Streamlining, Consolidation, Expansion, Coordination, and Partnerships: A Guide for Improving Transit in the Research Triangle of North Carolina

Transcription

1 treamlining, onsolidation, xpansion, oordination, and artnerships: uide for mproving ransit in the esearch riangle of orth arolina by hristopher. lark aster s roject submitted to the faculty of the niversity of orth arolina at hapel ill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of aster of egional lanning in the epartment of ity and egional lanning hapel ill 27 pproved by:

2 able of ontents bstract... ntroduction and iterature eview...2 urrent onditions...3 ethodology...4 indings...5 imitations...8 onclusion...8 eferences... ndnotes... ppendix : igures ppendix : urrent system maps...2

3 bstract n the esearch riangle region of orth arolina, five agencies operate public transit services: one regional provider, riangle ransit uthority (), which operates regional service in ake, urham, and range counties; and four local agencies, confined to providing services in the cities in which they operate: apital rea ransit () in aleigh; ary ransit (-ran) in ary; urham rea ransit uthority () in urham; and hapel ill ransit in hapel ill and arrboro. recent discussion about consolidation of services has prompted,, and to pursue increased coordination of services before making the decision to consolidate. his paper will present a plan that could be implemented for expansion and realignment of existing services in order to achieve consolidation. t finds that removing barriers to providing services between cities can provide trunk lines, with feeder services provided on the neighborhood level.

4 . ntroduction and iterature eview ublic transit in the esearch riangle region of orth arolina consists of one regional transit agency, the riangle ransit authority, four local agencies serving aleigh, ary, urham, and hapel ill, two university providers (orth arolina tate and uke niversities), and three county providers mainly providing social service and medical transport to residents who live outside the main urban areas. his fragmented approach to transit has caused services to overlap, inconvenient and time-consuming transfers for fixed-route passengers, the need for paratransit users to transfer and coordinate services for providers serving different areas, and policies that restrict or make streamlining of services impossible or extremely difficult. hanges in policy, provision, structure, and management of various parties and agencies are necessary and required in order to provide more streamlined and time-efficient services to existing riders as well as attract new riders. hese changes would require changes in provision of services, identifying potential residential, employment, and mixed-use centers for attraction of passengers, and involving transit on a regional level in order to create transit-friendly patterns of development to provide more transportation choices to people. any regions use different strategies to provide public transportation. lthough smaller cities and towns usually have one agency that governs the operations and planning of transit, more highly-populated regions use different techniques to provide transit. ome large urban counties provide transit and serve as the only transit agency in the region (llegheny ounty, ; iami-ade ounty, ; ew ork). ther areas have several agencies operating within a region, providing different types of services and serving different groups of people (ashington,..; an rancisco ay rea; etroit; tlanta; eattle; esearch riangle). nother governing structure of transit involves multiple jurisdictions served by one transit agency (enver; orfolk; hiladelphia). uchic (25) describes the advantages and disadvantages of a single private operator serving a region, as well as challenges to integration and consolidation of agencies. s an alternative to agency consolidation, integration practices such as interagency coordination of schedules, fare payment, information, and infrastructure integration can also be useful ways to improve dissemination of information and service quality (iller et al., 25). ecause of the regional nature of commuting and traffic problems, efforts to reduce congestion must also be initiated at the regional level, of which the creation of the ay rea apid ransit istrict is a prime example (owns and uentes 25, teiner 978). any of the strategies range from simply responding to current conditions and forming a transport system that adequately responds to them to bringing about changes in policies that would direct some people to change and make traditional transit supply more effective. unting (24) calls for revamping the entire transit planning and hierarchical structure through privatization, which he argues will better respond to customers needs, use public resources more efficiently, and depoliticize transport. redefinition and restructuring of services is also mentioned by ervero (997) who studied paratransit services in the nited tates and around the world, and advocates the removal of barriers to allow operators to operate service where the market will allow. ervero and eutler (999) presented case studies of transit reforms aimed at auto-dependent suburban areas 2

