. HE 1 P.b ATA-C0-0&O)ia^1 . / no UU 1- ISC- U M i A- P1 -4b UMTA/TSC Project Evaluation Series department, OF TR A NSPORTA'T’iON I.1MK 1 5 ;932 library Evaluation of Denver RTD Route Restructuring Project Final Report July 1981 Service and Methods Demonstration Program U S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Urban Mass Transportation Administration and Research and Special Programs Administration Transportation Systems Center ^Mrts o> . NOTICE This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The United States Govern- ment assumes no liability for its contents or use thereof NOTICE The United States Government does not endorse pro- ducts or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers' names appear herein solely because they are con- sidered essential to the object of this report. .Kbl T*chnicol Report Decumcntetion Pope 1. Raport No. 2. Government Aecettion No. 3. Recipient's Catalog No. >oT' 'SC- UMTA-CO-06-0010-80-1 PB 82-115338 mttA' 4. Title and Subtitle 5. Report Date July 1981 Evaluation of the Denver RTD Route Restructuring 6. Performing Orgoniiotion Code Project. TSC-DTS-243 6. Performing Orgonizotion Report No. 7 Aut+ior'i) DOT-TS C-UMTA- 81-45 Robert M. Donnelly, and Paul M. Ong 9. Perlerming Organization Nome ond Addrets 10. Workpnit No. (TRAIS) DEPARTME DeLeuw, Gather & Company* COl-06-0010 (UM-027/RO712) TRANSPOR’I P.O. Box 7991 1 ; Cintrjoet or Gront No. 120 Howard Street Dot-1409-15 iviMK 1 5 San Francisco, California 94120 f V. r ype bf Report and Period Covered 12. Sponsoring Agoncy Nomt ond AddrtSf Final Report U.S. Itepartment of Transportation LIBRAF Y Fepruary 1978-June 1979 Urban Mass Transportation Administration 1 400 Seventh Street, S.W. 14. Sponsoring Agency Code Washington, DC 20590 UPM-30 15. Suppl«m«nto^y Notts U.S. Department of Transportation *Under contract to: Research and Special Programs Administration Transportation Systems Center Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142 16 Ab»*roet , In February 1978, the Denver Regional Transit District (RTD) eliminated the 25 -cent off-peak fare and retained a 50 cent peak hour fare for bus boardings during the morning two-hour rush period and evening two-hour rush period. The experiment in innovative transit pricing continued for one year as a Federally-assisted demons trj tion project to determine the effects of free off-peak transit in a major urban an During the demonstration, RTD also undertook a complete transformation of its networK of bus routes and schedules. Following two years of planning, in September 1978, of RTD accomplished the restructuring of its transit services from a network mostly , historic radial routes serving the old central business district to one more closely conformed to a grid system. This report summarizes the evaluation of the route re- structuring project in Denver with respect to the implementation requirements of a major redesign of fixed-route transit services and its effects on: 1) travel behav- ior; 2) bus operations; 3) quality of service; 4) costs and revenues; 5) secondary effects on the . environment ; and 6) public support for transit services and improve- ments. The extensive data collection activities conducted by RTD as part of the demonstration, included transit operatiwis monitoring, surveys of transit users on- board, and follow-up telephone. General population surveys are documented and their results analyzed. Principal findings of the evaluation are reported and their impli- cations for transit operations and service planning are discussed. Both the short- term effects of implementing major changes in existing transit service, as well as the long-term supply and demand characteristic of the grid concept applied to transit operations in Denver are addressed. Evaluation of the off-peak free fare experiment is provided in an earlier report of this project: "Denver Off-Peak Free Fare Public Transit Experiment - Interim Report", May 1979 (PB 298-783, A04) 17. Key Words 18. Distribution Stotomont Bus Transit; Denver, Colorado; Available to through Denver Regional Transit District; the public the National Technical Fares; Route Restructuring; Routes; Information Service, Springfield, Transit Pricing Virginia 22161 19. Soeurity Clossif. (of this report) 20. Security Clossif. (of this pope) 21. No. of Poges 22. Price Unclassified IMclassifled 234 (8-72) Form DOT F 1700.7 Rapreduetion of compUtsd authorised Technical Rapert Dpcumcntotion Pag* 1. Rsport No. 2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient's Catalog No. UMTA-CO-06- 0010-80-1 4. Tills and Subtitle 5. Report Dote Julv 1981 Evaluation of the Denver RTD Route Restructuring 6. Performing Orgonizotien Cedo Proj ect TSC-DTS-243 6. Performing Organization Report No. 7. Author's) Robert M. Donnelly and Paul M. Ong DOT-TSC-UMTA-81-45 9. Performing Organization Nome and Address 10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS) DeLeuw, Gather & Company * U1I-027/R0712 P.O. Box 7991 