T R A N S I T C O O P E R A T I V E R E S E A R C H P R O G R A M SPONSORED BY The Federal Transit Administration TCRP Synthesis 14 Innovative Suburb-to-Suburb Transit Practices A Synthesis of Transit Practice Transportation Research Board National Research Council TCRP OVERSIGHT AND PROJECT TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 1995 SELECTION COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN OFFICERS ROD J. DIRIDON International Institute for Surface Chair: LILLIAN C. BORRONE, Director, Port Department, The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Transportation Policy Study Vice Chair: JAMES W. VAN LOBEN SELS, Director, California Department of Transportation Executive Director: ROBERT E. SKINNER, JR, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council MEMBERS SHARON D. BANKS AC Transit MEMBERS LEE BARNES Barwood, Inc EDWARD H. ARNOLD, Chairman & President, Arnold Industries, Inc GERALD L. BLAIR SHARON D. BANKS, General Manager, Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District, Oakland, California Indiana County Transit Authority BRIAN J. L. BERRY, Lloyd Viel Berkner Regental Professor & Chair, Burton Center for Development Studies, MICHAEL BOLTON University of Texas at Dallas Capital Metro DWIGHT M. BOWER, Director, Idaho Department of Transportation SHIRLEY A. DELIBERO JOHN E. BREEN, The Nasser I Al-Rashid Chair in Civil Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin New Jersey Transit Corporation WILLIAM F. BUNDY, Director, Rhode Island Department of Transportation SANDRA DRAGGOO DAVID BURWELL, President, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy CATA A. RAY CHAMBERLAIN, Vice President, Freight Policy, American TruckingAssociations, Inc LOUIS J. GAMBACCINI (Past Chair 1993) SEPTA RAY W. CLOUGH, Nishkian Professor of Structural Engineering, Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley DELON HAMPTON JAMES C. DELONG, Director of Aviation, Denver International Airport Delon Hampton & Associates JAMES N. DENN, Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Transportation RICHARD R. KELLY DENNIS J. FITZGERALD, Executive Director, Capital District Transportation Authority Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corp JAMES A. HAGEN, Chairman & CEO, CONRAIL ALAN F. KIEPPER DELON HAMPTON, Chairman and CEO, Delon Hampton & Associates New York City Transit Authority LESTER A. HOEL, Hamilton Professor, University of Virginia, Department of Civil Engineering EDWARD N. KRAVITZ DON C. KELLY, Secretary, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet The Flxible Corporation ROBERT KOCHANOWSKI, Executive Director, Southwestern Pennsylvania Regional Planning Commission PAUL LARROUSSE JAMES L. LAMMIE, President & CEO, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc Madison Metro Transit System CHARLES P. O'LEARY, JR, Commissioner, New Hampshire Department of Transportation ROBERT G. LINGWOOD JUDE W. P. PATIN, Secretary, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development BC Transit CRAIG E. PHILIP, President, Ingram Barge Company GORDON J. LINTON DARREL RENSINK, Director, Iowa Department of Transportation FTA JOSEPH M. SUSSMAN, JR East Professor and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, MIT (Past WILLIAM W. MILLAR Chair 1994) Port Authority of Allegheny County MARTIN WACHS, Director, Institute of Transportation Studies, Department of Urban Planning, University of MIKE MOBEY California, Los Angeles Isabella County Transportation Comm DAVID N. WORMLEY, Dean of Engineering, Pennsylvania State University DON S. MONROE HOWARD YERUSALIM, Vice President, KCI Technologies, Inc Pierce Transit PATRICIA S. NETTLESHIP The Nettleship Group, Inc MIKE ACOTT, President, National Asphalt Pavement Association (ex officio) ROBERT E. PAASWELL ROY A. ALLEN, Vice President, Research and Test Department, Association of American Railroads (ex The City College of New York officio) JAMES P. REICHERT ANDREW H. CARD, JR., President &CEO, American Automobile Manufacturers Association (ex officio) Reichert Management Services THOMAS J. DONOHUE, President and CEO, American Trucking Associations ( ex officio) LAWRENCE G. REUTER FRANCIS B. FRANCOIS, Executive Director, American Association of State Highway and Transportation WMATA Officials (ex officio) MICHAEL S. TOWNES JACK R. GILSTRAP, Executive Vice President, American Public Transit Association (ex officio) Peninsula Transportation Dist Comm ALBERT J. HERBERGER, Maritime Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation (ex officio) FRANK J. WILSON DAVID R. HINSON, Federal Aviation Administrator U.S. Department of Transportation (ex officio) New Jersey DOT T. R. LAKSHMANAN, Director, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation (ex EDWARD WYTKIND officio) AFL-CIO GORDON J. LINTON, Federal Transit Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation (ex officio) RICARDO MARTINEZ Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (ex officio) EX