by infrequent service. Yet it costs money to increase service level on routes. I'm just glad that a Person-Durham express route is in the works. (Long overdue)
We expand too many roads just to accommodate peak hour traffic. We could use some of these over-sized suburban parking lots for park-n-ride (the owners could offer them for free since more traffic would be coming through stores after Express route commutes.).

That's it for now...I'll go read the Five-Year Plan now.

[chris]

KH - It's interesting that you brought up the "chicken and egg" argument regarding TTA service levels. That argument implies that if demand for bus service increases on certain routes, then TTA will increase the service level on those routes.

Well, let's take a look at the main TTA routes connecting Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill. Ridership on those routes has certainly increased over the past four or five years, but the service level seems to have remained exactly the same for that time period.

My hunch is that TTA will be running park-and-rides to Virginia and South Carolina before they improve those main routes.

[barry]

One of the inspirations for the photo essay was the sight i saw the other day at the the Kroger North Pointe bus stop. A woman clearly in her late 60s, maybe older, sitting on the ground with 6 or 7 grocery bags around her, waiting for the bus.

Why the hell isn't this a priority for the city?

[KH]

I just browsed through the draft report. There is ton of information, stats and financial statements for everyone. The amazing thing is that it was prepared by Triangle Transit staff (and not some consultant from Colorado who thinks the Durham Bulls play in Raleigh).

Anyway, I really like the coordination among the various transit agencies that is going on. Even if they don't merge, the routes should be well-coordinated and as many capital items should be consolidated as possible. Buying in bulk usually pays off...at least gives you more negotiation leverage.

Now we need the State legislature to allow us to vote for a sales tax increase to improve mobility for ALL. Why drill off-shore when I can ride a highly-efficient, coordinated regional transit system that takes me everywhere I want to go? (that's the vision right...)

[cd]

Chris, I've also thought about the notion of having fewer routes with more robust service. My reasoning is that transit has to be built not just for today's needs, but anticipating needs 20 years down the road. Much like the railroads you cite, if certain corridors are transit-friendly, they become attractive both to residents and businesses, so development is encouraged along those corridors. The alternative is for developers to build more subdivisions in the outskirts of the county, so that the incoming roads become more crowded, so that people want Guess Rd. or Roxboro Rd. or other roads widened, and we end up in an even uglier chicken-and-egg scenario than we have with mass transit.

[Todd Patton]

The lack of bus shelters across Durham is a clear indication of the importance we place on mass transit and those who use it. It is a shame transit users are left to stand - or sit on the ground - for 30 minutes or more in whatever weather that comes along beside the busiest roads in town.

One solution being explored around the country is to allow advertising on the shelters:
http://www.wtop.com/index.php?nid=722&sid=1392367

Quote:
"In the first wave of the proposed program, a private company selected by a bidding process would improve or construct shelters at 110 proposed bus stops, providing curb cuts, improved sidewalk access and maintenance, all at no cost to Fairfax County. The contractor would turn a profit from the revenue generated by the bus stop advertisements, some of which would go to the county. Between that revenue and savings, planners project that the county would profit by over $700,000 a year from the program.

According to Fairfax County bus stop coordinator Paul Mounier, the program would be a vast improvement for Fairfax's bus stops. According to Mounier, only 7 percent of the county's bus stops currently have shelters, many of which are in poor repair or have poor access.

“Accessibility is our biggest challenge. ... There were some stops our engineering team even had trouble getting to,” Mounier said.

Those access issues go right to the heart of the problem for disability groups like Ray's.

“These people have no option other than public transportation,” said Anne Pimly, of the Disability Services Board. Pimly is herself blind, and said that proper paths and shelter make all the difference for disabled and elderly bus users, many of whom depend on the transit system to get around."

7%? I bet Durham is no where close to having shelters at 7% of its bus stops.

I'm no fan of outdoor advertising, but what would the harm be in having advertising on a shelter in front of the Kroger or Wal-mart? Durham already sells ad space on the buses themselves. As long as there are appropriate controls on the content and appearance of the advertising, this would be a good way for Durham to add a bunch of shelters in a hurry AT NO COST.

[barry]

"7%? I bet Durham is no where close to having shelters at 7% of its bus stops."

The number i've heard, and i'm pretty sure this came out of the Durham Walks pedestrian plan, is that around 15% of bus stops in Durham have either a shelter or a bench. Anyone with teh google is welcome to check and see if that number is repeated anywhere.

Pretty appalling.

I don't have a real problem with advertising funded shelters, but i think that Fairfax' planners are being a little optimistic if they think the county is actually going to generate revenue from their program.