BaltimoreLink Implementation February 2018 Status Report Report to the Maryland State Legislature Joint Chairmen’s Report J00H01 BaltimoreLink Performance Report to the Maryland State Legislature Executive Summary BaltimoreLink, implemented on June 18, 2017, is the complete overhaul and rebranding of the core transit system operating within Baltimore City and the greater Baltimore region. The purpose of this document is to provide the Maryland State Legislature with a summary of BaltimoreLink performance in its first full six months of operation (July 2017 to December 2017) based on three key metrics: Ridership, On-Time Performance, and Customer Satisfaction. An analysis of safety has also been provided. The analysis begins with July 2017 when a full month of data was available. The performance analysis consists of an evaluation of performance at an MDOT MTA system-wide level as well as an evaluation of performance at the route and route category level (CityLink, LocalLink, Express BusLink). Further, the system- wide analysis also includes a comparison to data for the same six-month evaluation period in 2016. Executive Summary ES-1 BaltimoreLink Performance Report to the Maryland State Legislature Ridership Ridership Performance Snapshot Average Daily Ridership by Month: 2016 vs. 2017 Average Daily Ridership – 2016 vs. 2017 Monthly ridership declines in 2017 compared to 2016 reflect the overall declines in ridership during the 6-month evaluation period. However, there is a growing convergence in monthly ridership between 2016 and 2017 in the Weekday, Saturday, and Sunday ridership declined in 2017 when compared to 2016 later months of the year, especially for weekend ridership. for the six months evaluated. The weekday ridership decline between 2016 and 2017 was approximately 10%, the Saturday ridership decline was approximately 9%, and Average Daily Weekday Ridership by Month Average Daily Weekend Ridership by Month the Sunday ridership decline was approximately 5%. Consistent with other system - July Through December - 2016 vs. 2017 - July Through December - 2016 vs. 2017 redesigns throughout the country, declines were expected due to the transition to erae ail eeka ieri erae ail eeken ieri the new system, but also reflect national trends such as less expensive gas and the l ro ecemer l ro ecemer greater use of car-share services. Ridership is down 5% nationally during the same 260,000 250,000 252,657 time period analyzed in this report. Similar systems throughout the country have 238,439 240,000 250,000 233,910 231,906 241,282 also seen declines in ridership including Washington, D.C. (-9%), Cleveland (-11%), 230,000 240,000 Philadelphia (-12%), and Miami (-13%). Out of the top 20 bus systems in the country, 219,690 228,891 228,743 220,000 230,000 226,106 225,322 211,923 210,976 210,370 222,547 206,879 19 out of 20 experienced ridership declines. 220,983 210,000 204,985 220,000 Ridership 215,406 Ridership 200,000 Average Daily Ridership – July Through December: Comparison of 2016 to 2017 191,307 210,000 187,095 203,343 190,000 196,759 178,755 200,000 194,114 180,000 erae ail ieri 190,000 170,000 L AUG S OCT NOV DEC L AUG S OCT NOV DEC ont of l ro ecemer 2016 2017 2016 2017 Automatic Onboard Source: MDOT MTA Counting System Passenger Automatic Onboard Source: MDOT MTA Counting System Passenger The forecasted December 2017 average weekday ridership contained in the January 24, 2018 “Overview and Status Update” presented to the Legislature by MDOT MTA Administrator Kevin Quinn is higher than the actual presented above. Forecasted data was utilized in the presentation because actual data was not yet available as the 250,000 232,776 presentation was being developed. The forecasted number used in the presentation was based on detailed analysis of ridership numbers on individual routes as well as overall ridership trends from previous months. 209,916 200,000 Other Ridership Findings 150,000 134,411 122,321 CityLink – Daily Average Ridership by Route LocalLink – Daily Average Ridership by Route Ridership 100,000 CityLink routes were designed to be the backbone of LocalLink routes provide service to a wide range of 84,372 79,936 the BaltimoreLink system, with high service frequencies different transit markets and the service design of throughout the day, extensive hours of service, and LocalLink routes reflect the markets they serve. A key 50,000 direct routing that connects major activity centers trend identified in the LocalLink ridership analysis was throughout the Baltimore region. Average daily that the highest ridership LocalLink routes (LocalLink 0 weekday CityLink ridership ranges from 6,100 to routes 22 (8,300 riders), 80 (7,500 riders), and 54 Weeday Saturday Sunday 11,600. The highest ridership