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Fixed Route Service Standards Policy
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DESCRIPTION: Requesting adoption of a new agency policy guiding the provision of fixed route transit service. |
AGENDA NO: Click or tap here to enter text. |
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ACTION REQUEST: ☒ Approval ☐ Review Comment ☐ Information Only ☐ Other |
RECOMMENDATION:
recommendation
Board adoption of the Fixed Route Service Standards as agency policy.
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ISSUE/BACKGROUND:
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The agency’s current standards were adopted in May of 2010 and established standards and metrics to measure the quality and efficiency of transit service. While these standards do provide a solid basis for system evaluation they focus on overall ridership, not equity, when considering investments and adjustments to service. Under new leadership, the focus on equitable distribution of transit resources was made a priority. This, coupled with the work done as part of the New Links project, spurred RTA staff to realize that an overhaul of the agency’s service standards was need to realize the recommendations in New Links and build a truly equitable transit system based on clear, transparent analysis.
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DISCUSSION:
The RTA seeks to use the proposed service standards to evaluate, design and modify transit services to meet changing needs and to deliver efficient, high-quality service. The standards help us make sure that our decision-making and recommendations to policy makers are objective, transparent, and aligned with the region’s goals for public transportation and equity.
The proposed service standards establish criteria and processes the RTA uses to analyze and plan changes to the transit system. They provide direction in the following areas:
• Evaluating and reporting on the existing network
• Designing transit service
• Adding, removing, modifying service.
Evaluating and Reporting on the Existing Network
Establishing Service Demand
A major function of these service standards is to assess transit propensity for corridors that make up the RTA’s fixed route network and use that analysis to determine appropriate types and levels of transit service to meet expected ridership demand.
For the RTA’s guidance, corridors are defined as major transit pathways that connect employment centers, residential neighborhoods, transit hubs, important institutions, and other major destinations throughout the RTA service area. Routes are the actual transit services provided. Assessments of transit propensity are set by corridor rather than by route because a corridor could be served by a single route or by multiple routes.
The RTA establishes expected transit demand for the corridors in the service area by analyzing residential and employment density and the socioeconomic factors that impact transit usage. These factors are combined into a single score and used to calculate the likelihood of transit use, or transit propensity, of an area or corridor.
The RTA’s Strategic Mobility Plan (SMP), published in 2018, developed a Transit Propensity Index (TPI), which was refined and expanded upon for the New Links Network Redesign project to create a quantitatively functional planning tool. The TPI is based on a weighted calculation of race and ethnicity, income, disability, vehicle ownership, and employment data within walking distance of a particular corridor.
Evaluating System Performance
The RTA manages the performance of transit routes to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and quality of the transit system. Performance management guidelines are applied to individual routes to identify high and low performance, areas where investment is needed, and areas where resources are not being used efficiently and effectively.
The Service Standards establish measures for evaluating route productivity and efficiency, passenger loads, ridership, schedule reliability, and safety performance for every route in the RTA system to identify where changes may be needed to improve the system and achieve RTA’s goals and objectives. The policy also establishes a reporting and evaluation schedule to ensure timely and transparent dissemination of performance metrics and recommended actions for improving transit service.
Planning and Designing Service and Service Changes
The RTA uses the service design guidelines to develop transit routes and the overall transit network. Based on industry best practices for designing service, these guidelines help us enhance transit operations and improve the rider experience. The guidelines include both qualitative considerations and quantitative standards for comparing and measuring specific factors.
Types of Fixed Route Service
The policy establishes various types of fixed route service, based on the agency’s Strategic Mobility Plan and industry best practices. The Service Standards establish the following classes of fixed route transit services:
• Express Service: These routes are regionally servicing lines that connect major destinations throughout the metropolitan area. They are designed to provide fast service between regions within the service area with stops only at key destinations.
• Rapid Service: Routes serving major corridors with limited stops, usually evenly spaced along the route. Stop spacing is greater than that of select and local service.
• Select Service: These routes will be frequent and feature some of the characteristics Rapid Service but will not quite meet the criteria of Rapid Transit in terms of frequency or hours of operation (service span). Stops will be more frequent that Rapid Service
• Local Service: Routes operating major and minor corridors with frequent, locally serving stops that provide neighborhood level service.
• Circulator Service: Provide circulation within a neighborhood. Usually operated with smaller vehicles instead of full-size vehicles.
• Flex Service: A hybrid of fixed-route and demand-response transit service. Flex routes serve specific stops via a designated schedule but may be scheduled as demand response service within a designated zone provided the ability to adhere to fixed time points. Flexible service is appropriate only in low demand areas.
• Ferry Service: Ferry service operates across waterways, connecting designated terminals. They can provide passenger service or also carry vehicles.
With the exception of ferry service, a single route may operate as more than one service type throughout the course of service. For example, the transit needs along a corridor may vary, requiring local service on one segment and select or rapid service on another. Additionally, services are categorized based on the manner in which they operate, not the technology used to operate. For example, a local service can be provided by either bus or streetcar. The choice of modal technology does not change the general operational parameters and guidelines the RTA uses to craft said service, they are instead driven by the type of service the agency seeks to provide.
Designing Service
The RTA uses the service design guidelines to develop transit routes and the overall transit network. Based on industry best practices for designing service, these guidelines help us enhance transit operations and improve the rider experience. The guidelines include both qualitative considerations and quantitative guidelines for designing specific transit routes and the overall transit network. This includes operational characteristics like service span and frequency, geometric characteristics like route paths and stop spacing, and the recommended placement of rider amenities like shelters and benches.
Adding, Reducing and Changing Service
This section establishes the priority order in which the performance metrics will be considered as RTA makes recommendations about adding, reducing, or adjusting service and describe how the RTA will report on the performance of individual, fixed route services.
The RTA will add, reduce, or change service by using the guidelines in the following order:
1. Passenger Loads
2. Schedule Reliability
3. Transit Propensity
4. Route Productivity
Low performing routes, meaning routes in the bottom 25 percentile of the system in a given metric, will be given priority consideration for adjustment and improvements to performance. Conversely, high performing routes, those in the top 25 percentile of the system in a given metric, will be prioritized for increased investment and improvements. However, the RTA may choose to maintain a low performing route or not invest in a high performing route because of other considerations such as equity and coverage.
Conclusion
RTA will use the service standards to analyze the corridors and transit routes in the system and provide recommendations for the addition, removal, or modification of transit service on a quarterly basis. The quarterly reviews will be combined and published in an annual Service Standards Report. All reports and recommendations will be available to the public. The standards will provide for a more transparent, open, and clear process by which transit service is provided.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The service standards will have a financial impact only insofar as the standards are used to guide agency decisions for investment and service delivery. With proper usage, these standards will help the agency’s fixed route services become more efficient, effective, and equitable.
NEXT STEPS:
Following their adoption, the service standards will become the framework and basis for evaluating the RTA’s fixed route services. They will guide the improvement of transit service, including the implementation of recommendations from the New Links network redesign plan.
ATTACHMENTS:
Proposed RTA Fixed Route Service Standards Policy
Prepared By: Vivek Shah
Title: Director of Service Planning and Scheduling
Reviewed By: Thomas Stringer
Title: Chief Operating Officer
3/4/2021
Alex Wiggins Date
Chief Executive Officer