Metro Transit Five-Year Strategic Operations Plan
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TRANSPORTATION Five-Year Strategic Operations Plan – Taking Transit to the Next Level Submitted to Halifax Regional Municipality by IBI Group October 7, 2009 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................ 7 1.1 Plan Vision 8 1.2 Study Methodology 10 2. Transit Market Analysis ....................................................................... 12 2.1 Market Overview 12 2.2 Population 12 2.2.1 Current 12 2.2.2 Projected Growth 13 2.2.3 Student Population 13 2.2.4 Major Communities 13 2.3 Economic Situation and Employment 15 2.4 Trip Generators 16 2.4.1 Employment Centres and Business Parks 16 2.4.2 Post-Secondary and National Defence 17 2.4.3 Retail Centres 17 2.4.4 Entertainment and Recreational Facilities 17 2.4.5 Housing Developments 17 2.5 Transit Services 18 2.5.1 Current Transit Service 18 2.5.2 System Capacity 19 2.6 Stakeholder Consultation and Web Survey 21 2.6.1 Survey Methodology 21 2.6.2 Survey Results 24 2.6.3 Preferences for Service Improvements 30 2.7 Public Open Houses 33 OCTOBER 7, 2009 I. IBI GROUP / HALIFAX REGIONAL MUNICIPALITY / METRO TRANSIT FIVE-YEAR STRATEGIC OPERATIONS PLAN 2.8 Customer Satisfaction Standards 33 2.9 Summary 37 3. Transit Service Analysis ...................................................................... 39 3.1 General Description of Urban Transit Services 39 3.1.1 Halifax Peninsula 39 3.1.2 Halifax Mainland 39 3.1.3 Dartmouth 40 3.1.4 Bedford and Sackville 40 3.1.5 Rural Communities 40 3.2 Service Standards for Analysis Purposes 40 3.2.1 Route Coverage 41 3.2.2 Core Route Standards 41 3.2.3 Higher-Order Core Route Standards 42 3.2.4 Local Route Standards 44 3.2.5 Community Route Standards 45 3.3 Assessment of Existing Routes and Services 46 3.3.1 Halifax Peninsula and Lower Mainland Routes 46 3.3.2 Bedford and Sackville Routes 53 3.3.3 Dartmouth 56 3.4 Summary of Route Deficiencies and Needs 63 3.4.1 Core and Express Route Changes 64 3.4.2 Local Route Changes 65 3.4.3 Unmet Demands Needing New or Revised Routes 66 4. Transit Service Strategy ...................................................................... 68 4.1 Service Policy Framework 68 4.1.1 Mission Statement 69 4.1.2 Goals and Objectives 69 4.1.3 Service Standard Policies 71 4.2 Five Year Service Plan 72 4.2.1 Halifax and Lower Mainland Routes 72 4.2.2 Bedford and Sackville Routes 76 4.2.3 Dartmouth Routes 78 4.2.4 Ferry Services 81 OCTOBER 7, 2009 ii IBI GROUP / HALIFAX REGIONAL MUNICIPALITY / METRO TRANSIT FIVE-YEAR STRATEGIC OPERATIONS PLAN 4.3 Infrastructure Plan 82 4.3.1 Vehicle Fleet 82 4.3.2 Vehicle Maintenance 86 4.3.3 Garage 91 4.3.4 Bus Stops and Shelters 91 4.3.5 Terminals 94 4.3.6 Fare Equipment 95 4.4 Service Planning Process 95 4.4.1 Transit Service Standards and Route Planning Guidelines 97 4.4.2 Five Year Transit Plan 97 4.4.3 Annual Service Plan 98 4.4.4 Service Evaluation and Measuring Performance 98 4.4.5 Summary 99 4.5 Marketing and Communications Plan 99 4.5.1 Communications with Customers 100 4.5.2 Maximize Web Services Potential 101 4.5.3 Customer Satisfaction & Service Design Input 101 4.5.4 Internal Communications 102 4.5.5 Route Names and Signage 103 5. Transit Operations Strategy .............................................................. 104 5.1 Operations Strategies 104 5.1.1 Bus Operator Pick Process 104 5.1.2 Bus Deployment 107 5.1.3 Service Planning 109 5.1.4 Bus Operator Training Program 109 5.1.5 Review of Operator’s Handbook and Daily Planner 112 5.1.6 Bus Operator Attendance Management Program 113 6. Transit Supportive Strategies ........................................................... 115 6.1 Priority Measures 115 6.1.1 “Yield to Transit” Legislation 115 6.1.2 Transit Priority 116 6.1.3 MetroLink 117 6.1.4 Additional Transit Signal Priority Locations 117 6.1.5 Capital Cost – Transit Priority Measures 121 OCTOBER 7, 2009 iii IBI GROUP / HALIFAX REGIONAL MUNICIPALITY / METRO TRANSIT FIVE-YEAR STRATEGIC OPERATIONS PLAN 6.2 Transit Oriented Land-Use Development (TOD) 122 6.2.1 Encourage7B Density 122 6.2.2 Design78B Communities to be Walkable 123 6.3 Travel31B Demand Management 126 6.3.1 Parking80B Management 127 7. Financial Plan ..................................................................................... 129 7.1 Fare Strategy 129 7.2 Five-Year Operating and Capital Budget 133 7.3 Funding Source Options 136 7.3.1 Financing Options under HRM Control 136 7.3.2 Financing Means Not Under HRM Control 139 7.3.3 Recommendations 143 8. Implementation Plan .......................................................................... 145 8.1 Years 2010, 2011 145 8.2 Years 2012, 2013 145 8.3 Year 2014 146 9. GHG and Climate Change Impact ..................................................... 