Rooting for Rapid(er) Bus Routes

CiculateSD Report: Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way

Defenders of the tyranny of universal single family zoning argue for preservation of the status quo by invoking ye olde “ya gotta have the infrastructure first” excuse. It’s right up there with the “need” for more parking and “bike lanes are bad for small business” on the excuses for losers list. 

Of course, those wannabe picket fence gardeners know in their heart of hearts public funding needed for transportation enhancements ain’t gonna happen. 

Between small-minded mayors wanting wider freeways and scrooges whose compassion is only activated when a non-progressive tax is debated, getting any kind of supermajority at the ballot box is not a realistic option at this point in time.

The path for paying to make changes needed to cope with the effects of climate change gets narrower all the time, as was demonstrated when San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and other local Democrats decided that inclusion of a post 2030 ‘road charge’ for funding transportation was a ‘third rail’ issue.

But what if there was another way? A relatively low cost solution capable of inducing increased mass transit ridership, reducing reliance on autos for commuting to jobs, and creating less pollution?

The Fast Bus solution offered in a Circulate San Diego report this week certainly seems to offer a way forward. This is one mostly of those “plain as the nose on your face” kind of things, namely that better bus service –the kind most users think we need– is possible now and in the near future.

Get ready for a cavalcade of excuses from the usual obstructionists as to why various approaches won’t work or shouldn’t be tried. 

The leftish NIMBYs of Ocean Beach will conclude Fast Buses are a corporate plot, since ‘everybody knows’ Circulate San Diego is at the heart of the Illuminati/Soros/fascist (pick one) conspiracy to do horrible things like advocate for bike lanes and against car supremacy.

The implementation of bus only lanes on sections of El Cajon Boulevard a couple years back was met with dire warnings about traffic gridlock, warnings that haven’t materialized.

Now, the 215 express route between San Diego State and downtown is a shining example of what can be done. As health issues (now resolved) made driving an unwise option over the past couple of years, I began using the local transit system on a more regular basis. 

As a rider, I found the express to be faster and cheaper than driving downtown, looking and paying for parking. Despite the return of my driving privileges, I will continue to see MTS as a viable option. (If there was only an express bus to Old Town…)

SNIP….What bus riders say they want.

• Transit riders routinely say that their top priority is higher frequencies and faster travel times. TransitCenter, a leading national transit advocacy organization, held focus groups across the country and surveyed more than 1,700 transit riders. The top concerns of focus group participants were frequency and speed.[5] This was true for both occasional and frequent riders. Most low-income bus riders rate improving the quality of the service as more important than lowering fares.[6]

For Fast Bus to happen, about a dozen changes need to be made; some of them will require time to implement. All of them will require cooperation between different government entities. And that cooperation will be made easier if citizens get involved in advocating for changes. 

Following are thumbnail descriptive excerpts of what needs to be done, mostly copied from that report (Links to footnotes should work; there is much more information to be had by reading the full report): 

Dedicated Bus-Only Lanes

• When buses run in dedicated bus-only lanes, riders experience reduced travel times and buses have fewer collisions with other roadway users. This is because buses are not vying for space with other modes and conflict points are decreased. Transit agencies that implement basic dedicated bus-only lanes can deliver 25 percent faster commute times.[34] Dedicated bus-only lanes can include separate bus signals, which allows for easy transit signal priority….[35]

• …Bus only-lanes, even with concrete work and new traffic signals, are far less expensive than new rail lines. If SANDAG continues to face funding shortages, this may be a desirable alternative to unachievable rail lines. Moreover, bus-only lanes can be converted to rail in the future.

Freeway Bus Priority Lanes

• There are a number of different ways to prioritize the bus on freeways. SANDAG’s 2021 Regional Plan contemplates both adding new lanes that prioritize the bus as well as the conversion of some existing general purpose lanes. Bus priority is also possible on a policy spectrum. Options can include limiting travel only to the bus. Other options like HOT Lanes[45] or Managed Lanes can allow some car travel, usually for a fee, with the revenues helping to finance more transit service. Many of these policy options have merit so long as they keep as their guiding purpose speeding up the bus.

Automated Enforcement of Dedicated Bus-only Lanes & Bus Stop Zones

• The recent adoption in California of Assembly Bill 917 allows transit agencies to use cameras mounted on bus windshields for automatic traffic enforcement.[46] The bill allows these programs to enforce dedicated bus-only lanes and “no-parking” zones near bus stops. Bus-only lanes that rely on street striping instead of physical separation have the benefit of being cheap to implement. However, painted lanes are vulnerable to scofflaw drivers utilizing the lanes, blocking bus travel.

