This post is part of a series about Managing the Transit Network: all about how TransLink plans transit service in our region. See all the past blog posts in the series here.
This post covers pages 22-24 in the Managing the Transit Network primer.
There's a lot to consider when making the final decision about a transit service.
When TransLink planners evaluate a potential change to a transit service, they’re usually looking to achieve one of three main objectives, while keeping in mind the four design themes, and nine route design considerations. But what’s the process like for deciding what changes go ahead? How do they come to a decision about which services will be added, changed or reduced?
Service changes are made four times a year: in April, June, September and December. But decisions need to be made well in advance to allow time for operations planning, scheduling, and in some cases infrastructure changes or fleet procurement. They don’t take these decisions lightly. That’s why planners ask themselves the following four questions for each service change they look at.
Buses on the 9 and the 99 routes battling traffic.
This post is part of a series about Managing the Transit Network: all about how TransLink plans transit service in our region. See all the past blog posts in the series here.
This post covers pages 12-21 in the Managing the Transit Network primer.
So far in our series, we’ve talked about the overall goals and challenges for transit planning. And we’ve looked at the broad themes we keep in mind when we design a transit network. (We also did an interview with the planning team behind this project!)
But in this post, we’re going to take a look at transit planning on the street level. That is, how do we design a good bus route or transit line? (And by “good,” we mean “a transit line that serves lots of people for as much of the day as possible.”)
Well, there IS an actual answer. Generally, we try to design a transit line with nine specific elements to make it likely to serve lots of people almost all the time. They are:
Serve areas of strong demand
Have strong anchors at both ends
Be as direct, simple, consistent and legible as possible
Maintain speed and reliability along the entire route
Avoid duplication or competition between transit services
Match service levels to demand
Have balanced loads in each direction
Experience an even distribution of stop activity
Have an even distribution of ridership by time of day
We’ll talk about each of these elements in more detail below. But eagle eyes will already note that locations and land use of the existing environment play a big role in making a transit line a success!
This post is part a series about Managing the Transit Network: all about how TransLink plans transit service in our region. Click here to see all the posts.
When we plan our transit network, we have three main objectives: to maximize ridership, encourage long-term ridership growth and provide access to transit service across the region. With these objectives in mind, we employ four design themes that contribute to the overall network design.
Interdependence/Network Integration
Good network design requires thinking about the network as more than just a collection of isolated single transit lines. It means recognizing that each transit line influences and depends on the others. For a network to be useful, it is integral that all the parts work together and complement each other.
Networks by nature connect. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a network as, “a fabric or structure of cords or wires that cross at regular intervals and are knotted or secured at the crossings.” That fabric/structure in Metro Vancouver consists of cycling infrastructure, rapid transit, frequent transit, local transit service and road and pedestrian infrastructure. This, of course, includes SkyTrain lines, bus lines as well as cycling and pedestrians paths.
Everyone would love to have a direct one-seat ride from their home to work, but that simply isn’t doable with public transit, since we all live and work in different places. TransLink tries to help people get where they want to go quickly and efficiently by providing high-frequency service between key connection points (the knotted crossings of the dictionary definition) in the transit network. The inconvenience of having to transfer is often overcome by shorter wait times, leading to faster travel times overall. Jarrett Walker’s blog explains transit networks versus no-transfer service very well. Read more »
The 17 UBC out and about in 2010. (The route is now the 14 UBC, but it's still a great photo of one of our buses out in normal traffic!)
This post is first in a series about Managing the Transit Network: all about how TransLink plans transit service in our region. See all the blog posts in the series here.
By Tina Robinson
Since I started working at TransLink, many of my friends and family have told me what they think is wrong (and right) with our transit system. And I’ve been told all the solutions as well: “You guys should just run a few extra buses on that route.” Or, “All you have to do is run more buses in the morning that way and more buses in the afternoon the other way.” And, of course, “I would take transit more if the bus came more often where I live.”
What I’ve come to realize is that managing a transit network isn’t so simple, especially when resources are limited. There are a lot of factors that go into deciding where transit should go and the level of service to provide. TransLink’s new Managing the Transit Network primer describes what our planners think about when they design services and what makes a transit network work well. We’re going to break down the primer over the next few weeks in a series of blog posts.
In this post, we’re looking at the objectives we think about when we design and manage the transit network. And, more significantly, the challenge we face in balancing all three.
