SARASOTA COUNTY AREA TRANSIT Comprehensive Operations Analysis Draft Report Prepared as part of: Sarasota Transportation Enhancement Plan Prepared by: July 1999 The Venice Foundation 601 Tamiami Trail South, Suite B Venice, Florida 34285 (941) 486-4600 Sarasota County Area Transit (SCAT) 5303 Pinkney Avenue Sarasota, Florida 34233 (941) 316-1007 Sarasota-Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) 7632 301 Boulevard Sarasota, Florida 34243 (941) 359-5772 Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) University of South Florida College of Engineering 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, CUT 100 Tampa, Florida 33620-5375 (813) 974-3120 SCAT COMPREHENSIVE OPERATIONS ANALYSIS TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE SECTION I 1 INTRODUCTION 1 THE PURPOSE FOR A SERVICE PLANNING PROCESS 2 SERVICE DESIGN STRATEGY 3 THE RECOMMENDED SYSTEM NETWORK – A “VALUE-ADDED” APPROACH 4 PERFORMANCE STANDARDS AND MONITORING 5 SECTION II 8 HISTORY OF SCAT’S FIXED ROUTE SERVICE 8 DESCRIPTION OF SCAT FIXED ROUTE SERVICES 9 SECTION III 12 INTRODUCTION 12 ROUTE 1-FRUITVILLE ROAD 13 ROUTE 2-ART SCHOOL 16 ROUTE 3-PINECRAFT 18 ROUTE 4-LIDO 20 ROUTE 5-OSPREY/SWIFT 22 ROUTE 6-BENEVA 25 ROUTE 7-NEWTOWN/NE PLAZA 27 ROUTE 8-NEWTOWN/301 29 ROUTE 9-NORTH PORT 32 ROUTE 11-SIESTA KEY 34 ROUTE 12-NORTH LOCKWOOD 37 ROUTE 13-VENICE 39 ROUTE 14-BEE RIDGE 41 ROUTE 15-AIRPORT/CATTLEMEN 43 ROUTE 17-TRAIL 49 ROUTE 18-LONGBOAT 52 SARASOTA TROLLEY 54 PROPOSED SERVICE (NEW ROUTES/SERVICE ENHANCEMENTS) 56 DRAFT C.O.A. i SCAT COMPREHENSIVE OPERATIONS ANALYSIS TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) APPENDIX PAGE A SCAT FY 1997-98 QUARTERLY SUMMARY A-1 B SCAT OPERATOR SURVEY ANALYSIS B-1 C WEEKDAY RIDECHECK DATA C-1 D TRANSFER MATRIX D-1 E ON-TIME PERFORMANCE DATA E-1 LIST OF FIGURES Figure II-1 SCAT FIXED ROUTES 11 Figure III-1 PROPOSED SCAT FIXED ROUTES 58 Figure III-2 PROPOSED RT 10–PROCTOR RD./CLARK RD./S. MCINTOSH RD. 59 Figure III-3 PROPOSED ROUTE 20-NORTHWEST VENICE/LAUREL 60 Figure III-4 PROPOSED EVENING SERVICE 61 LIST OF TABLES Table II-1 DESCRIPTION OF CURRENT FIXED ROUTES 10 Table III-1 FY 2000 SERVICE RECOMMENDATIONS SUMMARY OF DESCRIPTIONS 62 Table III-2 FY 2000 SERVICE RECOMMENDATIONS COST SUMMARY 63 DRAFT C.O.A. ii SCAT COMPREHENSIVE OPERATIONS ANALYSIS SECTION I INTRODUCTION Providing transit service to a large, geographically dispersed, and demographically diverse community such as Sarasota County is a difficult prospect. In particular, the street network and barrier island bridges present serious challenges to traffic as well as bus circulation. Regional traffic congestion slows travel times for all modes of transportation utilizing the road network. Tourists and recreational travelers contribute significantly to a lack of reliability in both auto and bus travel times, particularly during peak travel periods and throughout the winter months. In addition, economic and other demographic characteristics promote a high degree of travel between communities for home to work and work to home trips. In 1998, Sarasota County Area Transit (SCAT) requested assistance from the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) to review SCAT’s operations in order to identify how the transit system could improve ridership. In the transit industry, such a review is called a Comprehensive Operations Analysis (COA). The purpose of a COA is to provide an independent analysis that includes recommendations concerning service modifications/expansions. The analysis covers those aspects of service that generally are not visible to the riding public, such as master route schedules, operator work assignments, on-time performance, route productivity in terms of ridership and revenue, and network-level routing and route segmentation. Prior to conducting the COA, and as part of the Sarasota Transportation Enhancement Plan (STEP) process, CUTR met with SCAT staff, the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), the Citizen Advisory Board (CAB), and County Commissioners. CUTR also conducted a survey of SCAT bus operators. These activities were designed to familiarize CUTR with SCAT’s overall operations to form the foundation for subsequent tasks. A majority of the concerns expressed by each of the groups were addressed in this report. CUTR performed a “ridecheck” of all routes and all corresponding trips in the system. A ridecheck consists of placing an individual on board each vehicle to count passenger boardings and deboardings for each bus stop of a route, as well as collect other operational data. Analyses of existing conditions of SCAT’s fixed route services identified three primary service deficiencies that are impacting operational performance and growth opportunities. These deficiencies include: · Circuitous routing that inhibits direct passenger