BUS RAPID BUS BERGEN TRANSIT COUNTY STUDY RAPID www.bergenbrt.com | [email protected] BERGEN TRANSIT COUNTY FACT SHEET STUDY November 2013 What is Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)? Bergen BRT: Planning a Better Way to Travel in Bergen County BRT is a new and innovative approach to bus If you live or work in Bergen County, you know it’s getting harder to get around within the county. The Population has grown. service: a transportation system that combines the Roads are more crowded. Commuting patterns have changed, too: close to 60% of our residents now work within the county. speed and efficiency of trains, the flexibility of buses It’s no longer enough for transit services to move people in and out of New York City, and we can no longer keep widening and features and technologies to make the rider’s our roads. We need more efficient, reliable, flexible, and attractive service within Bergen County to create the economic experience faster, friendlier, and more comfortable. development we want. Currently, the average commute time to work for Bergen County residents is nearly 20% higher than the national average.1 Quicker, better travel solutions are BRT high-tech vehicles travel faster, cleaner and more needed. But building new highways (or even lanes) in a efficiently than regular buses. They typically run on region this crowded is rarely practical. We need to get existing roads and highways and sometimes have more out of the infrastructure already in place. their own right-of-way. With their own stations, stops, exclusive lanes and advanced technology, BRT systems Improving public transportation is a great way to achieve bypass congestion, collect fares more efficiently and better travel in Bergen County. When more people take provide real-time travel information to riders. transit, travel is easier and quicker for everyone including How Is Bergen County BRT Different the car and truck drivers who do not use it. With less BRT is succeeding all over the country — including from Regular Bus Service? congestion, communities become more livable as well. New Jersey/New York region. It often works best in areas with a mix of urban and suburban areas, where Each BRT system is unique, but here are Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) can be a big part of the solution plenty of people already use public transit. In other some of the features we expect Bergen to the roadway congestion of Bergen County. Bergen words, places like Bergen County. County BRT might include: county and NJ TRANSIT are planning to bring BRT to Bergen County, through the Bergen County Bus Rapid • More frequent direct service to Transit (BRT) Implementation Study. Where Travelers Are Going major destinations within the County Get Involved including easy connections to New We carefully reviewed where travelers are We encourage your involvement. More than that: York as well as destinations elsewhere A Careful Plan: What It Takes going within the county; when and why they travel; the intensity of travel volumes and the to create the best possible plan, we need it. in New Jersey, such as Newark or to Make BRT Work existing structure of our transportation system, Secaucus including: This study is the result of a partnership between the To learn more about this project, please visit • Limited stops to reduce travel times for Bergen County Department of Planning and Economic • Transportation Nodes: Transportation our website at . www.bergenbrt.com passengers Development and NJ TRANSIT. We are advancing a facilities and transfer centers such as great deal of previous work, and developing a practical Hackensack Bus Terminal and Park-Ride At the project site, you can get more detailed • Exclusive bus lanes, queue jumps at strategic plan for implementing BRT. locations background information on BRT and the intersections, traffic signal priority and work already done. You can also tell us what other proven ways to keep buses on time The study is answering questions such as: How long are • Activity Centers: Current and anticipated routes and destinations you would like us to locations of frequent travel or • Rider-friendly fare payment technology, most trips? How do car and bus travel times compare on consider, make specific comments about the existing routes? What is the best place to show that BRT commutation; including three especially including ways to pay before boarding intense clusters of travel generators: the plan, and discover opportunities to speak with can be succesful here? Above all, how can we best serve and reduce waiting times at stations Paramus area, the Hackensack-Teterboro the Study Team members in person. We look the needs of commuters and resident travelers? area and the Lyndhurst-Carlstadt area forward to hearing from you. • Advanced buses that may be easier to get on and off, have