The Woodlands Houston-Galveston Area Council Township Transit Plan APPENDIX Final Our ref: 22611101 March 2015 Client ref: #TDOT.14.0320-01 The Woodlands Township Transit Plan | Final A Appendix A: Summary of Questionnaire #1 March 2015 Winter/Spring ’14 Online Questionnaire Summary Memo Wednesday, May 28, 2014 – Final Overview Questionnaire Duration and Participation 29 day poll duration (Sunday 2/2/14 – Monday 3/3/14) 926 questionnaires completed at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/choices_transit_survey Majority of respondents were middle-older aged (41 percent 50 to 64 years of age, 38 percent ages 30 to 49). No questionnaire respondents were 18 years of age or younger. 34 percent of all respondents live in or adjacent to The Woodlands, 18 percent work in The Woodlands and live somewhere else and 48 percent live and work in The Woodlands. Most questionnaire respondents reported living in Montgomery County (76 percent) or Harris County (22 percent). The remaining 2 percent of respondents live in Anderson, Brazoria, Fort Bend, Grimes, Galveston, Liberty and Walker counties. 68 percent of respondents work in Montgomery County. 31 percent of respondents reported working in Harris County. The remaining 1 percent of respondents are employed within Brazoria, Fort Bend or Walker County. 61 percent of the respondents live within The Woodlands (zip codes: 77380, 77381, 77382, 77384, 77389, 77375). 84 percent of respondents working in Downtown Houston, the Texas Medical Center, Greenway Plaza or Uptown/Galleria reported that they are not currently using METRO transit services. Arriving in The Woodlands 42 percent of all respondents are interested in Express Bus service originating in Downtown Houston, Texas Medical Center, Greenway Plaza or the Galleria/Uptown with an ultimate destination in Town Center, or at one of the three Woodlands Express Park and Ride lots. For those interested, preferred service options are: 1) Express Bus with 85 seats, a roundtrip fare of $14 and guaranteed seating or 2) all-day Express Bus with roundtrip fare of $14 having 10 minute peak service and 60 minute off-peak. 72 percent of respondents that were not interested in Express Bus services to The Woodlands reported that they are also uninterested in Vanpool services. Travel within The Woodlands Walking and cycling Most respondents (64 percent) do not walk to Town Center or Villages Centers. Less than 1 percent of respondents walk to these destinations daily. Half of all respondents do not cycle for leisure purposes and 72 percent do not cycle to Town Center or Village Centers. 30 percent of respondents travel to Town Center 5-10 times monthly. Travel by car 98 percent of respondents have access to a car and 84 percent of participants’ households have two or more autos. Respondents with access to cars indicated they are very likely to travel to TW Town Center and to destinations within TW by car. Individuals without access to a car are very likely to use bus services from where they live to Town Center. Approximately 60 percent indicated that they would be unlikely to cycle or walk from where they live to Town Center. Travel by Transit Approximately 25 percent of participants would occasionally use bus, bicycle or walking facilities if available. Travel within TW Town Center Travel by trolley 83 percent of respondents do not use TW Town Center trolley. Of those who do use the trolley, popular trolley destinations include TW Mall, Market Street, Waterway Square, HEB, Anadarko, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion and Town Green Park. Individuals not using the trolley cited unfamiliarity with trolley services and inconvenient stops as the top reasons why. Written feedback indicates that others prefer driving to Town Center because parking is available and travel time by car is less than by trolley. Respondents would most like trolley locations at Pinecroft Center I: Target/Academy, Tinseltown Theater, Pinecroft Center II: Best Buy/Ross and Memorial Hermann Hospital. Travel by The Woodlands Express 60 percent of the respondents use or would consider using Park & Ride service to go to Downtown Houston, the Texas Medical Center, Greenway Plaza or the Galleria. The most preferred service options for these individuals are: 1) Express Bus with 85 seats, a roundtrip fare of $14 and guaranteed seating or 2) all-day Express Bus with roundtrip fare of $14 having 10 minute peak service and 60 minute off-peak. 45 percent of all respondents use or would consider using express service to the Texas Medical Center. The preferred service option for the TMC is a peak only Express Bus every 30 minutes and a roundtrip fare of $14 (morning and evening commute). 40 percent of all respondents use or would consider using express service to Greenway Plaza, or Uptown/Galleria. The preferred service option for these destinations is a peak-only Express Bus every 30 minutes and a fare of $14 (morning and evening commute). 