Existing Public Transit Systems
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# 94309 v2 210-1016 AB/SD/sd/mlh 2/17/09 Preliminary Draft SEWRPC Community Assistance Planning Report No. 281 KENOSHA COUNTY TRANSIT DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2010-2014 Chapter II EXISTING PUBLIC TRANSIT SYSTEMS INTRODUCTION This chapter describes in detail the characteristics of both the City of Kenosha-operated Kenosha Area Transit and the County-operated Western Kenosha County Transit. Both systems’ service operations, equipment and facilities, ridership, and costs are presented. A summary of the other major public transit service providers in the County follows, including local and intercity bus service, rail passenger service, taxicab service, and human services transportation providers for elderly and disabled persons. THE KENOSHA AREA TRANSIT SYSTEM Urban public transit service has been available in the City of Kenosha since 1903, when streetcar operations began. Public transit service in the Kenosha area was provided exclusively by streetcars until 1932, when that service was replaced by a system of electric trolley bus—or “trackless trolley”—routes. The trolleybus system was converted to motor bus operation after World War II. Continuous declines in ridership and profits during the postwar period resulted in a series of private ownerships until February 1971, when, because of extreme financial difficulties, the last private operator ceased local bus operations. In September 1971, after almost eight months without local transit service, the City of Kenosha acquired the transit system, which it had subsidized for the previous two years, and began public operation of the Kenosha transit system. Administrative Structure The City of Kenosha owns Kenosha Area Transit and operates it using public employees under the direct supervision of the City of Kenosha Department of Transportation. The policy-making body of the transit system is the Kenosha Transit Commission, consisting of seven members appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Common Council. The powers of the Transit Commission are substantial, including essentially all the powers necessary to acquire, operate, and manage the transit system. The Kenosha Common Council has the ultimate responsibility for review and approval of certain important matters, including the annual budget for the public transit program. Fixed-Route Bus Service Kenosha Area Transit provides fixed-route bus service using a system of regular bus routes, shown on Map 2-1. The current operating characteristics, service levels, and fares for the system are summarized below. Regular Routes Kenosha Area Transit operates ten regular bus routes. Seven of these routes are downtown-oriented and either start from, or pass through, the Downtown Transit Center, located along 54th Street between 6th and 8th Avenues on the north side of the Kenosha Central Business District (CBD). All seven of these downtown-oriented routes have small segments that pass through portions of the Town of Somers and/or the Village of Pleasant Prairie. Three of the regular bus routes are not downtown-oriented and start at Southport Plaza at Green Bay Road and 75th Street, which is also a transfer point for several of the downtown-oriented routes. The three routes serve development west of Green Bay Road (STH 31) in the Town of Bristol, the Town of Somers, and/or the Village of Pleasant Prairie, in addition to the western portion of the City of Kenosha. All the principal routes – Route Nos. 1 through 6 and 30 -- serve a common transfer point at the Downtown Transit Center. The schedules of Route Nos. 1 through 6 are designed so that all routes meet at the Downtown Transit Center every half hour during weekday peak periods and every hour at all other times, according to their headways. This cycle, or “pulse,” scheduling allows passengers the opportunity to transfer conveniently between bus routes and complete a trip with a minimum of delay. Route No. 30 also serves the Downtown Transit Center and meets the other routes of the system, but because it is operated with a lower service frequency than Route Nos. 1 through 6, it meets these routes less often. Peak-Hour Tripper Routes The peak-hour tripper routes are designed to accommodate the movement of junior and senior high school students and alleviate overcrowding on the regular bus routes. During the 2008-2009 school year, the transit system operated 24 tripper routes between 6:30 and 8:15 a.m. and 27 tripper routes between 2:30 and 4:30 p.m. on schooldays. Because the routes are designed to provide direct service between the homes and schools of students, the routes, for the most part, are operated independently of the regular routes and most do not serve the downtown transfer point. 