5 struggling with increased vehicular traffic and declining transit patronage, providing reasons that the particular reform succeeded or failed. lack (995) and uchic (25) provide examples of how operators choose a particular mode or technology based on travel demand in particular corridors, cost, and other factors. n order to provide more regional transit systems to serve the needs of people more likely to use both long-distance commuter services and local services, policy changes must level the playing field between highway and transit funding (eimborn and uentes 25; atz, uentes and ernstein 25). onsolidation of services has helped transit agencies coordinate service better for people within their service areas. wo such agencies in orth arolina that have coordinated services are ppal, serving the town of oone and atauga ounty, and ave ransit, serving ilmington and ew anover ounty. n both of these instances, one agency provides urban, rural, and social service transportation. ampton oads ransit in southeastern irginia became the first agency in the country created from a voluntary merger of two transit agencies in 999. n the riangle area, providers have expressed an interest in coordination and consolidation of services and functions (J 25). he various strategies for coordination and possible consolidation will be compared with regions that have already undertaken these steps. he results from other cities would then be compared to how the strategies could be implemented in the riangle region and what the possible new system would look like and how it would affect ridership. he strategies would measure system coverage, integration, projected travel time, and ease of implementation.. urrent onditions here are currently five agencies operating fixed-route transit services in the riangle: the riangle ransit uthority (), the regional agency, operating services in ake, urham, and range counties; and four local agencies: apital rea ransit () in aleigh, urham rea ransit uthority () in urham, hapel ill ransit in hapel ill, and ary ransit (-ran) in ary. wo additional providers, uke niversity ransit and olfline, operate circulator services for uke niversity and orth arolina tate niversity, but because these services are different from the local and regional providers, those systems will not be studied in this paper. he funding structures of the local agencies place the responsibility of local funding through the respective municipalities in which the service operates.,, and - ran operate fully within the city limits of aleigh, urham, and ary respectively. he own of hapel ill operates hapel ill ransit, but the niversity of orth arolina at hapel ill and the own of arrboro financially support the system, so that service can be provided to arrboro. ecause of the constraints of operating only within jurisdictions that fund the service, there are two critical places in which two agencies come close to each other but do not connect: the area around the interchange in urham (hapel ill and ) and uck Jones oad in aleigh ( and -ran). 3

6 partnership approach to funding would help to eliminate these constraints and provide through services to help people reach destinations that are close but just outside of the city. he orth arolina eneral ssembly created as a unit of local government to plan and operate a public transit system in ake, urham, and range counties. ts current structure enables people to move between municipalities, in contrast to the local agencies, whose main goal is to enable people to move within a city. nlike other areas, such as ittsburgh and iami, whose transit agencies were created to buy out private operators in the 96s to harmonize schedules and fare structures, and create a single regional system, overlaid a regional system on top of existing services. pecial services also operate for people who cannot access fixed-route transit services or who live in rural areas not easily served by transit. ach agency provides paratransit service for people with disabilities at the times and in areas where regular fixed-route services operate. ake, urham, and range counties also operate community and human services transport for such services as medical, shopping, and work trips, as well as operating services to and from parts of the counties not served by local or regional routes. ecause paratransit service is geared toward and planned around the fixed-route services, customers may have to transfer in order to travel within the region. or example, someone in orth urham who needs to get to an appointment in hapel ill must coordinate with two paratransit providers (, s paratransit provider; ) to reach the destination. treamlining services to provide comprehensive regional paratransit service will make it easier for patrons to use the service, especially because of the challenges faced when having to move some people with special needs more than twice. n addition, the county providers may be able to operate some fixed-route services for the general public in addition to the human services transport they currently provide. n orth arolina, some providers operate as consolidated urban and rural systems (for example, ppal in oone and atauga ounty; ave ransit in ilmington and ew anover ounty; and ar iver ransit in ocky ount and ash and dgecombe counties), and in certain metropolitan areas, counties operate transit (llegheny ounty,, including ittsburgh; iami-ade ounty, ; including iami).. ethodology n order to plan for future services as well as provision, a map displaying each agency s services was created using rans software. wo separate route systems were created, one showing s current services, and the other showing each local agency s services. ecause the local agency has different numbering and naming schemes 2, the route system for local agencies were given numbering and naming schemes similar to that found for ew ork ity transit 3. rans automatically builds a data table according to the given route name, and attributes are added to facilitate selection of routes, type of route served, service time, and service area. fter building the route system, each agency s website was checked to find major points of interest as potential nodes for the modified local-regional system. he map would also 4