CityLink routes include the (7,200 riders)) actually have average daily ridership 2016 2017 CityLink Red (11,600 riders), running between Towson that is comparable to, or exceeds, ridership on many and downtown Baltimore, the CityLink Gold (9,600 CityLink routes, highlighting their importance within Source: MDOT MTA Onboard Automatic Passenger Counting System riders), which runs between Walbrook Junction and the BaltimoreLink system. Other LocalLink routes have Canton via North Avenue and Wolfe and Washington ridership under 1,000 riders per day, highlighting the Streets, and the CityLink Orange (9,500 riders), which wide differences between individual LocalLink routes. runs between downtown Baltimore and Essex via Eastern Avenue. ES-2 Executive Summary BaltimoreLink Performance Report to the Maryland State Legislature On-Time Performance On-Time Performance Snapshot CityLink Service Reliability CityLink Headway Reliability Average System-Wide On-Time Performance – Six-Month Evaluation Period High frequency CityLink routes are scheduled differently than LocalLink and Express BusLink – Percent of Trips Arriving at Scheduled Intervals Between Buses On-time performance in 2017 exceeds on-time performance in 2016, for the six routes. CityLink reliability performance monitoring is month evaluation period, showing the benefits of multiple elements of the overall itLink ote eaa eliailit focused on how well the scheduled intervals between BaltimoreLink redesign. Redesign elements helping the improvement in on-time l tro ecemer CityLink buses are maintained. The data shows that performance include more proactive service management, changes to route the average number of CityLink trips arriving at the structures to improve reliability, implementation of dedicated transit lanes, and 90% scheduled interval over the evaluation period is 76%. implementation of transit signal priority. On-time performance improved 7 percentage 85% points when comparing the 2016 and 2017 evaluation periods. 80% System-wide Bus On-Time Performance Comparison - July through December: 2016 vs. 2017 75% 70% temie nime omarion l tro 65% ecemer PreBaltimore Link to l tro 60% ecemer BaltimoreLink Wed 9/6/17 Tues 1/9/18 hurs 2/1/18Wed 2/7/18 Wed 8/16/17Tues 8/22/17Mon 8/28/17hurs 9/14/17hurs 9/21/17Tues 9/26/17Mon 10/2/17 Mon 11/6/17 Wed 12/6/17 hurs 1/18/18Wed 1/24/18 hurs 10/12/17Wed 10/18/17Tues 10/24/17Mon 10/30/17hurs 11/16/17Tues 11/21/17Wed 11/29/17Tues 12/12/17Mon 12/18/17 80% Wee ndingWee nding 7/2/17 7/9/17 Wee nding 7/16/17 Perentage o rips rriing at Sheduled eaday 70% 66.4% Trend 59.5% 60% Source: Field Data Collection 50% 40% Other On-Time Performance Findings 30% Perent n ie Perent 22.1% % % 20.7 On-Time Performance On LocalLink Routes Changes in On-Time Performance Due to Route 20% 18.4 12.9% On time performance on LocalLink routes ranges Restructurings and Capital Improvements Such as 10% from a low of approximately 40% to a high of Dedicated Transit Lanes 0% approximately 75%. The average across all LocalLink Comparison of the on-time performance of pre- 2016 2017 routes in 2017 was 66%. This compares to an average BaltimoreLink routes to new redesigned BaltimoreLink arly nie Late on-time performance on local routes in the same routes shows an improvement in on-time performance months of 2016 of 60%, an improvement on LocalLink due to route restructuring, capital improvements, routes of 6 percentage points. and reducing the number of bus stops on a route. Source: MDOT MTA Onboard Automatic Passenger Counting System Redesign examples include splitting long routes, restructuring routes serving large regional job centers, and providing dedicated transit lanes and transit System-wide on-time performance improved by signal priority approximately 7 percentage points in the first six months of BaltimoreLink operations compared to the same six months in 2016. Executive Summary ES-3 BaltimoreLink Performance Report to the Maryland State Legislature Customer Satisfaction Customer Satisfaction Snapshot Other Customer Satisfaction Findings Total Bus-Related Complaints - 2016 vs. 2017 Late, Early, No-Show Complaint Evaluation 2016 to 2017 Comparison - Complaints Related to Early and Late Bus Arrivals and Bus No-Shows 2017 passenger complaints covering all bus-related complaint types declined over Complaints related to early buses, late buses, and no-shows over the six month evaluation period the first six months of BaltimoreLink operations and also fell below 2016 in four of the eratinelate omlaint six months evaluated. 2017 total bus-related complaints fell 49% between a high were lower in 2017 than in 2016 in each complaint l ro ecemer in September to the low in December. This trend shows the BaltimoreLink redesign category. Complaints related