Revolutionizingbay Area Transit ...On a Budget
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Revolutionizing Bay Area Transit ...on a Budget Creating a state-of-the-art rapid bus network The Transportation and Land Use Coalition (formerly BATLUC, the Bay Area Transportation and Land Use Coalition) is a groundbreaking partnership of more than 90 groups working to maintain our region’s renowned high quality of life, achieve greater social equity, and protect our natural environment. Coalition members believe that current development patterns do not have to be our destiny. Instead, the region can refocus public investment to serve and revitalize existing developed areas; design livable communities where residents of all ages can walk, bike, or take public transit; provide effective transportation alternatives; and develop affordable, transit-oriented housing that contributes to vibrant and diverse communities. Board of Directors John Dalrymple Juliet Ellis Enrique Gallardo Debbie Hubsmith Contra Costa Central Urban Habitat Latino Issues Forum Marin County Bicycle Labor Council Coalition Kristi Kimball Jeremy Madsen Margaret Okuzumi Rachel Peterson Surface Transportation Greenbelt Alliance BayRail Alliance Urban Ecology Policy Project Dick Schneider Rev. Andre Shumake David Snyder Doug Shoemaker Sierra Club Richmond Transportation for a Non-Profit Housing Improvement Assoc. Livable City Assoc. of N. California Funders TALC would like to extend a special thanks to the W. Alton Jones Foundation whose contribution to the Transportation Choices Forum (TCF), now a project of TALC, made this report possible. The Transportation and Land Use Coalition, and TCF, gratefully acknowledge funding from: East Bay Community Foundation, The Firedoll Foundation, The Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation, David B. Gold Foundation, Richard & Rhoda Goldman Fund, San Francisco Foundation, Surdna Foundation, the Women’s Foundation, and the Diversity Network Project. Acknowledgments Stuart Cohen, TALC’s Executive Director, provided oversight and guidance for the project. Seth Schneider was the project manager for the report and assisted with the research, writing and editing. Amber Elizabeth Crabbe and Irwin Guada, graduate students at the University of California at Berkeley, researched and wrote major sections of the report and completed the GIS mapping for the proposed BRT routes and express bus infrastructure. Amber also gathered images and created several of the report's graphics. Those who supplied information and offered comments deserve special acknowledgment. They include Suany Chough and John Katz of Muni; Jim Cunradi, Jim Gleich, and Jon Twichell of AC Transit; as well as the many planners across the country who supplied information about their transit agencies’ BRT projects. The cover page photograph is courtesy of Irisbus. Additional Copies Additional Copies of Revolutionizing Bay Area Transit...on a Budget are available by downloading free from TALC’s website at www.transcoalition.org, or by sending a check payable to “Transportation and Land Use Coalition” to the address below. Black and white copies cost $10.00 and color copies cost $20.00. Transportation and Land Use Coalition 414 13th Street, 5th Floor Oakland, CA 94612 (510) 740-3150 fax (510) 740-3131 [email protected] www.transcoalition.org . Executive Summary...........................................................................1 . Maps of Proposed BRT, Enhanced Bus, and Express Bus............3 1.0 Introduction........................................................................................7 2.0 The Case for Bus Rapid Transit .....................................................11 2.1 The BRT Recipe.....................................................................................11 2.2 Why BRT Makes Dollars and Sense......................................................13 2.3 Where Are BRT Systems?.....................................................................17 3.0 Case Study: Learning from Los Angeles’ Metro Rapid ................21 4.0 A Vision for the Bay Area: BRT and Enhanced Bus Recommendations...........................................................................27 4.1 San Francisco Recommendations .........................................................29 4.2 East Bay Recommendations..................................................................43 4.3 South Bay Recommendations ...............................................................50 5.0 Transit Solutions: How BRT and Express Buses Solve Transit Problems .............................................................................53 Solution: BRT offers comfortable, high-tech vehicles ...............................54 Solution: Clean-air buses slash pollution ..................................................57 