Lessons Learned from Rebuilding the Muni Subway Schedule Leslie Bienenfeld Manager of Fixed Guideway Scheduling San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency San Francisco, California
SFMTA & the Municipal Railway Seventh largest transit system in North America, by ridership 750,000 daily riders 25% of all daily trips in SF by transit Service Area: 49 square miles Service Area Population: 800,000 residents 1
Improving Service Through a Systemwide Lens Added four system-wide service increases in sixteen months Focus on maintenance to increase reliability and OTP Replacing & expanding fleet all new buses, trains Building transit-only lanes and transit signal priority 2 2
Leveraging Technology to Improve System Performance Transitioning to proactive and data-driven business and operational practices Introducing multi-modal Transportation Management Center Implementing new radio system and ATCS improvements 3
Light Rail: The backbone of the system 149 light rail vehicles 75 single track miles 34 high level Metro platform stops 9 subway stations 158,000 daily riders Peak headways 6.5 9 min 4
Run Time Variability Legend Scheduled Time On-Time Window 5
Key Challenges for Muni LRV Scheduling Service in both subway and mixed traffic streets 5 subway lines feed into a single-track subway Vehicles transition from manual to automatic control through three portals simultaneously Subway depends on custom integration of advanced and independently developed technologies Peak periods result in overcrowding and pass-ups 6
LRVs weigh down Muni s Performance Mandated KPIs: 98.5% Service Delivery 85% On-Time Performance Systemwide: 60%+ LRV: 50 55% Green bars = LRV OTP Black line = Systemwide OTP 7
TMD s Recipe for Increasing Muni s OTP Comprehensive analysis of rail service operations conducted (2014-2015) 6 key ingredients identified to improve OTP 1. 100% rail car availability - increased low from 90 to 120 2. 100% operator availability - increased low from 280 to 320 3. Accurate operable schedule 4. On-time yard departures - currently 70% 5. On-time terminal departures 6. Operator driving consistency (culture change) 8
Why redo the rail schedule now? 1. New IT and communications systems 2. Building a data driven culture 3. Benefit the greatest number of riders 4. General Sign Up/culture change 5. Need experience with Muni Rail Schedule for Central Subway and expansion vehicles 6. Ability to impact system-wide OTP 9 9
The task at hand Main components Interview front-line staff and observe system in real time Recalibrate run times and recovery/layover times Evaluate LRV demand and available capacity Develop new weekend operating schedules to test strategies Identify and initiate opportunities for on-time departures and operator driving consistency Constraints 117 schedulable vehicles 40 trains/hour throughput of the subway 24 trains/hour turnaround capacity in the subway turnback 10
The trip framework recommendations: Some we expected, some we did not Run Time Not much change needed Recovery Time A bit more time needed to increase change of vehicles arriving before their scheduled departures Update Frequencies for all LRV Lines Put all lines on the same frequency Minimize scheduled congestion Reduce opportunities for unpredictability Update Slotting Pattern: M J KT L M Minimize customer wait times of shared corridors Reduce likelihood of congestion at portals 11
Varied SAT headways: (2) 10, (2) 12, (1) 15 min 1 hour, starting with even headways 12
Varied SAT headways: (2) 10, (2) 12, (1) 15 min 1 hour, starting with even headways Varied SUN headways: (2) 12, (3 trains) 15 min 1 hour, starting with even headways 13
Varied SAT headways: (2) 10, (2) 12, (1) 15 min 1 hour, starting with even headways Even SAT headways: (5 trains) 10 min 1 hour, starting with even headways 14
Varied SUN headways: (2) 12, (3) 15 1 hour, starting with even headways Even SUN headways: (5 trains) 12 min 1 hour, starting with even headways 15
Results: OTP (within 1 min early and 4 min late) LRV only: Weekend OTP approaching 10% improvement 16
Results: Gaps (actual headway >5 min beyond scheduled headway) LRV: improves 2-5% Results: Bunches (arriving within 2 min of another vehicle) LRV: no change, already half of WKY 17
A collaboration of great value 1. Using a scheduling project to seed desired operational changes a. Every conversation about the schedule was an opportunity to reemphasize the other ingredients of the recipe b. Made incremental adjustments towards the operational changes 2. Trusted to make many changes at once with quick buy-in 3. Having a fresh set of eyes 18
Things to consider for the future 1. Spend more time early researching the complexities of the schedule and sketching a rewrite plan a. Be willing to start some things fresh, consider what to keep b. Review collaboratively at each major scheduling step along the way c. Including pulls, early and late service, and deadheads in schedule research, especially where they may effect subway maintenance window 2. Decouple project deadlines from sign-up deadlines 3. Have the schedule rebuild team on site together 19
If you do it, too 1. Engage with all levels of the organization 2. Embrace collaboration and peer scheduling 3. Be open to new ways of thinking about your service 20
Next steps for Muni s LRVs 1. Continue to review and refinement of weekend schedules 2. Bring TMD back to collaborate on on-time terminal departures, yard departures, and operator driving consistency 3. Adjust weekday run time and slotting 4. Increase system capacity and flexibility through capital improvements a. Opportunities for express trains, longer trains b. Adding surface line and terminal crossovers for operational efficiencies 21
Thank you! Leslie Bienenfeld Leslie.bienenfeld@sfmta.com San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Manager of Fixed Guideway Scheduling San Francisco, California 22