OFFICIO MEMBERS JOLENE M. MOLITORIS, Federal RailroadAdministrator, U.S. Department of Transportation (ex officio) JACK R. GILSTRAP DHARMENDRA K. (DAVE) SHARMA, Administrator, Research & Special Programs Administration, U.S. APTA Department of Transportation (ex officio) RODNEY E. SLATER RODNEY E. SLATER, Federal Highway Administrator U.S. Department of Transportation (ex officio) FHWA ARTHUR E. WILLIAMS, Chief of Engineers and Commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ex officio) FRANCIS B. FRANCOIS AASHTO ROBERT E. SKINNER, JR TRANSIT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM TRB Transportation Research Board Executive Committee Subcommittee for TCRP TDC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR LILLIAN C. BORRONE, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (Chair) FRANK J. CIHAK SHARON D. BANKS, AC Transit APTA LESTER A. HOEL, University of Virginia GORDON J. LINTON, US Department of Transportation SECRETARY ROBERT E. SKINNER, JR., Transportation Research Board ROBERT J. REILLY JOSEPH M. SUSSMAN, Massachusetts Institute of Technology TRB JAMES W. VAN LOBEN SELS, California Department of Transportation T R A N S I T C O O P E R A T I V E R E S E A R C H P R O G R A M Synthesis of Transit Practice 14 Innovative Suburb-to-Suburb Transit Practices KATHERINE S. HOOPER Falmouth, Maine TOPIC PANEL PAMELA J. BELCHAMBER, Vallejo Transit WAYNE BERMAN, Federal Highway Administration DAVID F. BONE, Montgomery County Division of Transit Services TERRANCE BRANNON, PACE Suburban Bus Division of the RTA JOSEPH M. GOODMAN, Federal Transit Administration ALAN E.PISARSKI, Falls Church, Virginia LAUREL J. RADOW, American Public Transit Association DANIEL RUDGE, University of South Florida JAMES A. SCOTT, Transportation Research Board FRANK SPIELBERG, SG Associates, Inc JON WILLIAMS, Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments Transportation Research Board National Research Council Research Sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration in Cooperation with the Transit Development Corporation NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS Washington, D.C. 1995 TRANSIT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM TCRP SYNTHESIS 14 Project SB-2 The nation's growth and the need to meet mobility, ISSN 1073-4880 environmental, and energy objectives place demands on public ISBN 0-309-05862-7 transit systems. Current systems, some of which are old and in need Library of Congress Catalog Card No 95-61367 of upgrading, must expand service area, increase service frequency, and improve efficiency to serve these demands. Research is Price $14.00 necessary to solve operating problems, to adapt appropriate new technologies from other industries, and to introduce innovations into the transit industry. The Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) serves as one of the principal means by which the transit industry can develop innovative near-term solutions to meet demands NOTICE placed on it. The need for TCRP was originally identified in TRB Special The project that is the subject of this report was a part of the Transit Report 213--Research for Public Transit. New Directions, published Cooperative Research Program conducted by the Transportation in 1987 and based on a study sponsored by the Federal Transit Research Board with the approval of the Governing Board of the Administration (FTA) A report by the American Public Transit National Research Council. Such approval reflects the Governing Association (APTA), Transportation 2000, also recognized the need Board' s judgment that the project concerned is appropriate with for local, problem-solving research TCRP, modeled after the respect to both the purposes and resources of the National Research longstanding and successful National Cooperative Highway Research Council. Program, undertakes research and other technical activities in The members of the technical advisory panel selected to response to the needs of transit service providers. The scope of vice monitor this project and to review this report were chosen for configuration, equipment, facilities, operations, human resources, recognized scholarly competence and with due consideration for the maintenance, policy, and administrative practices. balance of disciplines appropriate to the project. The opinions and TCRP was established under FTA sponsorship in July 1992. conclusions expressed or implied are those of the research agency Proposed by the U.S Department of Transportation, TCRP was that performed the research, and while they have been accepted as authorized as part of the Intermodal Surface Transportation appropriate by the technical panel, they are not necessarily those of Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA). On May 13, 1992, a memorandum the Transportation Research Board, the Transit Development agreement outlining TCRP operating procedures was executed by the Corporation, the National Research Council, or the Federal