7 show places that showed discontinuities and places that could be connected if services were modified. verage daily traffic counts from were used to determine volumes of traffic on current routes to determine which roads may be heavily used to determine corridors of high demand for future routes. he roads studied would be roads going to municipalities adjacent to but not included in current services, which include ake orest, layton, nightdale, endell, Zebulon, orrisville, olly prings, and uquay-arina. lthough future roads would not be shown on a map, future roads were taken into consideration to plan services. uture services and modifications to existing services were shown on a new map, with changes noted.. indings he findings and details of the plan are presented in outline format. he plan begins with a vision statement, detailing the different types of services provided, and gives policies for each agency for consolidation of services or forming partnerships to provide coordinated and streamlined services... ision statement ransit in the region should be convenient, affordable, safe, and user-friendly. he agencies must collaborate as much as possible in planning and development in order to provide coordinated and seamless services, and work toward consolidation when feasible. his will allow services in each municipality to work together instead of competing against each other for funding and resources, and to operate services in such a way to avoid unnecessary duplication and overlap. 2.. ixed-route transit here are currently five transit agencies that run fixed route service. ach agency can follow a set of policies that will integrate into a more streamlined regional service. he coordination necessary to provide streamlined and seamless service can be described similar to the fingers and thumb of a hand, the thumb representing regional service, and the four fingers representing local services. 2.. he thumb: regional service riangle ransit uthority () is the regional transit provider. Just as the hand s functionality diminishes significantly without the thumb, s service complements and strengthens each of the local providers by providing services between municipalities and to towns that have no other transit services (pex, orrisville, and arner). n some areas, has duplicated a sizeable portion of some of the local agencies services, most notably along ighway 54 in urham between outhpoint all and 5

8 esearch riangle ark (), and along illsborough treet in aleigh (ig. and 2). n order to create a trunk-feeder system that allows local service to provide more intensive service along a corridor, regional service can be aligned realigned to provide limited-stop or express services between major activity centers. egional service between outhpoint all and would be provided along -4, while modified local service would serve ighway 54 (ig. 3). corridor such as illsborough treet in aleigh is more problematic to separate, because bypassing the corridor would cause buses to bypass a major activity center (orth arolina tate niversity). his problem can only be solved with tools such as dedicated bus lanes with traffic signal prioritization, or an exclusive bus or rail guideway. n addition to revamping existing services, expansion of services is needed to serve growing towns that currently have no transit service. ervice to places like olly prings and uquay-arina can be fairly auto-competitive when using new highways such as - 54 in order to prevent extending local service currently provided to pex. ther towns, such as ake orest, layton, nightdale, endell, and Zebulon, can benefit from expanded transportation choices, especially because recent growth in those towns will only further strain existing highways (ig. 4) he first finger: urham urham is at the center of transit services because of geography. ocal transit service in urham is provided by the urham rea ransit uthority (). urrent regional services between, downtown urham, and hapel ill run in a loop, crossing or sharing geography with some of s routes. s stated in the previous section, modifying regional and local services will eliminate some of the overlap and provide operations in a trunk-feeder format. ome areas can also improve access to transit through community or employer shuttles in order to improve accessibility on the origin or destination end of a trip. or example, the area bounded by awson treet, riggs venue, iddle oad, and lston venue may have greater access to transit and reduced travel time by operating a community shuttle that connects to local and regional routes, improving service over the one current route which provides direct access only to downtown urham (ig. 5). ther shuttle services include modified shuttle service in that serves employers in three different zones (ig. 6). his could be achieved by operating a consolidated urban and rural service: fixed route service within the city, and community transit service serving rural areas of urham ounty as well as the shuttles in, which is outside city limits. aving the county support these services will allow to divest of the costs of operating shuttles in and provide a more cost-effective service before consolidation he second finger: aleigh 6

