Posts about Freeway Bus
Transit
Finally: an express bus from Leesburg to Tysons
Although Loudoun County has been operating an express bus service for a number of years to Arlington and Washington from major population centers in the County, there has been no service to what is quite possibly the most popular commuter destination from within the County's borders: Tysons Corner.
Luckily, this changes on June 21st when the Loudoun–Tysons Express service inaugurates.
By car: 60–90 minutes each way and $17/day: Every morning, the four eastbound lanes of the Route 267 Dulles Toll Road are slammed with traffic from the Airport to east of Reston, and most days see at least several sections of stop-and-go traffic. The leftmost of the four lanes is restricted to HOV-2 only, so it witnesses a somewhat more freeflowing throughput.
A peak-trip drive from Leesburg to Tysons on Route 267 usually takes about 60–90 minutes each way and $11.50 in tolls roundtrip ($8 on the Greenway and $3.50 on the Toll Road), not yet mentioning wear-and-tear or the $5/day in gas these trips generally impose.
There is a toll-free (or toll-reduced) alternative in taking Route 7 at least part of the way, but this can add in excess of 30 minutes to the commute.
By the new bus: 40–60 minutes each way and $6/day: The Dulles Toll Road is unique among its peer freeways in that it includes a dedicated roadway in its center limited to the exclusive use of cars and cabs on airport business as well as authorized express buses to any destination. As a result of its travel rules, traffic on this restricted "Access Road" rarely stops flowing freely. The new Tysons Express bus service will use these lanes.
Because of the busway-like facility, the new service will provide a commute from park-and-rides near Leesburg and Ashburn to Tysons for a cost of $6 roundtrip and a bus time of 40–60 minutes, depending on the specific start–end trip.
The buses are going to be luxury coaches, complete with restrooms, reclining chairs, and free Wi-Fi.
Next steps: I have a nagging suspicion that if this is marketed properly at all (perhaps with a sign or two in the median of the Toll Road), these buses are going to be wildly popular and crowded, and that Loudoun and VDOT are going to have to find a way to add more. Similar Tysons Express Service was launched from Woodbridge last fall, and I'll admit don't have any idea how well that service has been running.
However, compared to the Woodbridge line, the Leesburg-and-Ashburn-to-Tysons route is such an obvious trip with such an onerous and expensive current commute that it's hard to suspect it won't rock success. The new express bus not only saves a peak commuter $11/day ($55/week or $2750/year) but also up to an hour a day stuck in traffic (and with free Wi-Fi to boot!)
Given the significant cost and time savings, I think there's got to be more demand for Leesburg/Ashburn-to-Tysons bus service than 385 people a day. Time will tell, but I predict an announcement this fall that Loudoun and/or VDOT will be working to double the number of buses on these routes to handle the demand.
This bus is a no-brainer. Why did it take a planned reconfiguration of Tysons just to get the players together to propose this?
Transit
TIGER means bus priority will start soon
The TIGER grants announced today mean that, instead of bus priority scraping along as a good idea without any serious attention, we'll get bus lanes, signal priority, NextBus displays, and more in short order.
Image from Crystal City/Potomac Yard project.
I admit I was mildly disappointed to hear the results, because I was particularly excited about the K Street Transitway and the regional bike sharing program. Also, about a third of the total goes to one of the freeway bus projects which I'm very skeptical about.
However, the region received the sixth largest single grant in the TIGER program, and USDOT chose to fund a grant worked out through cooperation between area governments instead of other area applications like MWAA's Loudoun road-widening schemes. Several states got nothing at all.
Most importantly, federal money has a way of really focusing DOTs' attention. WMATA has been suggesting bus priority corridor improvements and issuing studies on the matter for years. We've written about it numerous times. Before the recession, DOTs generally said they liked the idea but were too busy to work on it, and then they got their budgets cut and had no money to work on it. Now that there's money, they're sure going to work on it.
What do we get? Lines have a combination of elements. Most lines in DC, Maryland, and Fairfax get small upgrades to make existing service a little more efficient or pleasant. Queue jump lanes in some areas will let buses bypass congestion at busy intersections. Some signals will get special bus left turn phases, and other lines will get signal priority. Many bus stops will get digital arrival displays showing NextBus information.
A number of Virginia projects focused on substantial upgrades to fewer lines. US-1 along Potomac Yard will get a dedicated busway, and Alexandria will also build a rapid bus line possibly to become a dedicated right-of-way. The access routes from Virginia to K Street along 18th/19th and 14th involve installing signal priority and bus-mounted cameras to facilitate bus-only lanes, some of which would have to involve local money.
