Data Needs for Assessing Rural Transit Needs, Benefits, and Levels of Service (2012) / Chapter Skim
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NAtioNAl CooperAtive HigHwAy reseArCH progrAm Responsible Senior Program Officer: Gwen Chisholm-Smith August 2012 C o n t e n t s Background, 1 Research Methodology and Report organization, 4 Literature Review, 5 evaluation of existing Rural ntD Data elements, 5 Assessment of Potential Measures, 11 Identification of new Data elements needed, 22 Measures for Assessing Rural transit Performance, 26 Measuring Levels of Rural transit service, 31 needs Assessment Methodologies, 41 tools for Understanding effects of service types and Levels on Rural Communities, 47 References, 48 Author Acknowledgments, 48 Appendix A, 49 Appendix B, 53 DAtA neeDs foR AssessIng RURAL tRAnsIt neeDs, BenefIts, AnD LeveLs of seRvICe This digest presents the results of NCHRP Project 20-65, Task 36, "Data Needs for Assessing Rural Transit Needs, Benefits, and Levels of Service." The project was conducted by the KFH Group under subcontract to Cambridge Systematics. Beth Hamby of the KFH Group was the Principal Investigator.
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2This project, then, provides the opportunity to comprehensively assess the data elements that are available through the Rural NTD and determine if additional data elements should be included to allow more robust evaluations of rural transit, including its performance, levels of service, benefits, and needs for additional service. the Rural national transit Database The Federal Transit Administration (FTA)
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3total FTA assistance under Section 5311 and ARRA 5311 for operating and capital. Directly reporting urban recipients include any rural services they may operate in the report they submit directly to FTA.
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4• Assessment of Potential Measures -- The list of potential measures of performance, LOS, needs, and benefits identified during the literature review were assessed in terms of relative utility and practicality for rural transit providers and states to implement. The data elements needed to calculate these measures were also identified.
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5by Kittelson & Associates, KFH Group, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Quade & Douglass, and Katherine Hunter-Zaworski under TCRP Project A-15A (2003)
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table 2 Relevant measures identified through the literature review. Title Author Date Measures of Need/ Demand Measures of Performance Measures of Level of Service/Service Availability Measures of Benefits Rural Transit Fact Book -- 2011 Small Urban & Rural Transit Center, Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, North Dakota State University 2011 Not specifically addressed in this resource • Trips per mile • Trips per hour • Operating expense per trip • Operating expense per mile • Farebox recovery ratio • Vehicle miles • Vehicle hours • Fleet size • Accessible percent of fleet • Average seating capacity Total passenger trips Rural Transit in Oregon: Current and Future Needs Jennifer Dill and Margaret Neal, Institute on Aging, Center for Transportation Studies, Portland State University 2010 • Housing density (housing units per acre)
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TCRP Report 88: A Guidebook for Developing a Transit PerformanceMeasurement System Kittelson & Associates, et al. 2003 Numerous measures include: • Financial performance – Ridership – Productivity (passenger/hour)
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table 2 (Continued)
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TCRP Report 100: Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual, 2nd edition Kittelson & Associates, KFH Group, Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglass, Dr. Katherine HunterZaworski 2003 Not specifically addressed in this resource Numerous performance measures Numerous measures; capacity measures are geared to urban fixed route; categories of service quality measures most applicable to rural transit services include: Availability of fixed-route: • Frequency of service -- average headway (time between service)
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TCRP Web-Only Document 46 and Research Results Digest 93: Rural Transit Achievements: Assessing the Outcomes of Increased Funding for Rural Passenger Services under SAFETEA-LU KFH Group 2009 Not included in this resource Passenger trips per vehicle Accessible percentage of vehicles • Total number passenger trips • New routes and services created • Geographic areas (counties) served • Number of employment sites service • Number of passenger trips provided to/from employment TCRP WebOnly Document 49: Methods for Forecasting Demand and Quantifying Need for Rural Passenger Transportation Frank Spielberg, Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, A
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11 with the current Rural NTD data. Measures involving cost or safety incidents can only be developed at the system level.
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table 3 Existing data elements for pre- and post-service change analysis for rural transit. Existing Data Elements in Rural NTD Data Reported for If Reported for Individual Mode, Which Modes?
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Annual vehicle rev. miles Yes -- Bus, Commuter Bus, Demand-Response, Ferryboat, Taxi, Vanpool, "Other," Intercity Bus "Bus" mode may include mix of regular fixed-route (FR)
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Annual sponsored unlinked passenger trips Yes for two modes -- Demand-Response, Taxi "Bus" mode may include mix of regular FR and deviated FR. "Demand-Response" (DR)
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table 4 Measures to evaluate rural transit LOS, benefits, performance, and unmet need with existing NTD data elements. Measure Data Elements Needed Type of Measure Usefulness of Measure Comments Ranking for Use in Rural Transit Evaluation Passenger trips per vehicle revenue hour; also known as productivity – Total passenger trips – Vehicle revenue hours Performance Key measure for assessing service effectiveness.