A detail from the cover of our Managing the Network primer.
This post is first in a series about Managing the Transit Network: all about how TransLink plans transit service in our region. See all the blog posts in the series here.
How do we design our transit network? What principles are behind building a good bus route? And does the layout of a city affect how well transit can serve its citizens?
We’ve aimed to answer all these questions and more as part of a new program called Managing the Transit Network. It’s an evolution of our Service Optimization program, which we’ve talked about before on the blog—and a big part is about helping the public understand the principles and evidence behind our work.
the Managing the Transit Network primer: an easy-to-read booklet about our transit planning goals and principles
the Bus System Performance Review: a detailed performance report for 2011, plus a series of route-by-route technical summaries identifying just how our system is performing
And you can also join us for a multi-part Managing the Transit Network series on the blog in the coming weeks, exploring the concepts behind transit system planning. Think of it as a mini “Transit Planning 101″ class—we’ll have lots of examples, expert advice from our planning staff, and discussion questions for everyone to think about!
To get us started, I asked senior planner Peter Klitz to walk us through the concept behind Managing the Transit Network, and a bit of context and explanations for the primer and bus system performance reviews.
Last time we wrote about the new Pattullo Bridge was back in March when we conducted a webinar on the project. At that time, we were at the beginning of the Project Definition stage. We mentioned that we would again be consulting with the public on the project in the spring. We’ve met with some stakeholder groups this spring, and more consultations are in the works for this summer (summer starts tomorrow by the way).
The purpose of these consultations is to report on what we heard during previous consultations with various stakeholder groups; collect more feedback on alignment, connections and number of lanes the new bridge will have; and to present TransLink’s analysis of the different options as they relate to the objectives for the new bridge. Here are the details on this next round (Phase 3) of consultations:
Like previous consultations, we’ll have an online questionnaire available if you’re unable to attend the in-person consultations. Please check this post tomorrow, June 21, 2012, or simply check the new Pattullo Bridge page for the questionnaire and additional information on the project. We hope to see you out at the consultations or receive your completed questionnaire!
So I thought we’d take a moment to look at our financial road ahead, and hopefully give everyone a better grasp of where we’re coming from.
Primary sources: our reports to the Mayors’ Council
So first: why are we in the news right now? Well, the Mayors Council had one of their scheduled public meetings on Tuesday, May 22, 2012 and TransLink made a presentation at the meeting outlining our financial status.
All the documents from that presentation are online, so you can have a look at all the details for yourself. Find them at the main Mayors’ Council meeting page, under “Reports” for the May 22 meeting.
Or, grab them at the links I have conveniently set up below:
It’s obviously your choice how to dive in, but I found it easiest to understand by reading them in the order above. The memo, then the appendixes, and then the Commissioner’s Report.
The good old SeaBus sailing towards the North Shore.
The final public input phase of the North Shore Area Transit Plan starts Friday, May 18. If you’re unfamiliar with the NSATP, I wrote a post on the first part of Phase 3 in January. In short, the plan is to create a long-term transit vision and identify the service and infrastructure investment needs to meet that vision. This time around, we’re looking for feedback on a set of priorities for the region should funding and/or resources become available. Those funds/resources would come from possible future funds provided for via a base or supplemental plan or through service optimization.
On Friday, May 18, an online questionnaire will be available to fill out. Also on that day, information on the high priority projects will be available on the TransLink website. On Saturday, May 19 until June 9, will be attending community events. At the events, we’ll be looking for your feedback on the high priority projects. Here’s some specifics for what you need to know:
Saturday – May 26, 2012 – 9am – 4:30pm – District of North Vancouver, Lynn Valley Days at Lynn Valley Park
Saturday – June 2, 2012 – 10:30am – 5pm – West Vancouver, Centennial Community Day Celebration at Ambleside Park
Thursday – June 7, 2012 – 11am – 6pm – Lions Bay,General Store
Saturday – June 9, 2012 – 11am – 5pm – City of North Vancouver,SeaBus Terminal
Once this phase of the consultation is over, we’ll be moving into the fourth phase of the plan, monitoring. That means we’ll be watching to see if the priorities chosen still make sense. For now, you have your choice of providing your feedback in person or online. As usual, I’ll be forwarding your comments to the team responsible for the plan. So stop by one of the public events or download the online questionnaire and provide your feedback!