travel, · Low service frequency, and · Poor on-time performance. DRAFT C.O.A. 1 SCAT COMPREHENSIVE OPERATIONS ANALYSIS As a result, CUTR is recommending service modifications at the route level for many routes in SCAT’s system. The scope of recommendations includes route geographic coverage, service hours (span of service), revenue hours, route frequencies, new routes, transfers and overall system connectivity. Recommendations are not constrained by existing financial resources in order to give SCAT management a comprehensive service plan to be implemented with new revenues if they become available. THE PURPOSE FOR A SERVICE PLANNING PROCESS The overriding goal of the SCAT transit system is to serve the greatest number of existing and potential transit customers within the resources available. This can be achieved by designing a system that is reliable, user-friendly, and best suited to travel patterns in Sarasota County, thereby increasing the value of the transit resources already devoted to the public. The service planning function is one critical component in SCAT’s ability to achieve its primary goal. In general, the objective of any service planning function in a transit agency is to: Provide for a continuous process by which service modifications can be made to the transit system on an ongoing basis to accommodate changing conditions relative to the provision of service. Changing conditions addressed in the service planning process may include (but are not limited to) frequency improvements resulting from bus overloads, running time modifications as a result of changing traffic conditions, reduced or enhanced funding, public requests for service, new transit-oriented development, and road construction. SCAT’s ongoing service planning process includes service modifications each time bus operators bid on work assignments. Service modifications only occur when there are changing conditions such as a recent increase in funding to expand frequency on certain system routes. Proposed service changes were gathered from staff and bus operators to be included as part of this COA. This COA is a major step in influencing the service planning process at SCAT for the next few years. The activities occurring in this COA are normally conducted on a smaller scale over time. When a comprehensive study is conducted, it then establishes a process by which the transit system can implement changes and evaluate the success and performance of those changes over time. Service design considerations for CUTR’s analysis and ultimate recommendations, resulting from data gathering and local interviews, include: · Improve on-time performance and system reliability. · Make the service more frequent and direct. DRAFT C.O.A. 2 SCAT COMPREHENSIVE OPERATIONS ANALYSIS · Make the system more user friendly · Improve connections between routes. This report will create an opportunity for all parties mentioned above to work together to contribute to improved system performance. Although this report is designed to provide an objective foundation on which to make structural changes in service provision, it will also be a fluid process that will help SCAT implement improvements in accordance with other local conditions. SERVICE DESIGN STRATEGY Transit service design is always a delicate balance of three essential components: · Productivity - generating the largest number of passenger trips. · Coverage - serving appropriate geographic areas of the community. · Public Support - being responsive to customers and the community in meeting mobility needs. In order to manage the delicate balances and achieve the objectives presented in the section above, CUTR has devised strategies in service design to maximize SCAT’s performance, as indicated below. · Improve on-time performance and system reliability. · Running time adjustments by time of day and season of the year · Training/re-training bus operator on effective schedule adherence · Reduce layover (non-productive) time at end of lines to conform as much as practicable to industry standards · Make the system more frequent and direct. · Eliminate unproductive route deviations · Increase number of buses serving routes · Reduce overall running time · Reduce overall passenger travel time DRAFT C.O.A. 3 SCAT COMPREHENSIVE OPERATIONS ANALYSIS · Make the system more user friendly. · Improve system map and public schedules · Increase number of shelters throughout system · Install new fare boxes to accommodate prepaid fare instruments · Improve connections between routes. · Strengthen existing and create new timed-transfers THE RECOMMENDED SYSTEM NETWORK – A “VALUE-ADDED” APPROACH A “value-added” approach is a concept wherein the value of a product or service is increased without substantially increasing the cost of that product or service. Improving the farebox to accommodate