Solution: BRT moves faster than automobile traffic..................................58 Solution: Technology permits on-time schedules, minimizing waits .........66 Solution: BRT provides more frequent service..........................................69 Solution: BRT stations and stops are comfortable and secure .................72 Solution: BRT supports transit-oriented development...............................75 6.0 What Are Express Buses? ..............................................................79 7.0 A Bay Area Express Bus Web ........................................................85 7.1 Add new buses, expand service hours and increase frequency ...........87 7.2 Develop a high-speed network for Express Buses ................................94 7.3 Employ transfer hubs for easy passenger transfers ..............................96 7.4 An Express Bus system instead of BART in the Tri-Valley..................102 . Appendix I: BRT/Enhanced Bus Cost and Ridership Details.....111 . Appendix II: BRT Resources.........................................................113 . Revolutionizing Bay Area Transit...on a Budget The Bay Area faces a growing transportation crisis, including intense traffic congestion and a declining share of trips taken by public transit, bicycle and on foot. In response to this crisis, Bay Area politicians are proposing an estimated $12 billion in new transportation funding sources in the form of sales taxes and bridge toll increases. This massive transportation funding spree will largely lock in the region’s investments for the next twenty years or more and determine the mobility and, in part, the growth patterns of the region for the next generation. Too often, high-profile but exorbitantly expensive projects are treated as the magic bullet in overcoming our transportation woes. Instead, the real solutions to the crisis require making intelligent, effective use of limited transportation funding. What we need is a revolutionary approach to public transit at a price that the region can afford. Fortunately, there is hope. In the last few years a quiet revolution has begun sweeping through the public transit world. It is driven by new technologies and innovative new practices that allow “rubber-tire” transit to very closely emulate what we love about rail, but at a much lower cost and with significantly greater flexibility. This public transit revolution falls under the umbrella term of “Bus Rapid Transit” (BRT). BRT offers the speed, style and dignity that it will take to attract a tremendous number of new transit riders, while dramatically improving service for existing passengers. With BRT, passengers are whisked to their destinations through the use of dedicated lanes and “smart” traffic lights. New transit stations, boarding platforms, and electronic ticketing make boarding quick and easy. And satellite-tracking systems allow transit agencies to efficiently deploy vehicles and provide real-time bus arrival and departure information with digital message boards at bus stops, online, and by phone. State-of-the-art, low- and zero-emission buses offer smoother, more comfortable travel. One such vehicle, the Civis, uses a computerized optical- guidance system for smoother steering, enabling it to align within centimeters of a boarding platform, and allowing for ultra-fast boarding through four sets of doors. TALC’s proposal, entitled Revolutionizing Bay Area Transit…on a Budget, outlines a BRT network that will provide the fastest, lowest-cost way to dramatically improve the speed and quality of public transit in our region. Our vision segments BRT into three categories: “Full-Scale” BRT on 81 miles of the region’s most heavily-traveled and congested urban corridors. Full-Scale BRT utilizes dedicated bus lanes as well as a broad range of improvements and innovations in the BRT toolkit, including state-of-the-art buses and high-quality stations with boarding 1 Executive Summary platforms. Top priorities for full-scale BRT include the Geary and Van Ness corridors in San Francisco and the International/Telegraph Corridor in the East Bay. “Enhanced Bus” along 129 miles of urban and suburban corridors. Enhanced Bus applies targeted, cost-effective improvements along corridors where current ridership levels and traffic congestion do not warrant the dedicated lanes of Full-Scale BRT. While not as high-tech, these upgrades – including signal priority, low-floor vehicles, and improved bus stops – would still offer significant time savings in order to attract large numbers of new riders. An expanded express bus network. Euro-style coaches would utilize the existing 275-mile HOV lane network. This existing infrastructure would be expanded by “optimizing” appropriate existing mixed-flow lanes on key freeways that lack HOV lanes, allowing buses