Rethinking Bus Stop Locations

• Agencies outside San Diego have seen success with this approach. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority’s bus balancing program reduced bus stops from six stops per mile to two and a half stops per mile, resulting in a four to 14 percent increase in bus speeds.[50] TriMet in Portland, Oregon saw five percent faster journey times by adding an average of 90 feet per stop on one of their busiest routes.[51]

In Lane Bus Stops

• Many bus stops are located on the curb where the bus must move out of the lane of traffic. This results in delay when the bus attempts to merge back into the lane. By redesigning bus stops to be in-lane, dwell time can be reduced by between five and 20 seconds per stop. This time reduction is even greater as traffic congestion increases.[57]

Near-level Bus Boarding

• Adapting the curb to provide an in-lane bus stop with near-level boarding can be achieved quickly and at relatively low cost with bus boarding pads. These pads can be designed to integrate with bike and pedestrian infrastructure, supporting a variety of modes on the streets. U.C. San Diego recently acquired three bus boarding pads at a total cost of $100,000, which will be deployed for Triton Transit, the university’s on-campus shuttle and bus system.[58]

Transit Signal Priority

• Transit signal priority tools modify traffic signals for buses and emergency vehicles to reduce the time that a bus waits at red lights. Transit signal priority can reduce transit delays significantly.[59] In New York City, transit signal priority improved reliability and reduced travel time by 18 percent on affected routes.[60]

Improved Frequencies

• Higher frequencies mean shorter trips and better access to jobs and other destinations. Increased frequencies can also generate good jobs directly, funding more bus drivers and maintenance workers with union wages and benefits.

Extended Service Hours

• Bus riders, and particularly essential workers, often work outside of traditional nine to five schedules. For these riders, it is important to be able to take a bus home late in the evening or early in the morning. In some cases, expanding service hours can increase ridership during the hours that were already covered.[63] This can happen where one part of a rider’s planned trip is during service hours but another part of the trip, such as the return trip, is not. When hours are extended, both trips are added to ridership.

Enhance Fare Collection - Off-board Fare Validation

• Fare collection and boarding can be time-consuming, accounting for half to a third of vehicle operating time.[64]

• MTS and North County Transit District (NCTD) recently launched PRONTO, the new regional fare payment system.[65] San Diego now has a modern account-based fare system like other major cities across the country. Switching to PRONTO has already improved dwell time by giving riders a more convenient payment tool than the previous Compass Card system as it decreases cash payments. In Los Angeles, onboard smart card payment reduced dwell times by 10 to 35 percent compared to cash….[66

• …Even though validating fares with PRONTO can be quicker than paying with cash, it still has a significant impact on dwell time. For the busiest stations and stops, MTS should install platform validators and ticket vending machines identical to the ones at existing trolley stations to reduce loading time. Passengers can validate their fares before boarding the bus, shortening dwell time.

All-door Boarding

• All-door boarding allows passengers to board at any door. This requires off-board fare validation or additional fare validators to be installed inside bus rear entrances. San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority implemented systemwide all-door boarding and saw Muni bus travel speeds increase an average of two percent. It also reduced per passenger boarding time by 38 percent.[70] The change resulted in lowered variability in dwell time, making service more reliable and predictable.[71]

• Notably, all-door boarding allows able-bodied riders to board while riders with limited mobility or with strollers can use the ramp at the front of the bus, which can also contribute to faster boarding overall.

Enhancing Rapid Bus Projects

• SANDAG’s adopted 2021 Regional Plan includes funding for “Rapid” bus transit projects with “light” versions of some of the projects to be completed by 2025.[72] MTS routes phased for completion by 2025 include Rapid 10, Rapid 12, and Rapid 292.[73] NCTD 450 is also phased for completion by 2025. Rapid 10 and 12 are Rapid versions of existing bus routes and Rapid 292 and 450 will be new routes.

• Funding already exists for these Rapid routes, but no detailed plans exist. SANDAG should implement the recommendations of this report when implementing these first Rapid routes.

While many of the changes listed above offer only incremental improvements, taken as a whole they offer a way forward to increasing bus ridership, making a more equitable system, and achieving climate goals.

Email me at WritetoDougPorter@Gmail.com