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table 4 (Continued)
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(continued on next page) table 5 Analysis of additional measures to evaluate rural transit.
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Percentage of trips by trip purpose Total passenger trips Passenger trips by trip purpose Benefits High, and only feasible for services that require advanced reservation. Useful to demonstrate that rural transit is a lifeline to jobs, medical appointments, and other basic needs.
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Route miles per square mile of service area Not reported Route miles, Square miles of service area Level of service High. Requires calculation of buffer (e.g., ¾ mi.)
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Trip requests that could not be accommodated Not reported Trip requests that could not be accommodated (denials/missed) Unmet need Moderate.
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21 table 6 Additional measures to evaluate rural transit by priority and type. Ranking for Use in Rural Transit Evaluation Type of Measure Measure New Data Elements Needed Level of Service Performance Benefits Unmet Need High x Vehicle rev.
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22 However, for many rural transit systems, determining average weekday starting and ending times will be challenging, since different routes and service elements often have different schedules. For systems that cover portions of their service areas fewer than five days per week (not uncommon for those with multi-county coverage areas -- some outlying areas may only be served once or twice per month)
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23 C Revenue vehicle-miles disaggregated into those operated using personal vehicles separately from those operated using agency fleet vehicles. As with tracking hours, local practices to track revenue vehicle-miles accurately should be easily able to track miles for agency and personal vehicles separately at the local level.
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24 defined as ¾ mile on each side of a fixed route. The rail service area definition focuses on a ¾-mile radius around each station.
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25 of their preparations to complete the annual Rural NTD report. In all but the smallest states, it would be a significant effort to map the services of each Section 5311 recipient in the state and update this on an annual basis.
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26 MeAsURes foR AssessIng RURAL tRAnsIt PeRfoRMAnCe Performance measurement for transit has been the topic of considerable research and guidance, though much of the research has been focused on urban transit, for which a national database has existed for decades. While many of the same concepts are applicable to rural transit (measures of productivity, cost-efficiency, cost-effectiveness, reliability, etc., can be used by all types of transit systems)
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27 C Operating cost per mile -- total operating cost divided by vehicle-miles of service C Operating cost per passenger trip -- total operating cost divided by the number of passenger boardings C Local operating revenue ratio -- revenues generated through the farebox, advertising, contracts, and other local sources divided by total operating cost C Farebox recovery ratio -- fare revenues divided by total operating cost C Passenger trips per mile -- total passenger trips divided by service miles C Passenger trips per hour -- total passenger trips or boardings divided by service hours The ranges were based upon detailed analysis of subrecipient data reported for FY 2002. Maryland continues to use these measures in evaluating the performance of each route and demand-response service funded as part of the annual grant application.
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28 vehicle trip for commuter routes. Productivity is not measured for volunteer driver services.
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29 time or drop-off time is used, and if pick-up time, how the pick-up window is defined (e.g., a 30-minute span in which the passenger can expect the vehicle to pick them up) .10 Additional measures recommended by TCRP Report 136 as interim measures used for assessment of specific service aspects that affect efficiency, effectiveness, or service quality, include: • No-Show/Late Cancellation Rate -- defined as the sum of total no-shows plus total late cancellations divided by the total number of scheduled trips.
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30 a specified number of hours, passengers, or trips. C Route directness -- defined as the amount of route deviation from a direct path; examples include ratio of route length to the shortest-path length, additional travel time/ distance for a one-way trip, additional travel time/distance compared to an auto making the same trip, number of deviations, difference in overall passenger travel time.
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31 well as by individual route and service component (at the system level)
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32 complementary paratransit to monitor performance and ADA compliance, i.e., measuring actual scheduling and dispatching experiences. However, the response time policy (advanced reservation requirement)
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33 Availability of Fixed-Route Service • Service frequency -- how many times an hour a user has access to the transit mode or average headway -- the inverse measure of the time between service. Geared toward urban areas (and therefore calibrated too highly for most rural areas)
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34 were modeled on the traditional use of highway congestion LOS, use a lower number or earlier letter to designate a higher service level -- comparable to a traditional academic grade or numeric ranking. The Oregon study also combined several temporal measures into a relatively simple, single range of LOS availability measures.
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35 U.S.26 Therefore, rural demand-response service levels are likely to be as important as rural fixed-route service levels in many (if not most) states.