2 SD/rm Doc # 123838 02/18/09 Map 2-1 FIXED-ROUTE TRANSIT SERVICE PROVIDED BY KENOSHA AREA TRANSIT: 2009 ! SEE INSET ! ROUTE NO. 1 ROUTE NO. 6 STREETCAR (SEE INSET) ROUTE NO. 2 ROUTE NO. 30 DOWNTOWN TRANSIT CENTER (SEE INSET) ROUTE NO. 3 ROUTE NO. 31 ! NORTH AND SOUTH TRANSFER POINTS METRA COMMUTER RAIL STATION ROUTE NO. 4 ROUTE NO. 35 GRAPHIC SCALE 0 .5 1 MIL E ROUTE NO. 5 ROUTE NO. 36 ONE QUARTER-MILE WALK ACCESS AREA 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 FEET 2a Source: City of Kenosha Department of Transportation and SEWRPC. ³ 0 0.5 1 2 Miles AAB/SD/rlm 2/18/09 Doc#118870 Inset for Map 2-1 50TH ST. PL. 51ST. 51ST. PL. 52ND ST. DOWNTOWN SHER TRANSIT a T. CENTER . 53RD S IDAN 2N 54TH ST RR. 3 D R 4TH A D 5T V ST. 6TH E. H H 54T A 7 VE TH ST. ST. 55TH 8 T H ST. 56TH AVE. ST. AVE. AVE. 57TH . PACIFIC ST A V E AV . 58TH . AV E E . V E A . ST. H T 6 59TH AVE. R 4TH D 59TH . LAKE PL. 60TH ST. ST. MICHIGAN AVE. AVE. AVE. ST. 61ST ST. 61ST AVE. 9TH AVE. 10TH 11TH AVE. 62ND ST. 13TH 3RD 5TH UNION 12TH ROUTE NO. 1 ROUTE NO. 30 STREETCAR ROUTE NO. 2 ROUTE NO. 31 (SEE LARGE MAP) DOWNTOWN TRANSIT CENTER ROUTE NO. 3 ROUTE NO. 35 (SEE LARGE MAP) ! NORTH AND SOUTH TRANSFER POINTS (SEE LARGE MAP) ROUTE NO. 4 ROUTE NO. 36 (SEE LARGE MAP) METRA COMMUTER RAIL STATION ROUTE NO. 5 ONE QUARTER-MILE WALK ACCESS AREA ROUTE NO. 6 GRAPHIC SCALE 0 500 1000 FEET aALL ROUTES TRAVEL THROUGH THE DOWNTOWN TRANSIT CENTER WITH THE EXCEPTION OF ROUTES 31, 35, AND 36. Source: City of Kenosha Department of Transportation and SEWRPC. 2b Service Levels The current operating characteristics and service levels for the regular routes of the transit system are presented in Table 2-1. Local bus service over Route Nos. 1 through 31 is provided six days a week, excluding Sundays and holidays. Operating headways for Route Nos. 1 through 6 are 30 minutes during weekday peak periods and 60 minutes during weekday off-peak periods and all day Saturdays. Route No. 30 operates between the common transfer point and Southport Plaza with operating headways of 80 minutes all day, while Route No. 31 shuttles from Southport Plaza to the Factory Outlet Center with operating headways of 40 minutes during weekday peak periods and 80 minutes at all other times. Route No. 35 is limited to four trips during weekday peak periods, and Route No. 36 to five trips during weekday peak periods. Fares As shown in Table 2-2, the current cash fares charged for fixed-route bus service are $1.25 per trip for adults 18 through 64 years of age, $0.70 per trip for students ages five through 17, and $0.60 per trip for elderly persons 65 and older and disabled individuals ages five and over. Children under five ride free if accompanied by an adult. The Kenosha Unified School District subsidizes the fares of a limited number of students residing two or more miles from the school they are entitled to attend. They are provided with bus passes which allow them to use the transit system on regular school days at no direct cost to them. Passengers may also purchase a monthly pass, good for unlimited riding during all hours of system operation during the month, and a special Saturday “Super Transfer,” good for unlimited riding on Saturdays. Free one-hour transfers are issued upon request at the time the fare is paid and may be used to transfer to any route, including the route from which the transfer was issued. The historic transit fares for Kenosha Area Transit since it began public operation in 1971 are shown in Figure 2-1 in both actual dollars and constant 1971 dollars. After being reduced in September 1971 to promote transit ridership, passenger fares remained stable through January 1979, but have been increased several times since then in response to increasing costs of operation and declining Federal operating subsidies. The City increased fares for the first time in 12 years in January 2009, when the price of an adult cash fare went from $1.00 to $1.25 per trip; the elderly and disabled cash fare went from $0.50 to $0.60; and the student cash fare went from $0.60 to $0.70. Even with this series of past fare increases, the current adult cash fare in constant dollars is about the same as the fare of $0.25 per trip in effect when the City began public operation of the system in 1971. Kenosha Streetcar Since 2000, Kenosha Area Transit has operated a 1.7-mile streetcar loop in downtown Kenosha (see Map 2-1 inset). The streetcar leaves the downtown Transit Center every 15 minutes and serves the Metra commuter rail station, the HarborPark residential development, the Kenosha Public Museum, and other downtown locations.