One particular benefit is that WMATA should be able to quantify the cost savings and service improvements that come from the signal priority and queue jumpers, and use that data to make the case for more of them around the region.
BeyondDC has a good table of projects showing the dollar values for each project and pulled out the descriptions from each:
- 16th Street Bus Priority Improvements: Proposed capital improvements include a queue jump lane, NextBus real time passenger information displays at 17 stop locations, and transit signal priority/traffic system management (left turn phase for bus) at a number of intersections.
- Georgia Avenue Bus Priority Improvements: Improvements include completing TSP implementation at several intersections, bulb-outs, and nearly 30 stop locations enhanced with NextBus real time arrival technology. Additionally, a bus only lane would be constructed on Georgia Avenue for short span.
- H Street/Benning Road Bus Priority Improvements: A left turn phase for buses at a busy intersection, a queue jump lane, and NextBus real time arrival technology displays at 22 bus stop locations. These improvements support future streetcar plans.
- Wisconsin Avenue Bus Priority Improvements: Capital improvements include transit signal priority and/or traffic signal management at a number of intersections and NextBus real time arrival technology deployed to a number of express service stop locations.
- Addison Road Improvements: Bus shelters along the existing P12 bus route will be upgraded with NextBus realtime arrival prediction displays.
- University Boulevard Bus Priority Improvements: Improvements include four queue jump lanes, transit signal priority at around 20 intersections, and a number of bus stop enhancements, such as the deployment of NextBus technology. This project will support planned light rail transit, such as the Purple Line, and will utilize the Takoma Langley Transit Center also included in this proposal.
- U.S. Route 1 Bus Priority Improvements: Capital improvements proposed include queue jump lanes and transit signal priority at several intersections.
- Veirs Mill Bus Priority Improvements: Capital improvements include a queue jump lane and NextBus real time bus arrival displays at several stations along the route.
- Potomac Yard Transitway: Bus transitway in the median of US 1 within Alexandria city limits, providing exclusive right of way for buses. Other funding sources have been identified to provide passenger amenities, such as transitway stations and new buses. Alexandria's portion of the Crystal City / Potomac Yard Transitway, a joint facility with Arlington. Arlington's portion is already funded.
- VA 7 (Leesburg Pike) Bus Priority Improvements: Improvements include NextBus displays at several express service bus stops and transit signal priority at a number of intersections along the corridor.
- Van Dorn-Pentagon Rapid Bus: New rapid bus service in the City of Alexandria from the Van Dorn Metrorail Station in the City of Alexandria to the Pentagon. It will incorporate limited stop service, signal prioritization, super stops, and possibly queue jump lanes; however, the City of Alexandria eventually seeks to build exclusive bus lanes on Van Dorn Street. This project is being developed partly to support a the Mark Center BRAC facility opening at Seminary Road and I-395 by September 2011.
- Theodore Roosevelt Bridge to K Street Bus Priority Improvements: This corridor is a major access point for commuters into the Washington D.C. central business district, and would receive complimentary transit signal priority and bus mounted enforcement cameras along E Street, northbound 18th Street, and southbound 19th Street. Local money may be provided for dedicated curbside bus lanes, if deemed feasible.
- 14th Street Bus Priority Improvements: This is a major access point for commuters into the Washington D.C. central business district, and includes complimentary transit signal priority and bus mounted enforcement cameras along 14th Street from the bridge to K Street. Bus only lanes may be included along 14th Street to south of Constitution Ave, which is consistent with a current federal EIS process to reconfigure the bridge in concert with HOT lane development on I-395 south of the bridge. Local money may be provided to extend the bus only lanes to K Street.
- I-95/395 Multimodal Improvements: Station improvements at Pentagon Station and Franconia/Springfield Station, including bus bays, real time bus information, and traffic circulation/access/security improvements. Major technology improvements include a mobile web application for real-time bus information, bus information display, cameras outfitted on 40 buses, computer-aided dispatch and automatic vehicle location technology. Finally, this component includes the retirement of 13 buses, replacing them with state-of-the-art clean-fuel technology.
- Takoma/Langley Transit Center: This bustling intersection is one of the busiest transit locations in the DC area, however bus stops are currently scattered far from each other at different locations around the intersection. The new transit center will consolidate all the bus stops at the intersection into one facility. This will eliminate the need for transferring passengers to cross wide and busy roads where there is an unfortunate history of vehicles colliding with pedestrians. This will also provide a permanent and visible transit amenity. Through new bus bays, pedestrian walkways, a full canopy, restrooms, lighting, and bus information, the transit center will ultimately provide a safe, attractive, comfortable and efficient facility for passengers and for bus transfer activities, and will also improve pedestrian safety, accessibility, and connections to bus services in an area that is largely low income and transit dependent.