24 percent of respondents working in Downtown Houston, the Texas Medical Center, Greenway Plaza or Uptown/Galleria do not use The Woodlands Express service due to cost, unfamiliarity with services or inconvenience of service times or locations. 41 percent of respondents use or would consider using the Woodlands Express to Greenway Plaza or Uptown Galleria. Summary of Written Comments Questionnaire respondents provided a total of 319 written comments. The following is a summary of key themes from this feedback. Several direct quotes that epitomize respondents’ perceptions regarding current conditions and overall desires for transit improvements in The Woodlands are indicated in italics. Future corridor- and area-specific studies recommended Several questionnaire respondents expressed concern regarding the need for additional corridor specific studies. Specific corridors for which future studies would be beneficial for include Rayford Road, Kuykendahl and Gosling. Ideally, there would be an elevated train to/from Houston to Woodlands (replace HOV lanes!). Effective future transit by vehicles, buses, trolleys, bicycles or walking between The Woodlands Township and Springwoods Vlllage - the most needed improvement is extension of Holzwarth northward using existing rights of way to Sawmill and Grogan's Mill Rd. These two communities are synergistic and thus many will live in one community and work, shop, learn, recreate, etc. in the other. Business and personal interests will involve considerable transit back and forth and use of an Interstate Highway main or feeder lanes or less convenient arteries west of I-45 for local transit will ultimately create near gridlock on I-45 and feeder roads, unless considerable changes are made. Use of an Interstate Highway to jump a creek, is not proper. Buying right of way and cost of expanding I-45 to meet this need will cost far more than the proper link. I think a rail line option along the I-45 corridor from the Woodlands to downtown should be explored. The traffic congestion getting to and from The Woodlands, as well as within The Woodlands is very evidently getting worse. Adding new buses or vanpools is a solution that is too little too late as there are already several vanpool services provided by the many companies located in The Woodlands. Also long range bus routes will not help commuting time and are also subject to the traffic patterns. For commuters, a light rail transit or local train service with its own designated right of way would be a better solution. The Woodlands area should also look into developing its internal transit network, building off of the trolley service to encourage walking and timely access of local business services. Improved trolley service Respondents indicated a desire for additional trolley stops in Oak Ridge North. Request for local trolley service in The Woodlands residential areas on Saturday Peak bus/trolley service between major employment venues in The Woodlands and the surrounding cities of Oak Ridge North/Shenandoah/Imperial Oaks should be considered to alleviate auto traffic coming from/through those areas to The Woodlands. Bus and Park and Ride services Specific recommendations for bus improvements included: the creation of a local bus service connecting the back of The Woodlands to the Town Center/MH Medical/St Luke's/Lone Star area; additional busses at Sterling Ridge between (both in the morning and later in the evening) and an express bus route to the Texas Medical Center that reaches the Women's Hospital of Texas on Fannin and Greenbriar. Additional recommendations received by respondents are below. Several questionnaire respondents indicated concerns about the rising price of The Woodlands Express recent fare within The Woodlands. The following quotes are illustrative of existing conditions remarks expressed by respondents. Later evening service (i.e. leaving downtown between 7:00- 9:00pm) . I would like to see additional buses at Sterling Ridge. Also suggest 40-50% of the schedule be reduced on Fridays and holidays to save operating costs. I use the Woodlands Express service 99% of the time to travel to work. Have used the service since 2005 daily. The First Class Bus company has greatly improved the service. PLEASE continue to support this commuting option. I live close to the park and ride in the back of Woodlands Parkway but cannot use it because morning times are too early. I would benefit from expanded hours in the morning up to 8 am. This area near 2978 is expanding rapidly and full service such as what you offer at the Research Forest location would greatly increase ridership. It would be great if there were park 'n ride south of the George Mitchell Preserve (in or near Creekside Village). Please keep the park and rides plus the buses. Sure would be nice to have a late night option for coming home from downtown (7:00 to 9:00 pm). It would be convenient and very helpful to develop a real time app to know when the next bus is expected during evening commuting hours.