9 ocal transit service in aleigh is provided by apital rea ransit (), which also provides service to a shopping center in arner. provides service to aleigh from, ary, pex, and arner, so most of its routes are concentrated in the western part of the city. ervice in aleigh can be optimized by combining with transit in ary (explained in greater detail in section 2.5) and expanding service into arner. ecause local transit is mainly confined to the city in which it operates, a situation exists where two agencies service comes within a mile of each other but does not connect (ig. 7). n order to provide services that provide greater accessibility to people by removing the restriction of city limits to provide services, cities can share the costs proportional to how much of the service runs within each town. or example, service to ary can connect people in aleigh to places like ary owne enter and rossroads laza, where they can reach jobs by being able to connect with ary s other fixed routes (ig. 8) he third finger: hapel ill hapel ill ransit () became highly successful because of its orientation to the niversity of orth arolina, compact urban form, excellent pedestrian amenities throughout hapel ill and arrboro, and providing park-and-ride services at the edge of town for people outside of town to access the system. he university and the two towns have also encouraged people to ride by implementing a fare-free system in 22. possible improvement that can make would be to provide a connection to at ew ope ommons shopping center off ighway 5-5. urrently, has a similar situation as aleigh in that they are constrained to operating service within municipal boundaries (ig. 9). y providing this connection, would provide a connection to, allowing to run a limited-stop service along the 5-5 corridor. lthough hapel ill has rejected the possibility of consolidation of their service into one agency, this enhancement of service would help connect the town better to the rest of the region and provide another option for people who live in urham and work in hapel ill. t would also provide transit access to the retail area for neighborhoods close to the shopping center he fourth finger: ary ary ransit (-) operated only demand-response service throughout the town of ary until 25, when the agency implemented three fixed routes for the general public. s the fixed-route system is still relatively new, it will take time to build ridership and optimize the system, but there are possibilities for expansion and integration into a new regional system. he recent growth of the neighboring towns of orrisville and pex provides an opportunity for - to expand services there, with a similar financial arrangement that arrboro entered with hapel ill ransit. egional service would then be enhanced by local feeder service at times other than peak hours, the times that currently provides service to pex. oreover, improved service between ary and aleigh has the 7

10 potential to attract riders who could not previously use transit because of its inconvenience. 3.. aratransit and supplemental services aratransit is the term used to describe public transit services that do not operate on fixed routes or schedules but are scheduled to accommodate people taking trips with multiple origins and destinations. ost paratransit providers provide service solely for people with disabilities who cannot use fixed-route services. ther paratransit services include community or employer shuttles acting as feeders to and from fixed-route services or subsidized taxis used for human services or rural transportation. nder the plan for consolidation, paratransit services would also be consolidated in order to provide transport from one point to another within the system s service area. cheduling and routing software would be used to optimize trips, separating local trips from regional trips.. imitations his paper compares current conditions to possible future conditions that would facilitate consolidation of transit agencies and streamlining of services. he main focus of the study is on the regional level, so alterations at the city and neighborhood level are very limited. uture research into travel patterns and needs of patrons can be done to fine-tune local service at the neighborhood level to ensure coverage of neighborhoods with a high usage of transit and equity issues.. onclusions eorganization of routes, schedules and types of services will make the overall system easier to use and more convenient for passengers. y removing some of the barriers to providing services between cities and allowing for more flexible financing, the transit system will become a regionalized system while still largely preserving local service. he main steps to take are listed below, though not in a particular order or priority: eorganize into a consolidated urban-rural system to provide fixed-route service within the city of urham as well as human services and general transport to rural urham ounty, as well as providing service within esearch riangle ark. djust the funding structure to support this new arrangement either by placing the agency under county administration or having the county provide financial support to the system. et up fixed-route services in ake ounty to be run by ake oordinated ransport ervices. ixed-route services would include service between ake orest and aleigh as well as nightdale, endell, and Zebulon to aleigh. 8

11 stablish expansion of -ran services to orrisville and pex with a funding arrangement similar to that of arrboro with hapel ill ransit, and expand services into arner in a similar fashion. ave urham and hapel ill fund a local route between the two cities so that can run a limited-stop route along the 5-5 corridor. dentify major activity nodes in the region for transit services to allow regional services to move quickly between the nodes, with local services providing services for intermediate areas. armonize fare structures, days of operation, and route numbering schemes. llow a single agency to take charge of planning services and allocate operation of services. 9