Transit
TIGER funds bus corridors, not K Street or bike sharing
The Washington region will receive $58.8 million for bus priority improvements across the region, but no money for the K Street Transitway or regional bicycle sharing in the TIGER grants. USDOT announced the winners today.
Image from USDOT.
Through regional planning organization MWCOG, local governments had applied for $204 million in bus improvements, $13 million for regional bike sharing, and $47 million for "transit station" improvements including a Takoma-Langley Transit Center and the Medical Center underpass.
About $140 million of the bus improvements would have built a dedicated busway along K Street for regional and local buses, many of which use that street, while the rest would have improved a patchwork of corridors in all jursdictions.
The final award provides $26.6 million for the bus corridor improvements, which will improve service on 16th Street, Georgia Avenue, H Street/Benning Road, and Wisconsin Avenue in DC; Addison Road, University Blvd, US-1 and Veirs Mill Road in Maryland; US-1, Leesburg Pike, and the Van Dorn to Pentagon route in Virginia. It also funds and connections from the TR Bridge and 14th Street to K Street in DC for Virginia buses.
Update: Here's more on the funded bus projects, which mean some long-awaited and exciting improvements will be going forward.
In addition to the bus improvements, the Takoma-Langley Transit Center gets $12.3 million, and Virginia gets $20 million for "station improvements (bus bays, real time bus information and other improvements" supporting bus priority on the I-95/395 corridor," which contribute to a longer-term plan to set up dedicated bus lanes.
It doesn't fund the Medical Center underpass, a second entrance to Rosslyn Metro, I-66 bus, bike sharing, or K Street. The table on page 11 of the application shows all of the improvements requested and their individual dollar amounts.
According to a so-far-unconfirmed rumor, the K Street project scored very highly on the metrics USDOT was using, but they excluded it because of potential bad press surrounding any funds going to "K Street" with its lobbyist connotations. If that's true, DC should immediately introduce a bill to rename K Street as "Abraham Lincoln Boulevard" or something. While they're at it, maybe they should rename Capitol Hill just in case.
Or, that could be totally false, and they simply decided that the Washington region could get almost $60 million but, at nearly $140 million, the K Street project was too large and more money had to go to other cities.
Transit
Regional plan recommends regional bike sharing but disjointed bus improvements
The K Street Transitway, a network of priority bus corridors, regional bike sharing, a few Metro station improvements, and two freeway bus lines in Virginia will make up the DC region's application for the competitive "TIGER" grants that USDOT will award from the federal stimulus.
The regional Transportation Planning Board will review the entire package on Wednesday, to allow regional staff to complete the application by the September deadline. Regional bike sharing is very exciting. The rest of the package contains many great improvements, but like many of TPB's products, is more a compilation of individual jurisdictions' uncoordinated priorities than a true regional system.
TPB, part of the regional Council of Governments (COG or MWCOG), is often called a "stapler" because most of their reports end up assembling submissions from the various jurisdictions, rather than providing an actual regional vision. The team started with a concept of creating regional, high-quality bus lines to really demonstrate the potential of rapid buses, and ended up with a series of lines many of which don't even connect to one another. Instead of improving a few lines to very high quality, the plan is a patchwork of incremental changes, with some signal priority here, a queue jumper lane there, and some improved fare payment technology over there.
Left: March proposed bus network. Right: July proposal. Images from TPB.
Virginia, in particular, has chosen to put most of its eggs in two freeway baskets, asking for $170 million to build a few freeway ramps to get buses on and off of I-66 and I-95 HOT lanes. Meanwhile, the entire package of bus corridor improvements in the rest of the region totals only $93 million. The region would do better allocating its money to more significant improvements on existing commercial corridors. The plan notes that these freeway projects might not be "shovel-ready" enough for the TIGER grant, and therefore might be dropped after August 1st.
The one truly regional element of the plan is the bike sharing system, which asks for $10 million to build a 1,600 bicycle system "at 160 bike stations in core urban areas of DC, Alexandria, Arlington, Silver Spring and Bethesda." We discussed this idea in March, and it's good to see it in the program. At least regional officials could agree on that much.
There are also three station improvements in the proposal. A pedestrian tunnel under Rockville Pike at the Medical Center Metro would enhance access. Rosslyn, one of the busiest stations, would get a new entrance with three "high-capacity elevators," a new mezzaning, and emergency stairs. And a new Takoma-Langley transit center would consolidate bus stops into a new, indoor facility, simplifying transfers.
