______Somerset county

Jennifer Lee & Sam Powell ORF 467 ______

LAND USE

Of Somerset County’s 195,200 acres, 20,146 acres (nearly 10% of the total land) are designated as preserved open space, consisting of 10,175 acres of parkland, 3,130 acres of greenways, and 6,841 acres of farmland (Somerset County Publication Office). Significant portions of the county are more sparsely populated, while others are denser with housing and commercial development.

TRIP TYPES

The total number of notable attractions was estimated to be 2,402. Employment data suggests that these attractions produce over 304,000 trips per day.

Job Trips: Somerset County, the seventh most affluent county in America, is home to many large corporations, particularly in the biotech industry. As of 2005, it had about a 97.6% employment rate, creating a large demand for public transportation (Somerset County Publication Office). Due to its proximity to NYC, there are many commuters with special transportation needs that are fulfilled by bus and rail. One of the most notable commercial areas of the county is the Davidson Avenue Area, home to manufacturing and pharmaceutical companies.

School Trips: Approximately 36% of the 108,984 households in Somerset have children. The schools and two colleges have a total enrollment of about 55,000 students (Superintendent of Schools Office).

Shopping & Recreation Trips: The county boasts over 33 shopping centers and even more commercial centers. There are also numerous parks, golf courses, and sports complexes.

EXISTING TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS

Several pre-existing mass transit systems serve some of the trips produced in Somerset. Most notably, two lines of the New Jersey Transit train system cross the county. The Raritan Valley Line bisects Somerset horizontally, while the Gladstone Branch Line winds through northern portions of the county. On average, over 4,000 trips are made to various park and rides along these lines. Stations of the new PRT network have been placed by these park and rides so that the two systems can be integrated.

Another pre-existing system is a series of local bus lines. The SCOOT is a shuttle that runs in the North/South direction, serving stops from Bedminster to Hillsborough. The DASH serves a heavy commercial area between Franklin Township, Bound Brook, and Bridgewater municipalities. Two of the DASH stops are rail stations. These two services, together with a third shuttle for the general public, serve about 82,000 trips (Somerset County Publication Office). Additional transportation services include the NJ Transit buses, which multiple routes to the NYC Port Authority, and the Somerset Airport, which serves charter planes. Major highways that run through the county are I-78, I-87, Rt. 22, Rt. 202, and Rt. 206.

Even with numerous mass transit options, about 90% of job-related trips are done by automobiles. Public transportation only covers 4% of these trips. Those who take public transportation have average ride lengths of 83 minutes, while those who use other modes have trips of 28 minutes. More details can be found in the following table, comprised of 2000 Census data. STATION PLACEMENT

The Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system being proposed aims to serve at least 90% of productions, with housing data from the 2000 Census, and at least 90% of attractions, which include jobs, recreation, shopping, and schools. One constraint is that the system should be accessible, such that these productions and attractions can be served by stations that are within ¼ of a mile, which is a reasonably short walking distance. The following map shows a collection of stations that satisfy these constraints.

This system for Somerset County has about 450 stations and interchanges, where stations have only one upstream and one downstream entity, and interchanges have up to four incoming and outgoing arcs. These stations serve 91.1% of the 270,999 productions (density circles shown in red), and 96.53% of the 293,782 attractions (density circles shown in yellow).

Somerset County is an interesting test case for the viability of a PRT system, since the stations are densely packed in some areas while sparser in others, as shown in the close-up picture. The varying densities require varied network design strategies, described in the next section. NETWORK DESIGN

In addition to the 90% coverage and the quarter-mile specifications, other goals were considered during the creation of the PRT network:

(1) Keep down costs. Since a single station may cost around $2 million dollars, plus $5 million/mile of guideway costs, the design tries to use as few stations as possible to meet the 90% coverage and quarter-mile specifications. Guideways also should not be built too excessively. (2) Keep down travel times. This goal can often be at odds with the cost- minimizing goals. Building many stations with many miles of guideway should, in theory, help to minimize travel times, since there would be many more and better options for getting from point A to point B. Another less costly way to realize this goal is through intelligent design strategies. The following subsections highlight two such strategies: one for sparser areas like some of the farming regions, and one for denser areas like the eastern portion of Franklin Township. (3) Make round-trips easy. A traveler usually returns to his or her starting point after visiting one or more attractions. Therefore, for every path from one point to another on the PRT network, there should be a relatively easy way for that person to make the return trip. It would not make much sense for the traveler to always have to call a cab for a ride home after going to work by PRT. One solution is to make the network paths undirected. This would essentially require double the stations and guideways, though. A superior alternative is to use techniques like circular routes.

Sparser Areas: Connected Circles In the sparsely populated northwestern portion of the county, there are good examples of circular routes that allow for easy round-trips with minimal numbers of stations and guideways. These circular routes are connected by interchanges, typically with two incoming and two outgoing arcs, so that you can jump from circular route a to circular route b and go back onto route a quickly intuitively. Denser Areas: Parallel Routes In areas with a higher station density, the connected circle strategy would not be feasible because too many interchanges would be required. The stations are crowded enough as it is. A better solution is to construct fairly parallel routes, with adjacent routes typically going in opposite directions. Because these routes are parallel, guideways are used pretty efficiently, and with interchanges that allow you to jump to an adjacent and oppositely directed route, a traveler can get the benefit of easy round trips.

Neighborhoods: EZ-Link A large number of trips tend to be made within a given neighborhood. It is conceivable that a resident would shop at a local grocery store, go to a local movie theater, or attend a local church, since it is convenient and fast. In well-defined neighborhoods, where many attractions and productions are clustered in a defined area, an EZ-Link circular route could provide an efficient way of accessing other portions of the neighborhood. If a resident wished to leave the neighborhood, interchanges along the EZ-Link could still make that trip possible. The following route, which serves the North Plainfield municipality, is neighborhood-friendly because it is circular, making round-trips easy. The entire neighborhood is accessible by this one route.

FINANCES The total cost of the system would then be $5.2 billion, combining the costs of the guideways, stations, and cars. The number of cars were calculated assuming that at the peak travel time, 15% of total trips would need to be accommodated, and that 2.5 passengers could fit in a car on average. Moreover, it is estimated that the car could handle about 6.5 trips per hour. At a 10% amortization, with the trips per year, the county could charge about $2.44 per trip and break even.

FINANCES

Miles Guideway 600 Cost/Mi. 5,000,000 Stations 450 Cost/Station 2,000,000 Cars 13,877 Cost/Car 100,000 Riders/Car 2.5

Productions 304,338 NET WORTH 5,287,703,077 Attractions 297,000 TOTAL 601,338 Amortization 10%

Rides/Hr 6.5 Peak Rider % 0.15 COST/TRIP 2.44

CONCLUSION Different areas of Somerset have different qualities that would make interesting test cases for a PRT system in New Jersey. There are heavy commercial and industrial areas that attract many employees. These employees must be housed, leading to further growth and development of the county. There is also the proximity of New York City, drawing commuters to the county. There is also a substantial amount of undeveloped land or farmland, which requires special techniques due to its sparser productions and attractions.

REFERENCES

Somerset County Publication Office. (2008). An Overview of Somerset County Government Programs & Services. Retrieved Jan. 12 from http://service.govdelivery.com/docs/NJSOMER/NJSOMER_38/ NJSOMER_38_20070521_160000_en.pdf

Superintendent of Schools Office. (2008). Enrollment Report. Retrieved Jan 12 from http://www.co.somerset.nj.us/schools/

U.S. Census Bureau. (2000). 2000 Census. Retrieved Jan. 12 from http://www.epodunk.com/cgi- bin/incomeCommute.php?locIndex=18450