Category: Better Public Transit
RELEASE: Coalition calls on DC area leaders to transform the bus
Press Release
For immediate release: July 25, 2019
Contact: Stewart Schwartz, 703-599-6437
Coalition calls on DC area leaders to transform the bus
Washington DC: Bus services in the DC region carry 621,000 riders per day, almost as many as Metrorail. Yet, bus service is in trouble as buses are slowed by road congestion, competition from services like Uber and Lyft (which are adding to that congestion), and are seeing declining ridership. These are key concerns highlighted in the WMATA Bus Transformation Study being briefed to the WMATA board today. The Coalition for Smarter Growth (CSG) served on the study Executive Committee with leading business executives, a union representative and two other non-profit leaders. The study also included strategic and technical advisory committees comprised of government staff and advocates.
“CSG recently teamed with MetroHero on our own study of DC bus performance and confirmed the concerns in the Bus Transformation Study – buses were moving slower and becoming less reliable, scoring a ‘D’ on in our analysis,” said Cheryl Cort, Policy Director for the Coalition for Smarter Growth.
“The public is strongly supportive of better bus service,” said Stewart Schwartz, CSG’s Executive Director. “The most recent survey by the Bus Transformation Study of 2905 area residents and riders found that people overwhelming want to see dedicated bus lanes, more frequent service, free transfers from bus to rail, and more affordable fares.”
“We’ve always known what makes bus service effective – fast, frequent, reliable service, with affordable fares, good user information and safe, comfortable conditions at bus stops and on buses,” said Cheryl Cort. “The recommendations in our DC Bus Report Card, in the Bus Transformation Study, and the Greater Washington Partnership’s bus study, and WMATA’s 2018 study, all point to these same priorities.”
Recent press has highlighted some of the negative reactions by local and state jurisdictions to ideas in the Bus Transformation Study regarding potentially shifting some more local routes and service to the jurisdictions from WMATA. The jurisdictions, many of which have established their own bus systems over the years, expressed concerns about taking on the routes and the potential costs. However, they also generally supported the service improvement recommendations in the report.
“We urge the jurisdictions and WMATA not to get tied up in a fight over who runs which routes. Riders and potential riders want them to focus on service – how to make the buses faster, frequent, more reliable, easier to use, and more affordable for lower income residents,” said Schwartz. “Rather than arguing over who should run what, we need leadership that makes bus transformation a top regional priority.”
“We cannot address our region’s traffic challenges, improve access to jobs, or fight climate change, unless we make bus the mode of choice across wide swaths of our region. Rail and bus transit must be tied to compact, walkable, mixed-use, mixed-income development as much as possible if we are to address these challenges,” said Cort.
The study has six main elements with 27 recommendations. Three main customer facing elements are:
- Bus system should be customer-focused and an easy-to-use option that people want to ride
- Recommendations include marketing, better bus information including maps and bus route naming, mobile apps, free transfers, lower fares, and more employers offering transit benefits.
- Prioritizing buses on major roads is the fiscally responsible way to move the most people quickly and reliably.
- Recommendations include commitments by jurisdictions to giving buses priority, enforcement of priority lanes, and parking limits to provide for bus lanes.
- Frequent and convenient bus service is fundamental to accessing opportunity, building and equitable region, and ensuring high quality of life
- Recommendations include bus network redesign
The Coalition for Smarter Growth will be partnering with other advocacy organizations and business leaders in urging local leaders to follow-up release of the Bus Transformation report with concrete actions to dramatically improve bus service.
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The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington DC region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Our mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies and investments needed to make those communities flourish.
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CSG Testimony on MD 355 and Veirs Mill BRT advancing to preliminary engineering
July 16, 2019
Re: Supplemental appropriation and amendment to FY20 Capital Budget and FY19-24 CIP – $3,000,000 for Bus Rapid Transit: MD 355 (Support), and Supplemental appropriation and amendment to FY20 Capital Budget and FY19-24 CIP – $1,000,000 for Bus Rapid Transit: Veirs Mill Corridor (Support)
By Jane Lyons, Maryland Advocacy Manager
President Navarro and Councilmembers, thank you for the opportunity to speak today. I am here on behalf of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, the leading organization in the D.C. region advocating for walkable, inclusive, transit-oriented communities. We support a robust bus rapid transit system on MD 355 and in the Veirs Mill corridor.
For MD 355, we urge the Council to recommend Alternative B, dedicated median BRT lanes, and to incorporate Alternative C, dedicated curb BRT lanes, in the southernmost segment in Bethesda. Median bus lanes are the gold standard for BRT, producing the highest ridership, frequency, and reliability. These are the characteristics that will make BRT a choice mode for current transit riders and attract new riders.