Transit
"Priority bus" a valuable part of the transit mix when done right
Regional planners have been focusing their efforts recently on improving transit by creating better and faster bus service. Metro is working hard to develop "priority bus corridors," with express buses that run more often, more quickly, and more reliably than existing service. And a committee at the Transportation Planning Board has been developing a priority bus proposal for a stimulus grant. According to recent drafts, they are considering a wide variety of projects, including freeway buses on I-66, Metro corridors such as on Viers Mill Road and 14th Street, Metrorail station access at Rosslyn and Medical Center, and the K Street transitway.
79 express bus. Photo by JLaw45.
As the list makes clear, "priority bus" can mean a lot of things. Is a simple limited-stop bus a priority bus? A point to point commuter route that skips intermediate communities via freeways? A service that runs only four times an hour? Do priority buses need low-floor vehicles? Fare prepayment? Separate branding?
What we do know is that priority bus is not a real replacement for rail transit. New busway projects in recent years have fallen short of the ridership estimates by 33 percent, while rail projects have exceeded them by 22 percent. Bus lines don't generate the same level of transit-oriented development as rail lines, and can accommodate fewer riders.
However, rail doesn't belong everywhere. Buses are an important part of the mix of transit options for the region. In areas with lower density and lower ridership, bus systems give us needed transit without the capital investment, though also without the expansion potential. In particular, where we already have high-ridership bus lines, speeding up those buses and improving service to riders can meaningfully improve transit choices.
"Priority bus" lines in the Washington metropolitan area should provide service frequency and reliability comparable to that of rail lines, if not entirely comparable speed. A Metrorail rider can arrive at a station during almost any service hour confident that the wait will not be very long. Our priority bus corridors should mimic rail headways, including middays, evenings, weeknights, and weekends.
Likewise, a Metrorail rider has access to accurate information about next arrivals and a comfortable, weather-protected place to wait. So should priority bus riders. A rail train boards quickly, since riders need not individually pay as they board. Priority bus corridors should implement fare prepayment technologies. Finally, Metrorail trains rarely wait in traffic. A priority bus line might not reach the same travel speeds, but should include signal priority and right-of-way improvements needed to significantly reduce delays.
With such a wide range of improvements that we could call "bus priority," it's too easy to make small and incremental improvements and call those priority bus. Such improvements are welcome, but won't truly entice choice riders to forego car-dependence and rely on transit. To achieve the economic development and build the walkable communities so many residents desire, we need transit equal to the task. It's hard to pick and choose, and ideally every corridor would get top-notch service, but we should focus limited resources on creating a number of high quality, true priority bus corridors.
Just as our region's rail lines sometimes run along freeways and sometimes along developed corridors, so can "priority bus" systems run through corridors or use freeways. In the Metrorail system, we have the clear comparison between the Orange Line in Arlington, which runs underneath a commercial boulevard, and in Fairfax, which runs in the median of I-66. Arlington achieved remarkable economic development thanks to its choice of alignment, and while Fairfax has benefited enormously from Metrorail, it has not reaped the same rewards.
Likewise, a priority bus system that uses freeways to connect a series of park-and-ride lots to jobs is the bus equivalent of the median-running Orange Line. It may move passengers, but won't revitalize retail corridors or stimulate new development. With limited transportation dollars, our region should focus on building priority bus lines in existing mixed-use corridors. We have many in need of quality transit service in Maryland, Virginia, and DC.
Draft regional package of priority bus corridors and transit centers, June 17th.
Image from TPB.
Based on the TPB list, it appears that WMATA, the District, and Arlington and Alexandria are indeed focusing on these types of corridors. Maryland projects submitted by WMATA include priority bus on Viers Mill Road, University Boulevard, and Addison Road. DC has numerous individual corridors, and DDOT submitted the K Street Transitway. Arlington submitted projects on Arlington Boulevard, Glebe Road, and Lee Highway extending into Fairfax County, Fairfax City, and Falls Church, while Alexandria proposed lines along Route 1 and from Kingstowne to Shirlington to the Pentagon via the Mark Center (though both projects probably ought to use rail instead of bus). The TPB list, at least, contains no submissions from Fairfax, the State of Maryland, Prince George's County, or, except for Medical Center improvements, Montgomery County, though it's not clear whether those jurisdictions participated in the submissions from WMATA, Arlington, or Alexandria.
And if that list reflects juridictions' actual priorities, then the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation's priorities are way off base. Their only submissions are for freeway ramps and parking to create park-and-rides on I-66, and in-line stations and ramps to create bus lines right along the freeways on I-95 and I-395. These projects will bypass Fairfax's existing commercial nodes and historic downtowns to foster even more auto-dependent development surrounding park-and-ride transit use. That's not the rapid bus our region needs.