Last Thursday’s webinar about the New Pattullo Bridge Project can now be viewed, here, the Buzzer blog YouTube Channel, TransLink’s channel or via this third-party website. I advise using the third-party site (but not using Chrome) since it will allow you to follow along with Sany Zein, Director of Road at TransLink, during the presentation.
If you didn’t get a chance to participate in the live webinar, please also take the time to watch and check out all the additional material found on the TransLink website. We had some great questions asked during and before the webinar. The questions ranged in topic from tolling of the existing and future bridge to what effects the new bridge would have on existing parkland if any. There’ll be other opportunities for your input on the new bridge when we ask for more feedback in the spring, so there’s plenty of opportunities to provide feedback in the not-too-distant future!
A photo of the opening of the Pattullo Bridge in 1937.
It’s just a few days away. The New Pattullo Bridge Project webinar is this Thursday, March 8 at 7 p.m! You’ll need to register before the webinar to watch and ask questions live.
Sany Zein, TransLink’s Director of Roads and Infrastructure Planning, will be walking webinar participants through all the different bridge locations and directions. You’ll want to do your homework before the webinar since there’s a lot of information to absorb.
I’ll be accompanying Sany to help field the questions coming in live, collected at workshops and those that Buzzer Blog readers have posted already on this past post. I’ll be collecting your questions on the blog up until Thursday, so please post them in the comments section of either this post or the past post.
I hope you all can join me on Thursday. I’m excited! See you online!
Back in July 31, 2008, TransLink’s Board of Directors decided the Pattullo Bridge (built in 1937) needed to be replaced. Designed to last 50 years, the 75-year-old bridge has outlived its projected life.
In terms of modern day safety, structure, seismic and riverbed scour (water that removes sand and rocks from around the bridge piers) factors, the bridge is outdated. Although the existing bridge has exceeded its projected lifespan, it’s still in usable condition, safe and will continue to be monitored until the new bridge has been completed. Once the new Pattullo Bridge is completed, the old one will be dismantled.
Tomorrow, TransLink will begin the public engagement portion of the consultation process for the bridge, which will help determine the future of the New Pattullo Bridge Project. The general objectives for creating this new bridge are the following: Read more »
The longer I spend at TransLink, the more I realize how much work is put towards planning for the future of transit. Besides the day-to-day monitoring of bus routes and flow of customers, planners are constantly looking to the future of transit. Part of this process includes putting together a coordinated plan for all the communities TransLink services.
Teresa O'Reilly in front of some work on the NSATP
Starting today, TransLink is announcing Phase 3 of the four-phased North Shore Area Transit Plan (NSATP). In late 2010, analysis of the current network was carried out as Phase 1 of the plan. Phase 2, completed from January to June 2011, was the development of a long-term vision for the next 30 years. Phase 3 starts in January and goes until June 2012. Phase 4 is the monitoring phase, which will continue until the planning process begins again. To find out more about these plans, I sat down with Teresa O’Reilly. Teresa is the Manager of the Area Transit Plan Program. Read more »
Mayor Richard Walton, the Honourable James Moore, Minister Blair Lekstrom, and the Honourable Denis Lebel at yesterday's announcement
It’s been a long time coming. If you didn’t take in the local news yesterday, there was an announcement by three levels of government regarding the Evergreen Line. B.C. Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Blair Lekstrom, the Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages and Senior Minister Responsible for British Columbia, Richard Walton, mayor of North Vancouver and chair of the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation, and Honourable Denis Lebel, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities were all on hand to announce that Pedre Contractors Ltd. will be installing new underground power lines in Port Moody and Coquitlam and Hans Demolition and Excavating will be removing two buildings in Coquitlam and one in Burnaby to make way for the new line. Here’s the link to the official press release.
Linking to the Millennium Line, the Evergreen Line will connect Coquitlam to Vancouver via Port Moody and Burnaby. It’s scheduled to be completed in 2016. There’s a lot of work to be done in five years, so expect more announcements in the not too distant future!
Cover page of the Burnaby Mountain Gondola Business Case and Alternatives Assessment
The business case and alternatives assessments for the Burnaby Mountain Gondola Project are now available online. When I last wrote about the project/study, TransLink was in Phase 2 (public consultation) of the project. The business case and alternatives assessment evaluate the feasibility of the project and examine if there is a good business case for installing and running a gondola from Production Way-University station versus solely running buses up and down Burnaby Mountain. Read more »
