Making Bus Priority Work: Lessons Learned from New York City (and - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Making Bus Priority Work: Lessons Learned from New York City (and - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Jan 05, 2023 41 likes •175 views

Making Bus Priority Work: Lessons Learned from New York City (and maybe a few other places) Joseph Barr, Senior Supervising Planner Parsons Brinckerhoff April 30, 2014 Who I Am Founding Director of Transit Development, NYCDOT Startup

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SLIDE 1

Making Bus Priority Work: Lessons Learned from New York City

(and maybe a few other places)

Joseph Barr, Senior Supervising Planner Parsons Brinckerhoff

April 30, 2014

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SLIDE 2

Who I Am

  • Founding Director of Transit Development, NYCDOT
  • Startup of first two Select Bus Service (SBS) BRT routes
  • Multiple bus priority improvements
  • Startup of two successful shuttle bus services
  • EZRide – Cambridge, MA
  • Philadelphia Navy Yard – Philadelphia, PA
  • Currently manage Parsons Brinckerhoff’s New

England Planning/Environmental/Traffic group

  • Managing bus priority projects in NJ and MA
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SLIDE 3

Who I’m Not

  • An expert in DC transit
  • perations
  • An expert in DC politics
  • Here to tell you what to

do in DC

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SLIDE 4

Symptoms

  • Bunched Buses
  • Unreliable

Service

  • Slow Service
  • Pass bys

Underlying Problems

  • Excessive dwell

times

  • Buses stopped

at signals

  • Buses stuck in

traffic

  • Not enough

service/recovery time

Solutions

  • Flow from

clearly identified problems

  • Not based on a

checklist

Common Problems on High Frequency Routes

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SLIDE 5

What I Did on My Spring Vacation

London Barcelona

  • Widespread and highly used bus priority
  • Coordination with other modes
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SLIDE 6

Diagnose the problem

Bus in Motion 54% Stopped at Bus Stops 22% Stopped at Red Lights 21%

NJ TRANSIT Route 10 – Kennedy Boulevard MTA NYCT M15 – First Avenue/Second Avenue

Bus in Motion 34% Stopped at Bus Stops 18% Stopped at Red Lights 27% Acceleration & deceleration for bus stops 20%

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SLIDE 7

Is the problem stop dwell time?

  • Fare prepayment / proof of payment
  • Multiple door boarding – leverage smart cards
  • Operating cost and revenue considerations

3 minutes 1.5 minutes <1 minute

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SLIDE 8

Is the problem signal delay?

  • Signal priority can be simplified
  • Queue jump opportunities
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SLIDE 9

Is the problem slow travel?

  • Strategic use of bus lanes
  • Queue jump opportunities
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SLIDE 10

Is the problem lack of recovery time?

  • Be realistic about schedule needs
  • Travel time savings will vary by time of day
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SLIDE 11

Institutional Coordination – NACTO Cities

City Transit Agency Roadway Owner

New York MTA New York City Transit & MTA Bus New York City Department of Transportation Boston MBTA Boston Transportation Department, Cambridge TP&T, Somerville T&P,

  • etc. and MassDOT

Philadelphia SEPTA Philadelphia Streets Dep’t and PennDOT Chicago CTA Chicago DOT and Illinois DOT San Francisco San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Seattle King County Metro Seattle DOT Los Angeles LA County MTA Los Angeles DOT Washington WMATA District of Columbia DOT

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SLIDE 12

Lessons Learned

  • Signal engineers are conservative—for

good reason—but are also “boys with toys”

  • Definition of what makes a street “work”
  • Use multimodal measures of effectiveness
  • Use available technology, then grow from

there

  • “Big Data” needs to be analyzed and

understood

  • Partnerships are required at all levels
  • The best bus priority improvement is the
  • ne that actually gets implemented

“It takes a lifetime to build a good reputation, but you can lose it in a minute.” – Will Rogers

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SLIDE 13

Final Thought

It’s not about always getting to yes… …it’s about never getting to no.