more customer With help from stakeholders throughout Bergen County, • Movement Corridors: Transportation system amenities and use cleaner fuels a comprehensive list of potential options and routes has segments that are essential pathways been developed. We reviewed our current public and for our existing and future transportation • Enhanced, more customer-friendly bus private transit networks. We then performed an extensive network; for example, Garden State stations, with safe and comfortable demand analysis to identify the trips and routes likely to Parkway; Routes 3, 4, 17, 46, 120, passenger shelters and bus serve the most people and be most financially viable. and 208; and Paramus Road stations 1 Based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the mean travel time to work for Bergen County residents is 30.1 minutes; the national average is 25.4 minutes. 4 1 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! New York ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! BRT Route Options ! ! ! ! ! ! Montvale ! ! ! ! Montvale ! ! ! ! ! ! ! The Short List: Preliminary Routes Within Bergen County & Beyond ! Station ! ! ! ! ! BRT Route Options Upper Saddle River ! ! ! ! ! Montvale Northvale ! ! ! ! ! Based on all of the analysis, the study team has defined a short list of potential BRT routes that seem most Ramsey/ Park & Ride River Vale Rockleigh ! Mahwah Old Tappan ! ! Route 17 ! ! ! promising, these routes serve trips within Bergen County and beyond. Park Ridge 2«¬02 Station ! t ! S ! n ! i ! a ! Ramsey E M ¤£ Norwood 9W ! ! ! ! Woodcliff Lake ! This “short list” of potential routes is not final. With public input and additional analysis, the team expects to refine ! ! ! ! ! Tri-Borough ! it. Working with the public and other stakeholders, we may eliminate some routes, change them, or defer them ! Corporate Saddle River Harrington Park ! ! ! ! ¨¦§ ! 287 BERGEN as lower priority. We may also design “hybrid” routes that combine more than one of the options listed below. And Campus ! Hillsdale Allendale «¬ ! ! ! 17 ! Alpine we might make changes to reflect new information: for example, about capacity constraints! of the Port Authority COUNTY Closter ! ! ! ! ! Bus Terminal; opportunities to bring more BRT buses into Secaucus Junction; or ! progress towards opening the ! ! Westwood ! ! ! American Dream complex in the Meadowlands. ! ! ! ! Waldwick ! ! Demarest ! ! ! Ho-Ho-Kus Washington Emerson ! ! ! Haworth ! ! Route C1: Paramus- Hackensack-Rutherford-Secaucus Route C6: Woodcliff! Lake-Montvale-Park Ridge-Paramus- ! ! ! Junction Rutherford-NYC C6 ! ! ! ! Cresskill ! Oakland d Ave ! woo Lin ! Midland Park ! ! Activity Centers Served: Bergen Community College (Paramus); Activity Centers Served:! Tice’s Corner; Montvale corporate Dumont ! Ridgewood Valley Oradell ! ! 2«¬08 Wyckoff ! ! ! Garden State Plaza; New Bridge Landing Station (Pascack campuses; Montvale Park-Ride; Park Ridge corporate campuses; ! Hospital ! Franklin Lakes Paramus ! P ! a ! Valley Line); Shops at Riverside (Hackensack); Hackensack Bus Woodcliff Lake corporate campuses; Paramus Park Mall; Garden r ! ! Park Mall a ! m Tenafly ! ! u ! Terminal; Courthouse/County Complex; Essex Street Station State Plaza; American! Dream; Meadowlands Sports Complex; s ! ! ! ! ! ! ! R ! ! New Milford ! d ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (Pascack Valley Line); Hackensack University Medical Center; Port Authority Bus Terminal! (NYC) Bergenfield ! ¨¦§ 287 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Bergen CC Englewood ! ! ! Paramus ! ! ! ! ! ! Glen Rock ! ! ! ! ! ! American Dream; Meadowlands Sports Complex; Secaucus Hospital ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! River Edge ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Junction ! Route C7: Paramus-Hackensack-Fort Lee-Weehawken-! ! ! ! ! C3 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Englewood ! ! ! ! New Bridge ! ! ! Edgewater-NYC! C8 ! ! ! ! ! C3 ! ! ! Landing Station ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ¬ ! « Route C2: Paramus-Hackensack-Rutherford-Secaucus-! ! 208 ! ! Englewood Cliffs ! ! d ! ! ! ! ! £ ! ! ¤ ! Activity Centers Served: Garden State Plaza; Hackensack ! ! n ! Fair Lawn ! ! ! 9W ! ! C 5 a ! ! C3 n C C9 ! ! 2 ! ! ! ! C1 r ! e ! ! ! ! ! a ! ! ! Jersey City ! ! G v ! ! e ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! A ! ! ! University Medical Center; Essex Street Station (Pascack Valley D ! ! ! ! ! ! ! d ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! a ! ¬ ! « ! ! ! ! Garden Teaneck ! 4 ! ! ! «¬ o ! 4 r ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Activity Centers Served: Garden State Plaza; New Bridge Landing Line); Courthouse/County! Complex; Hackensack Bus Terminal; ! ! B ! P ! ass ! State a ! ! i ! c ! St ! ! ! C7 R ! ! ! ! C8 Fairleigh ! i ! ! ! ! v Station; (Pascack!