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Pages 43-71

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From page 43...
... 43 To further explore strategies transit agencies are using along with the relationships between ridership and operations, ten case studies were chosen for further analysis. The ten case studies conducted represent a variety of conditions in terms of ridership change, other performance trends, and strategies attempted to encourage transit ridership and combat potential declines.
From page 44...
... 44 Analysis of Recent Public Transit Ridership Trends fewer than 4 million passenger trips annually. In 2015, the transit agency switched from a flag system, where passengers could flag down a bus at any safe street corner, to a fixed system, where passengers can only be picked up and dropped off at predetermined bus stop locations and transfer centers.
From page 45...
... Case Studies 45 comparison provides insights on the effect of the network redesign. From 2013 to 2017, all bus routes increased frequency but did not increase in passenger boardings per trip as seen in Figure 20.
From page 46...
... 46 Analysis of Recent Public Transit Ridership Trends corridors, which allowed buses to operate shorter routes on better-maintained streets. Dwell times were also added in 2016 to the schedule on all routes to allow room for error or delay.
From page 47...
... Case Studies 47 miles, and average speed. Bus ridership since mid-2015 shows a remarkable trend of nearly 30% growth.
From page 48...
... 48 Analysis of Recent Public Transit Ridership Trends remain. A fare increase has been proposed, from $1.50 to $2.00, and the current reduced fare for riders older than 65 will extend to riders between 6 and 18.
From page 49...
... Case Studies 49 2016. Improved frequency, extended hours, and additional stop amenities were implemented on existing fixed routes in mid-2013.
From page 50...
... 50 Analysis of Recent Public Transit Ridership Trends IndyGo has defined on-time performance as one minute early to five minutes late from scheduled arrival since 2009. IndyGo measures on-time performance with on-board AVL systems and is in the process of transitioning to a new platform.
From page 51...
... Case Studies 51 Case Study 4 -- King County Metro, Seattle, WA Background King County Metro is the primary operator of bus service, vanpools, paratransit services, and community shuttles in the Seattle region. The transit agency also operates two streetcar lines, Seattle's light rail and commuter rail services.
From page 52...
... 52 Analysis of Recent Public Transit Ridership Trends for lower-income passengers, improved passenger and operator safety, and transitioned towards zero-emission bus fleets. "Transit GO Ticket" mobile app was launched at the end of 2016 and allows riders to buy and redeem transit tickets for King County Metro buses, King County Water Taxi, Seattle Streetcar, Sound Transit's Link light rail, and Sounder trains on their mobile devices.
From page 53...
... Case Studies 53 Fixed-route bus ridership data for Figure 32 and Figure 33 is from adjusted average weekday automated passenger counter (APC) data averaged monthly over the fall period (September, October, November, December, January, February, and March)
From page 54...
... 54 Analysis of Recent Public Transit Ridership Trends King County Metro defines on-time performance as an arrival time between 1.5 minutes ahead of to 5.5 minutes behind the posted schedule. The on-time performance metric for each route is calculated as the number of on-time arrivals divided by the total number of arrivals at time stops.
From page 55...
... Case Studies 55 The Metro Subway heavy rail line opened in 1983, serving northwest suburbs and downtown Baltimore. The commuter rail, known as Maryland Area Regional Commuter (MARC)
From page 56...
... 56 Analysis of Recent Public Transit Ridership Trends from GTFS (General Transit Feed Specification) archives.
From page 57...
... Case Studies 57 the Metrorail Red, Green, and Orange Lines, as well as MARC Train, Amtrak, and local bus services. The line will mainly operate in dedicated lanes with 21 planned stations.
From page 58...
... 58 Analysis of Recent Public Transit Ridership Trends Figure 38. MBTA bus systemwide trends.
From page 59...
... Case Studies 59 An increase in bus ridership may also be due to a steady increase in bus use as more people are moving to bus accessible areas. MBTA fixed-route buses did not experience the national trend of ridership declines until about 2015 -- possibly a benefit of a larger, more robust system.
From page 60...
... 60 Analysis of Recent Public Transit Ridership Trends and some may be due to growth in the neighborhood population rather than the bus lane specifically. MBTA continues to conduct analysis of their ridership impacts from these projects and across their system.
From page 61...
... Case Studies 61 and one commuter rail line. Metro Transit recently opened a BRT line -- the Red Line -- in 2013, a light rail line -- the Green Line -- in 2014, and a rapid bus line -- the A Line -- in 2016.
From page 62...
... 62 Analysis of Recent Public Transit Ridership Trends has risen systemwide, average speed has been relatively constant, and on-time performance has decreased. Light rail service has increased dramatically between 2012 and 2018.
From page 63...
... Case Studies 63 over the 2012 and 2015 fall period (September to November)
From page 64...
... 64 Analysis of Recent Public Transit Ridership Trends to January 2012 of the unlinked passenger trips, vehicle revenue miles, on-time performance, and average speed. Houston METRO fixed-route bus ridership has remained unchanged since a systemwide overnight redesign, the opening of which is indicated on Figure 47.
From page 65...
... Case Studies 65 Future Plans to Encourage Ridership As Houston's population grows, Houston METRO plans to meet the region's transportation needs by expanding its transit network. In January 2017, METRO began developing a new plan, METRONext, for transit services in the Houston/Harris County region with a focus on providing more transportation choices to more people.
From page 66...
... 66 Analysis of Recent Public Transit Ridership Trends Formed in 1984 in the merger of two area transit agencies, the PSTA operates in the greater Tampa-St. Petersburg area.
From page 67...
... Case Studies 67 PSTA defines on-time performance as 0 minutes early to 4.59 minutes late. This definition was modeled after the American Bus Benchmarking Group (ABBG)
From page 68...
... 68 Analysis of Recent Public Transit Ridership Trends Future Plans to Encourage Ridership PSTA is working towards increasing transit ridership, making transit more competitive with driving, and building financial stability. Current projects towards their goal of "safely connecting people and places" include • Circulator Study in Downtown St.
From page 69...
... Case Studies 69 ridership. Ballot measures increasing sales tax -- passed in 2016 and 2018 -- have resulted in more funding and a focus on high performance transit.
From page 70...
... 70 Analysis of Recent Public Transit Ridership Trends On-time performance and transit ridership trends during the 2016 and 2018 period are also displayed in Figure 55. STA is committed to on-time performance and maintains a very high system wide standard.
From page 71...
... Case Studies 71 • In Seattle, transit service has also increased, but ridership has increased even more. Ridership on both bus and streetcar have increased steadily over time with substantial investments in dedicated ROW and rapid transit services as well as a focus on speed and reliability.

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