12 eferences alog, John. uidebook for ttracting aratransit atrons to ixed-oute ervices. ransportation ooperative esearch rogram eport 24, 997. eimborn, dward and uentes, obert. ighways and ransit: eveling the laying ield in ederal ransportation olicy. rinted in aking the igh oad: etropolitan genda for ransportation eform, atz, ruce and uentes, obert, eds. ashington,..: rookings nstitution ress, 25. lack, lan. rban ass ransportation lanning. ew ork: craw-ill, 995. unting, ark. aking ublic ransport ork. ontreal: cill-queen s niversity ress, 24. ervero, obert and eutler, John. daptive ransit: nhancing uburban ransit ervices. eport prepared for niversity of alifornia ransportation enter, erkeley,, 999. ervero, obert. aratransit in merica. estport, : raeger ublishers, 997. atz, ruce, uentes, obert, and ernstein, cott. etting ransportation ight for etropolitan merica. rinted in aking the igh oad: etropolitan genda for ransportation eform, atz, ruce and uentes, obert, eds. ashington,..: rookings nstitution ress, 25. itman, odd. valuating ail ransit riticism. ictoria ransport olicy nstitute, ctober 9, 26, accessed at ctober 3, 26. iller, ark. et al. ransit ervice ntegration ractices: n ssessment of.. xperiences. erkeley, : alifornia artners for dvanced ransit and ighways. ccessed at ecember 3, 26. ratt, ichard. and vans, John. eport 95: us outing and overage: raveler esponse to ransportation ystem hanges. ashington,..: ransportation esearch oard, 24. ucher, John. enaissance of ublic ransport in the nited tates? ransportation Quarterly, ol. 56, o., inter 22 (33-49), accessed at ctober 3, 26. teiner, enry alcolm. onflict in rban ransportation. exington, : exington ooks, 978.

13 uchic, ukan. rban ransit: perations, lanning, and conomics. oboken, J: John iley and ons, 25. ndnotes operates service to the transfer center in esearch riangle ark and to the northern campus of urham echnical ommunity ollege, but the amount of service operated outside the city of urham is relatively small. 2 uses numbers and names; uses only numbers, hapel ill uses letters and a description, and -ran only uses a name. 3 n ew ork, each bus is numbered with a letter representing the borough in which in runs and a number.

14 igure : urham duplication X X X 6 X X X -4 X J X 5 55 X 279 X 5 54 X X 276 c J X X X J Z J 54 X -4-4 Z Q J urham's current routes in color; routes in black 2

15 X X 4 44 X 3 X 44 J J X J X X J J Z X igure 2: aleigh duplication Z J X Z X J J J Q X J X X aleigh's current routes in color; 's current routes in black 3

16 X 28 ZZ X 6 X X 278 X 276 J X 279 X 5 X 5 X J igure 3: urham modification X Z c J odified service in urham, showing routes in color and modified local routes in black 4

17 QZ X X 4 X 299 igure 4: ast ake, ake orest, layton X roduced by cademic rans X X 6 4 X 36 X X 5 J J X 64 7 J X 64 J J J Z riangle ase oads oute iles 97 J Z X 64 Z J Z layton is off the map about three miles to the southeast of the edge of oute 2. 5

18 igure 5: outh entral urham eeder X X X Z X 7 X X X 55 X J X J Z J 288 Q J Z Q J #8 7 X X J J J J feeder service with modified local service provides access to more routes and destinations. 6

19 X 279 X 6 X 55 X 278 X 276 X X 2 54 X 5 X 28 J J X X 2 igure 6: shuttle zones J X X 283 X X X 7 X 284 X X eeder shuttles to fixed route can provide destinations to major employers. 7

20 Q igure 7: aleigh-ary disconnected service J J -4 J X 44 J J X 293 X 44-4 X X 44 4 X 293 X J J J X X 293 J 44 X -64 J -4 J 4 X X X -64 aleigh and ary's systems come within a mile of each other but do not connect. 8

