1 Discuss Service Design Principles: 1. Service hierarchy: Key Routes - PDF document

1

Discuss Service Design Principles: 1. Service hierarchy: Key Routes (Freq. 15 min or better, or 30 passengers per hour, or daily ridership is > 1,500), Local Routes (Travel into densely developed areas but do not support high frequency service), Lifeline Routes (Serves areas that require special needs) 2. Operate service consistently throughout the day (this doesn’t mean uniform startup and shutdown times but instead making sure that the same route that serves it during the day, also serves it at night). 3. Realign service to improve reliability and directness (Transit isn’t a taxicab service. Our job is to move people as quickly as possible without giving them the full scenic route.) 4. Consolidate duplicative services. (It’s better to increase frequency on one route than to add a variation route that serves the same area.) 5. Expand service to new areas. (Retracing the original notion of analyzing the service hierarchy when looking at new service locations.) Discuss Match Demands (I would define what a “demand” is, clarifying that one person’s wants may not constitute a demand. Maybe also say that our service area spans out ¼ mile from a route travel path). 2

It would be useful to talk about the low ridership numbers between the hours of 7 PM and 11:12 PM. Also it should be noted that ridership on Saturday does not justify having the route out. Perhaps a cost per passenger figure for that route versus our average cost per passenger. PVCC after 7 PM 4 boardings 3 alightings Saturday all day for Rt 1 = 80 passengers 3

Discuss the current footprint of Route 1A and 1B (Serves East Market St, Monticello, and PVCC). 4

Introduce the proposed new Route 1. Discuss the reasoning behind straightening out the route, referring back to design principle #3 “Realign service to improve reliability and directness (Transit isn’t a taxicab service. Our job is to move people as quickly as possible without giving them the full neighborhood tour.)” If we shade in a ¼ mile radius around the route…. Advance to next slide. 5

…you can see that the service area covers the present footprint. It should also be noted that our ¼ mile radius is shorter than the distance of walking from one end of the downtown mall to the opposite end (roughly 1/3 a mile). Now some may point out that our new route doesn’t travel as far down Avon Street as it currently does, but if we look at another one of our proposed routes… 6

….Route 3, this covers the most Southwest portion. 7

Give a little background on 2A (Route 2A serves the Locust Grove neighborhood ). 8

Give a little background on 2B (Route 2B currently serves 5 th Street Extended, providing service to the County Office Building and Southwood). 9

Here’s the basic footprint of 2A and 2B combined. 10

The proposed Route 3 and current Route 11 cover much of the same territory. You’ll notice that we added service to Willoughby Square Shopping Center. If we add in our ¼ mile radius…. 11

…you’ll see that everything is covered with the exception of portions of Park Street. This would be a good point to insert ridership numbers from Park Street and perhaps talk about the road’s natural restrictions for large vehicles (the road weaves making passage tight in spots – this was a council project years back intended to help slow traffic down… unfortunately it makes it tight for two large vehicles to pass.) 12

*Note to John: If asked how the new Route 3 will complete its route in an hour when the current Route 3 takes and hour, it should be noted that the current Route 3 also handles the current Route 6 – ½ hour for Rt 3 & ½ hour for Rt 6. 13

This is a reiteration from earlier. I’m not sure if it’s necessary, but given that we are talking strictly about Route 3, it would worthwhile to keep (apples to apples). 14

Here’s the current Route 3 footprint 15

When we overlay the new Route 3, you’ll notice a few changes. The biggest is the realignment down River Street. If you recall, the transit study did recommend utilizing this stretch of road. Unfortunately, they also recommended that this route only serve areas east of Monticello Ave. This created some interesting public comment. The feedback we received ultimately created the version you see here. When we add the ¼ mile radius… 16

…You’ll see that service is maintained rather effectively. For the portion along Monticello Ave between Ridge Street and Avon Street… 17

Route 1 will cover. 18

If there’s any route that needs to be changed. This is it. Route operates 4 minutes behind schedule 19

Johnson Village only averages 9 passenger boardings out of 359 in a weekday. 20

With a laser, show how the route starts at the Downtown Transit Station, follow the GREEN line to the UVA Hospital, then follow the BLUE line to Willard Drive where it will change into YELLOW. The YELLOW line will travel through Johnson Village where it will turn RED. Follow the RED line back to the UVA Hospital where it will turn into PURPLE. Follow the PURPLE back to the Downtown Transit Station. 21

So if we look at the base footprint of the current route, you can see how we have gone forth and simplified it… 22

…we created a bidirectional path that serves the hospital in either direction. The route maintains its Downtown and UVA presence while placing a significant anchor point at its other end… Willoughby Square Shopping Center. This simplifies the route so that its easy for anyone to understand while reducing the number of redundancies. If we add the ¼ mile radius… 23

…you’ll see that many of the areas without direct route service are still within our service area. Now at our outreach meetings we did receive some complaints about not having direct service to Rockcreek Road. While it’s true that Rookcreek is no longer directly served, it is within that ¼ mile service area radius. By adding the anchor point at Willoughby Square, we had to find time in the route to make it possible. If we were to run the route down 9 th Street to Forrest Hills Ave to Rockcreek Road, we would have eaten up too much time, basically putt us back at where we currently are… A route that can’t keep on schedule. We feel that by giving Route 4 residents direct access to Willoughby Square, it would allow for a better transit experience. We also had comments about the lack of service to Prospect Ave, a valid and important observation. To fix this we did something the study did not recommend and that was to add a new Route 6. Should also note lack of service to Johnson Village 24

By adding the new Route 6 we can take care of the concerns on Prospect Ave while adding additional service to Willoughby Square Shopping Center. 25

Since we’re on Route 6, I’ll cover that before we jump back to Route 5. 26

27

Again, here’s the current base footprint 28

Our proposed Route 6 overlaid. Notice the direct access to Willoughby Shopping area 29

The ¼ mile service area encompasses all current paths. 30

When we add Route 3 and 4 back in, there is very little that isn’t provided direct service. 31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

South Pantops Drive 0 passengers boarded out of 267 (Counts from 2010) Wilton Farm (weekday) 17 passenger boardings out of 267 21 passenger boardings out of 229 43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50