Slide 1: New York State Department of Transportation Statewide Perspective BRT Project Development
Lessons Learned from Los Angeles Site Visit
T3 Webinar
April 16, 2008
Slide 2: Statewide Context
New York State Provides $3 Billion in Annual Operating Assistance to Transit Systems
An additional $40 M Annually in Capital Assistance to the Non-MTA carriers, including Westchester Bee Line
Investment in Transit is a critical State Mobility/Congestion Management, Environmental and Economic Competitiveness Strategy
Slide 3: Outside of NYC – Bus is the Mode
Making this investment in transit effective outside of the 5 boroughs of NYC (and even inside the 5 boroughs) Means Making the Bus More Competitive and Attractive Choice
LA Site Visit strongly re-enforced that BRT and its component strategies offer very promising opportunities to accomplish the objective of improving the impact of bus transit as a mobility strategy
Slide 4: Who is Planning and Implementing BRT in NYS
Westchester…
MTA NYC Transit/NYCDOT;
Capital District Transportation Authority (CDTA) Central Avenue, Albany
NYSDOT – Tappan Zee Bridge EIS includes extensive new corridor BRT network as formal alternative
BRT-Lite/implementing BRT components, short of full BRT - Various studies, plans and projects to improve bus corridor operations.
Slide 5: MTA NYC Transit/NYCDOT
Transit Signal Priority - Victory Boulevard in Staten Island - operational Fall 2007. 13 signals, key bus corridor feeding Staten Island Ferry Terminal (15% improvement in bus speeds)
First BRT Corridor - Fordham Blvd/Pelham Parkway in Bronx – Late June 2008 launch – Corridor w/ TSP at up to 40 signals, 6 minute peak headways, radio emitters communicate request to signal controller.
Slide 6: Capital District Transportation Authority Central Avenue Albany.
Central Avenue/State Street From Albany to Schenectady (17 miles, 72 intersections)
Route #55 - CDTA’s FLAGSHIP
25% of Riders
5-10 Minute Frequency
Long Span
Focused Investment for Premium Service
20 paired stations (limited stop operation)
Without Dedicated Lanes, Technology gets the "Rapid" into BRT
Rockland County Route 59 Bus Corridor Operations Study. Identified corridor strategies/projects to improve travel time and customer convenience;
Rochester Genesee Transportation Authority and Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (Buffalo) beginning planning studies investigating bus corridor operational strategies including TSP
Slide 10: NYSDOT Lessons Learned from LA Peer to Peer Site Visit
Technical issues regarding TSP:
Highly effective maintaining reliable headways
Loop Detector based architecture w/ bus intersection check-in and check-out highly effective. Allows precise budgeting of additional green-time to clear bus through intersection (down to 1 second).
Headway based priority v. schedule adherence. LA strategy targets routes w/ maximum of 12 minute headways (4 minutes in peak). Software to support this does not need to address schedule adherence. Holding a bus to keep to schedule is not part of the strategy. Keeping the bus moving is the strategy.
Slide 11: NYSDOT Lessons Learned from LA Peer to Peer Site Visit
Despite compelling advantages of LA TSP approach, local conditions in NYS may require alternative approaches.
Multiple jurisdictions, multiple vintages of traffic signal equipment and multiple traffic engineering departments.
12 Minute or more frequent Headways are not prevalent outside of NYC. Most operators in NY oriented to schedule adherence rather than headway adherence.
Slide 12: NYSDOT Lessons Learned from LA Peer to Peer Site Visit (3)
Extent of Land Use impact of BRT not yet clear.
Orange Line – w/ separate dedicated right-of-way appears to be having more of a tangible impact, aided by Metro opportunities for Joint Development. (May be comparable to some portions of TZ Market)
Red Line Wilshire Blvd Service operates through existing highly developed corridor – impact hard to separate from trend development. (More akin to the settings in NYS where BRT is being investigated)
Slide 13: NYSDOT Lessons Learned from LA Peer to Peer Site Visit (4)
Observations/Personal Impressions – the service appears to be a major success:
The vehicles, branding, customer information on and off the bus were VERY impressive. Bus arrival displays are fed by agency software rather than vendor product. On-Board active map displays.
Mid-day Wilshire Blvd (10:00 AM) and Orange Line (2:00 PM) – Buses were standing room only.
Slide 14: Peer-to-Peer Benefit
There was significant value in gathering practitioners and project managers from multiple agencies in NY Metro to witness and discuss their observations of a real-world deployment.
NYSDOT intends to leverage this collaboration by facilitating ongoing peer to peer exchange among BRT project managers and practitioners within New York.
Slide 15: Objectives NYS Peer-to-Peer Exchange
Facilitate communication and exchange, among NYS Transit operators, regarding technical, planning and operational aspects of BRT and other corridor level bus operational strategies
Establish common planning framework for analyzing BRT and priority treatment strategies in key corridors, Building on Westchester, NYC and CDTA approaches.
Slide 16: Contact information
Jim Davis
Urban Systems Section Head
Public Transportation Bureau
New York State DOT
50 Wolf Road
Albany, NY 12232