147 9.1 Summary37B 149 10. Conclusions and Recommendations ............................................... 150 10.1 Conclusions 150 10.2 Recommendation 151 OCTOBER 7, 2009 iv IBI GROUP / HALIFAX REGIONAL MUNICIPALITY / METRO TRANSIT FIVE-YEAR STRATEGIC OPERATIONS PLAN List of Exhibits Exhibit 2-1: Projected Population for Halifax Regional Municipality ....................................... 13 Exhibit 2-2: Transit Mode to Work (2006 Census) ................................................................. 15 Exhibit 2-3: HRM Economic Drivers and Employment Potential ............................................ 16 Exhibit 2-4: Terminal Inbound Aggregate & New Building Forecasts .................................... 20 Exhibit 2-5: Survey response rates by area ........................................................................... 23 Exhibit 2-6: Gender of survey respondents ............................................................................ 23 Exhibit 2-7: Number of trips by day of week ........................................................................... 23 Exhibit 2-8: Age of survey respondents .................................................................................. 24 Exhibit 2-9: How often do you use public transit? .................................................................. 24 Exhibit 2-10: Mostly Commonly Used Transit Routes ............................................................ 25 Exhibit 2-11: Trip Flow across HRM ....................................................................................... 26 Exhibit 2-12: Work trip flow across HRM, 2006 Census ......................................................... 27 Exhibit 2-13: Percentage of Survey Trips not using Transit ................................................... 27 Exhibit 2-14: Most Common Methods of Fare Payment ......................................................... 28 Exhibit 2-15: Average Number of Transfers by Home Area ................................................... 29 Exhibit 2-16: Average Wait Time for Transit by Trip Origin .................................................... 29 Exhibit 2-17: Which Would you Like To Do More Frequently (by Age)? ................................ 30 Exhibit 2-18: Which Would you Like to do More Frequently (by Area)? ................................. 31 Exhibit 2-19: Stated preferences for Transit Service Improvements. ..................................... 32 Exhibit 2-20: Potential For a More Reliable Schedule to Increase Ridership. ....................... 32 Exhibit 2-21: Potential For More Frequent Peak Hour Service to Increase Ridership. .......... 32 Exhibit 2-22: Potential For Fast Ferry Service to Bedford to Increase Ridership. .................. 33 Exhibit 2-23: Potential of Earlier Weekend Service to Increase Ridership. ............................ 33 Exhibit 2-24: Illustration of How Customer Satisfaction Data can be Displayed .................... 37 Exhibit 4-1 2000-2008 Performance of Metro Transit System ............................................... 68 Exhibit 4-2: Metro Transit Bus Fleet ....................................................................................... 83 Exhibit 4-3 Summary of Emissions Standards 1994 to 2010 ................................................. 85 Exhibit 4-4 Typical Shelter and Landing Pad Accessibility Designs ....................................... 93 Exhibit 4-5 TransLink (Vancouver) Online Customer Feedback Form ................................. 102 Exhibit 6-1 Existing TPM Locations ...................................................................................... 117 Exhibit 6-2 Akerley Boulevard at Windmill Road .................................................................. 118 Exhibit 6-3 Dedicated Left Turn Phase for Transit Vehicles ................................................. 119 Exhibit 6-4 Lane Shift for Transit Vehicles ........................................................................... 120 Exhibit 6-5 Additional Locations for TPM Implementation .................................................... 120 Exhibit 6-6 Areas of Potential Transit-Supportive Land Development ................................. 123 Exhibit 6-7 Typical vs. Model Site Layout ............................................................................. 124 Exhibit 6-8 Contrasting Examples of Site Layout ................................................................. 125 Exhibit 7-1 Metro Transit Fare Structure – August 30, 2009 ................................................ 129 Exhibit 7-2 Empirically Estimated Values for Price and Cross-Price Elasticities.................. 131 Exhibit 7-3 2010-2014 Metro Transit Operating and Capital Budget ................................... 134 Exhibit 7-4 Proposed