21 igure 8: aleigh-ary connection X 29-4 J 44 X X 44 4 X X 293 Z J -4 X 293 J X X J X J J X J X 293 his type of route provides direct service between aleigh and ary. 9

22 Z igure 9: hapel ill-urham break J X 27 X X -4 hapel ill and urham's services come within 3/4 of a mile but do not connect. 2

23 urrent system w/ local routes 54 X 28 X 28 X X X 29 Z -4 X 4 X 3 J X X 278 Z #2 #6 J 75 X 6 X 8 J 5 5-4/5/ X 55 9 X X -4 Z X Z 7 28 X X X J X 55 4 X 55 X Z 3 X X 9 X X X 4 86 Q 4 iles 6 X J outes riangle ase oads ocal outes Z X X -8 X 5-4 X 7 J X X X X 6 X Z X 4 X 2 X X X 27 X 54 X 54 X Q X X X 54 4 J Z 44 X 7 X 5 X 64 J 2 X 4 4 X X 3 X X J X X 96 X 3 6 7

24 system map w/ routes J X 44 J -4 X X X Z X X J X 3 X 44 X 5 6 X Z -4 X X Q X X 3 X X Z 54 Q 5 28 X J X X X J iles X oute apital ongview vent erry c uck Jones 2 ethod 3 havis eights 5 akeed 5c rawick 6 berlin 8 orthdale 9 pollo eights 2 alls of euse 2 araleigh 22 tate treet 23c illbrook rosstown 24c orth rosstown 25c riangle own enter 3 lascock 3 lascock 4 ex ospital 5 iltmore ills 6 rabtree 7 outh aunders 7e rier reek 7c arolina ines/ush 8 orthclift 8c awmill 2 3 X riangle ase oads eekday outes J 54 X 7 X X Z Z X J 64 Q Q J 4 Q 3 J 4 64 J X J J J X Q X X J J Q 7 X 4/5/27 22

25 X X system map w/ routes X X Q J J X X X J #2 #4 #2 55 X X X 6 28 X J X 5 iles Z Q X 83 J Z orthgate via uess oad orthgate via orth ointe urham-ew ope ommons urham-oodcroft illsborough oad 2 esearch riangle ark 3 irchwood 4 huttle 5 rier reek 6 olloway treet 7 now ill oad 2 ast urham 3 idland errace 4 orth oxboro 5 outh quare 6 uke niv-merican illage 6 uke niversity 7 outhpoint 8 cougald errace 8 cougald errace 9 earborn rive 2 3 X J oute Z 4 riangle ase oads eekday outes Z X 7 86 Z J Z J -8 5 Q 5 X J 7-85 X Q X X 5 #5 #7 X - 4 X 7 J X J X X X 274 J X X 5 X X 28 3 Z

26 J Z Z X 4 Z X X J J X 54 X J J J X Z J 5-5 X J X Q & riangle ase oads eekday outes oute J - orthside -X ible hurch xpress X 54 Q Z - olony ake - olony ake - erritt ill oad -X arrboro laza xpress - eaver treet - eaver treet - astowne - olony oods -X riday enter xpress -X riday enter xpress - ooker reek-riarcliff - hapel ill - edrick xpress 54 -J Jones erry oad -JX Jones erry xpress - ine nolls - stes ark - orth-outh - orth ampus J J - everse ampus huttle - ighway 54 - ighway 54 - outh ampus - imberlyne - ampus huttle - outhern illage-eadowmont.5.5 iles hapel ill system map w/ routes 4/5/27 24

27 Q X 64 X J X - system map w/ routes riangle ase oads eekday outes Z J J X oute Q J Z J orth-outh 2 ast-est 3 aynard oop 4 aynard oop iles X X X J -64 X Q Z X 287 J J X J -4 X X 29 4 X 29 X -4 J J 44 X 4 J 4/5/27 25

28 X J J X 55 X Z Z 7 J 42-4 Q X J X Q X 29 X J X 64-4 J X 54 iles X J 7 X -4 # J riangle ase oads oute X J roduced by cademic rans -4 proposed system map Z