11. Contract or Grant No. 120 Howard Street DOT-1409-15 San Francisco, CA 94120 13. Type of Report end Period Covered 12. Sponsoring Agency Nome ond Address Final Report U.S. Department of Transportation February 1978 - June 1979 Urban Mass Transportation Administration Office of Transportation Management and Demonstrations 14. Sponsoring Agency Code Washington, DC 20590 UPM-30 15. Sw^lvffiantory Notts *Under contract to; Transportation Systems Center Kendall Square Cambridge, MA 02142 16. Abittocfj^n February 1978, the Denver RTD eliminated the 25 cent off-peak fare and retained a 50 cent peak hour fare for bus boardings during the morning (2 hours) and evening (2 hours) rush hours. The experiment in innovative transit pricing continued for one year as a federally assisted demonstration project to determine the effects of free off-peak transit in a major urban area. During the demonstration RTD also undertook a complete transformation of its network of bus routes and schedules. Following two years of planning, on September 10, 1978 RTD accomplished restructuring its transit services from a network of mostly historic radial routes serving the CBD to one more closely conforming to a grid system. This report summarizes the evaluation of the route restructuring project in Denver with respect to the implementation requirements of a major redesign of fixed- route transit services and its effects on 1) travel behavior 2) bus operations, quality of service, costs and revenues; and 3) secondary effects on the environment and public support for transit services and improvements. The extensive data collection activities conducted by RTD as part of the demonstration, including transit operations monitoring, surveys of transit users on-board and follow-up telephone, and general population surveys are documented and their results analyzed. Principal findings of the evaluation are reported and their implications for transit operations and service planning discussed. Both the short- term effects of implementing major changes in existing transit service, as well as the long term supply and demand characteristic of the grid concept applied to transit operations in Denver are addressed. Evaluation of the off-peak free fare experiment is provided in an earlier report of this project. 17. K«y Words 18. Dlttribwtion Stotomont Route Restructuring, Bus Transit, DOCUMENT IS AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC Evaluation Study, Demonstration THROUGH THE NATIONAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION SERVICE, SPRINGFIELD, Project, Denver RTD VIRGINIA 22161 19. Socurity Clostif. (of this roport) 20. Socwrity Class! f. (of this pogo) 21. No. of Pogos 22. Prieo Unclassified Unclassified 234 Form 1700.7 (8.72) DOT F R*predwetien of cempl*t*d pog* owtborisgd » — ^ .;i ffW >r»v j »• a '(.•• ' •('i?. '«;Vi f ‘. «tlilii«/r » la,. ,:i'^ i i9 . V » Oi^' #?»U- ,1 ij II mtim 3?- ' ' * -~ ' - f'^— -r . -lii i ! v i ii fr‘'i ;tt i :« — ^.'‘ smS. f "’ 0' - ' hVi«ri!i7i | ,,M.~iV. Mwsfcffi | oolffis i. .n. £aiy!i L^ »^ ' :>* ;. ^ • '-^ i „ 7i -"ir T'frf-'* “ifi^^ ; I 1 p^ ''r~iife-^'‘ ^ .iifc. .' ' • "" •- - “* ~ .• ' ' l I V i i»i l II IP w ip^ I. ':3 ^^ff^0y00()QW. _ I -f ^ 'rf^'r 'T- MW' ^^*0^ —. ’ • V *: ./. jLrf- rf* er-' '’^' j-— *»' ^ '* (< J i— MH.^ . ^n;wi.-i i(«i^V.*’it'»^*A«S^ u;mniQiO’/'f/tAliiO ''- •^.k;.-JS-.«,i- . (ilS^rjS !ltiv''*iifl<ii'iifiin3&W 0£'-f{^'<j r‘‘^' ‘sV '. ¥•' Ifc 1 ^441kI V ««' 9<it,[_ irf.J i=?.o OT ,td‘ ^povi^9 nt&av'^4JL,tia&:i^ ^<09x9t'su^ ,,gii|«)l«offl.. r® 'i;^i«'j»B ''«^^ JtsW' m fit w »a i ; ... ^1 JI,»*||;^ vK'-i or i Ad'^o^r AAi^t^ AAf ^tiw38 „ OTJl 3»v«i>^ «£ w '»> .* ffu' i|lit 4k U|'i>jK ,' *«fii t** .H ,fi IwfMp #Wfc s> .r(*4»ir5 f(«»t>i^. H.J ^’i >a ; ' yj. I a.- ,,‘*i ‘*’"*'’"-»r U- r .. & Preface This report presents findings of the evaluation of the Denver RTD comprehensive route and schedule changes implemented during 1978. The route restructuring project occurred within the timeframe of the systemwide off-peak free fare transit demonstration which began on February 1, 1978, and continued for 12 months, ending on January 31, 1979. The evaluation included investigation of the effects of both the elimination of off-peak fares and route restructuring on ridership, transit operations and costs, user characteristics, public attitudes, and regional travel. Findings of the free fare demonstration project evaluation were presented in an earlier report. The project was sponsored under the Urban Mass Transportation Administration's (UMTA) Service and Methods Demonstration (SMD) program, under authorization from Title II of the National Mass Transportation Assistance Act of 1974. The evaluation was conducted by De Leuw, Gather & Company for the Transportation Systems Center (TSC) of the U.S. Department of Transportation under Technical Task Directive DOT-TSC-1409-15 . The principal researcher for the evaluation project was Bob Donnelly; the report was co-authored by Bob Donnelly and Paul Ong.