Priority bus corridors could significantly enhance transit service for relatively low cost. Our region will reap the greatest rewards when we build bus services with equivalent frequencies and convenience to rail, choose routes that complement rather than supplant needed surface rail lines, and route them along existing corridors that maximize the housing, office, and retail within easy walking distance of stations.
Transit
TPB creates more extensive yet sprawlier BRT map
Yesterday, we discussed the BRT proposal from the Transportation Planning Board that would apply for a stimulus grant to construct a beginning network of Bus Rapid Transit routes in the region. Dan posted in the comments that the committee had already expanded the map to contain a variety of corridors, which they will then whittle down to an initial network for the stimulus grant application.
Here's the newer map:
Click to enlarge (PDF)
They also published a geographically accurate map and a matrix comparing the corridors. The matrix already lists the current bus headways and numbers of stations for each route. The team hasn't yet filled in other information, like the number of queue jumpers and miles of dedicated lane.
This map contains many routes you yourselves suggested in the comments yesterday. It's great that so many people weighed in about where they think transit would best serve their communities, which the TPB staff can incorporate into their thinking about which of these routes to select.
The plan also contains some routes that will run on area freeways instead of along commercial corridors. That would be a mistake akin to placing the Orange Line in the median of I-66 in Fairfax. It's cheaper and easier to run a bus on the freeway, but greatly diminishes the development potential along the route, and ignores our lively existing commercial corridors to serve disconnected greenfield developments.
I suspect Maryland's State Highway Administration and other state transportation officials have pushed for these routes. Highway builders like the idea of BRT on freeways because it incorporates transit's enormous popularity into their existing freeway-oriented worldview. Robert Moses-era freeway planners developed a simple consensus: build freeways at a certain regular spacing, "upgrade" intersections with more turn lanes and grade-separated interchanges as traffic increases, and so on. That rebuilt our transportation network from the ground up around cars alone.
After a while, we realized that this system didn't work, as endlessly expanding sprawl fueled by the freeways just created overwhelming traffic that only grew as we built more roads. Losing pedestrian and bicycle access forced everyone into cars and drove ballooning obesity. And the system destroyed our existing, vibrant center cities and walkable towns by pulling people and commerce away to distant strip malls. Nevertheless, many transportation officials cling to this outdated model, as we can see from Maryland officials' continuing enthusiasm for new freeways in undeveloped areas, like Prince George's County, and retooling busy intersections into "Los Angeles-style interchanges", that concept is alive and well at SHA.
The current vogue among highway planners is to build toll lanes, like on the ICC. In theory, this will make new lanes pay for themselves, though in practice that's never actually happened. Meanwhile, transit ridership is skyrocketing and elected officials support more transit. What's a highway planner to do? Put transit in the new toll lanes and tout how fast the buses will move. That adds transit and build political support for freeway widenings.
Last year, TPB developed a plan that would add toll lanes to most of our region's freeways, then run express bus service in those lanes. If we just rededicate an existing lane to tolls and buses, that's not so bad; an existing freeway can move more people in less time and with less pollution if buses use one of the lanes. That's not the best use of a major stimulus grant, however. And in many cases state officials hope to add lanes, like the Beltway HOT lanes in Virginia. Adding freeway lanes and creating some bus service in them is moving one step forward and ten steps back.
We already know first-hand the difference between building transit on a commercial corridor versus in a freeway. Arlington put the Orange Line under Wilson Boulevard, designed stops a moderate walk apart, and saw its Rosslyn-Ballston corridor boom. Fairfax ran the line inside I-66, and it never became anything more than a set of park-and-ride lots with no connection to Fairfax's commercial nodes. Arlingtonians now walk and bike in record numbers and commute in very energy-efficient, sustainable ways. Plus, with bus or surface rail, there's the added value to local businesses from driving people right down the commercial main street where they can see the shops along the way. If we run transit in freeways, particularly newly-widened ones, we'll miss all of those benefits and push housing even farther from people's jobs.
The original plan proposed a set of easy BRT lines that we could build in just three years for a few hundred million, perfect for these competitive stimulus grants. Those five corridors might or might not be the best ones, and a lively public debate will help focus us on the right ones. But the freeway alignments are definitely not the right ones. TPB should drop the freeway alignments from consideration.
@ggwash
- Successful speed cameras require fair speed limits
- Amid scandal, don't lose sight of Gray's policy achievements
- Bethesda gets new but terrible bike racks
- Montgomery plans 160-mile, "gold standard" BRT system
- DC's parks are 5th best in the nation, says "Park Score"
- DC's divide need not be black and white
- VDOT ignores own data, pushes widening I-66
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