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36 C LOS 4: 5 days per week (enables full-time work trips if combined with corresponding LOS for hours per day) C LOS 5: 6 or 7 days per week • Hours of service per day, for example: C LOS 1: fewer than 4 C LOS 2: 4–6 hours per day C LOS 3: 7–9 hours per day C LOS 4: 10–12 hours per day (enables fulltime work trips if combined with corresponding LOS for days per week)
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37 community.27 This service approach allows CARTS to stretch resources across its entire, very large service area, serving the less densely populated and more remote areas less frequently than the more populated areas. Capacity Constraints Another important factor in demand-response availability is available capacity.
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38 C throughout a large area (such as an entire county)
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39 low frequency and still meet needs of transitdependent riders, so long as service is timed to meet shift starting and ending times. The service frequencies that would be needed to attract "choice" riders are unlikely to be financially feasible for rural transit to provide except in very small service areas, or for destinations with parking constraints (such as resort areas)
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40 An example of such an approach could be to identify the percentage of the service area that includes major employment destinations and is covered by at least 10 hours per day, 5 days per week (for access to typical office jobs) , and longer hours of service/weekend service for round-the-clock work shifts (providing access to manufacturing, retail, and janitorial types of jobs)
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41 Concluding thoughts on Measuring Levels of Rural transit service Availability As demonstrated through the preceding discussion, there is no simple, straightforward way to measure rural transit service levels of availability, given the number of variables involved, and the research team has not attempted to put forward a single set of standards for use on a national level. Instead, state DOTs are encouraged to take into account the service area characteristics and mobility goals within their state to determine appropriate thresholds for LOS pertaining to availability.
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42 transportation services under TCRP Project B-36, "Methods for Forecasting Demand and Quantifying Need for Rural Passenger Transportation." An interim report31 was published as TCRP Web-Only Document 49: Methods for Forecasting Demand and Quantifying Need for Rural Passenger Transportation, by Frank Spielberg et al. (submitted Dec.
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table 11 Rural transit need and demand estimation models identified through the literature search. Methodology Notes What It Estimates States That Have Used It in Their State-Level Transit Studies (As identified through the online literature search)
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Minnesota Hybrid Model Combines elements of Arkansas Model and Mobility Gap approach Need Minnesota • Base year population • Base year elderly population (65+) • Base year population below poverty estimate • Base year disabled population estimate • Base year zero vehicle households • Base year total occupied households • Projected population • Projected elderly population Mobility Gap Model Described in TCRP Web-Only Document 49 Need Arizona, Iowa, Minnesota, New Mexico • Persons residing in households below the poverty level • Persons residing in households without a vehicle • Trips per rural household per day with no car available • Trips per rural household per day with one car available Need Curves Curves built with peer data; plots supply and demand for different groups of systems -- fixed routes only Need and demand Connecticut • Population • Passenger trips • Revenue hours Washington State Approach Three models developed at Washington State University for the Washington State DOT for rural counties Transit-dependent demand/demand by demographic group (3rd model)
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45 • From the ACS 3- and 5-year estimates (and prior to 2010, from the Decennial Census) , persons residing in households without a vehicle.
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46 population (age 65 and over) , the number of persons with a disability (age 16–64)
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47 had a relatively high average trips per hour (6.3 and 6.0, respectively)
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48 RefeRenCes Arizona Rural Transit Needs Study, prepared for the Arizona Department of Transportation by Cambridge Systematics, 2008. Arkansas Public Transportation Needs Assessment and Action Plan, prepared for the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department by SG Associates, 1992.
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49 APPenDIx A: stAte-LeveL tRAnsIt AnD sPeCIALIzeD tRAnsPoRtAtIon DAtA CoLLeCtIon AnD evALUAtIon PRACtICes, stAnDARDs, AnD RePoRts Information gathered per websites of state DOTs and transit associations. State Online Transit and Specialized Transportation Data Collection and Evaluation Practices, Standards, and Reports Alabama None found online Alaska None found online American Samoa None found online Arizona Arizona Rural Transit Needs Study (2008)
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50 State Online Transit and Specialized Transportation Data Collection and Evaluation Practices, Standards, and Reports Iowa Iowa Passenger Transportation Funding Study (2009) : http://www.iowadot.gov/transit/regulations/ final_funding_study_report_12-15-09.pdf Needs quantification begins on p.
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51 (continued on next page) State Online Transit and Specialized Transportation Data Collection and Evaluation Practices, Standards, and Reports New Mexico New Mexico Statewide Public Transportation Plan (2010)
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52 small Urban & Rural transit Center (sURtC) : Transportation, Distance, and Health Care Utilization for Older Adults in Rural and Small Urban Areas (2010)
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Route/Service/Zone Name Schedule Description (example: 2nd & 4th Tues per month) Total Hours Available on Days of Service Days Operated Per Month Months Operated Per Year Total Hours Available Per Active Month*
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Transportation Research Board 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 These digests are issued in order to increase awareness of research results emanating from projects in the Cooperative Research Programs (CRP)
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