Given the high ridership projections, economic development potential, and the long-standing support from community groups and business leaders, we believe that Segment 2 (White Flint/Twinbrook) should be included in the first construction phase, followed quickly by the segments north of Shady Grove. Prioritizing White Flint and Twinbrook will serve the most riders, as well as help spur anticipated investment and business development greatly needed by the county that will not occur without significant transit upgrades.
However, Alternative B does not offer dedicated BRT lanes south of Tuckerman Lane to the Bethesda Metro station (Segment 1). We prefer all-day dedicated curb lanes in both directions for this section but would accept the Alternative C recommendation for a peak direction only lane – as an initial phase. High-quality bus transit access to the job centers located along this corridor is critical. Any segment with dedicated curb lanes will require regular enforcement to ensure that cars do not use the lanes and slow down BRT service.
Regarding the alignment of northernmost segment through Clarksburg, we recommend the Snowden Farm Parkway alignment since it is the only option that does not require a road extension or widening, has the most potential for transit-oriented development, and is the only option that offers access to a grocery store.
In addition to favoring median BRT lanes, we strongly encourage and prefer the conversion of existing travel lanes to BRT to save time and right-of way-acquisition costs. We also concur with the Planning Board recommendation to initiate further service planning and network redesign for effective integration of BRT and local service. Effectively integrating BRT with local service will help to maximize ridership, accessibility, and affordability.
The county should also plan for improved bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure near BRT stations. Pending construction of the BRT, the county must continue to invest in streetscape enhancements, off-peak street parking, safer pedestrian crossings, and sidewalk and bikeway improvements along MD 355. These are urgent and necessary in order to meet mobility, Vision Zero, emission reduction, and economic development goals.
Finally, we strongly urge that preliminary engineering advance concurrently for both the entire Veirs Mill BRT project and MD 355 BRT. The Veirs Mill corridor has the highest ridership of any bus route in the state of Maryland, and current transit service does not meet the high demand. There is an equity and social mobility issue at stake – nearly 10 percent of the corridor lives below the poverty line, 22 percent do not speak English proficiently, and half of households have one or fewer cars. Veirs Mill BRT is an important step towards bridging the east-west economic divide, and should not be delayed any longer.
In fact, given the urgency to change course and fight climate change, the county and state should place both the entire 355 and Veirs Mill BRT projects on a fast track.
Thank you for your time.
CSG Testimony regarding 355 BRT alternatives review and selection
We support a robust bus rapid transit system on MD 355 and urge the Planning Board to recommend a combination of Alternatives B and C.
CSG in the News: Metrobus Gets Low Marks For Speed And Schedule Reliability
by Jordan Pascale, For a month, Metrobus has been under the microscope. MetroHero, an app created by local transit enthusiasts to help track trains and buses, partnered with the Coalition for Smarter Growth to examine routes for speed and reliability. Now the Metrobus Report Card is out and the results are not good. The group gave Metrobus a “D” grade.
Stewart Schwartz and Cheryl Cort of the Coalition for Smarter Growth said they want to use the results to advocate for more traffic signal prioritization, among other measures, to speed buses up and keep them running on time.
“The bus performance scores aren’t great, but it’s our hope that our findings spark more action on dedicated bus lanes and other bus improvements,” Schwartz said.
The report says more riders will take the bus if service is reliable, trip times are predictable and buses come frequently.
See the full WAMU story here.
CSG in the News: Report: Traffic jams push DC riders off buses, but fixes possible
CSG in WTOP:
Report: Traffic jams push DC riders off buses, but fixes possible
by Max Smith | @amaxsmith, July 10, 2019, WTOP
Taking the bus is too frustrating in D.C., and major changes are needed if the city is going to deal with significant problems facing commuters, a new Metrobus report card finds.
Buses are stuck in so much traffic and can be so inconsistent that the number of ride-hailing trips in D.C. through companies such as Uber and Lyft could surpass the number of trips taken on buses this year for the first time.
The report released Wednesday by the Coalition for Smarter Growth and MetroHero reviewed 34 routes on D.C.’s busiest bus corridors.
“The results of this analysis paint a striking picture of the problems Metrobus encounters on a daily basis: on these high-priority routes, service was found to be largely unreliable and unpredictable, with buses regularly arriving much later than scheduled and headways rarely being maintained,” the report said.
Of the 34 routes measured, 18 got F grades, 5 got Ds, 10 got Cs, 1 got a B and none got an A based on speeds and schedule adherence.
The average speed for the routes in May was just 9.5 mph, well short of an 11 mph goal.
The slowest corridor was 14th Street, while the worst schedule adherence was on the 39, X3 and 34.
The report, which also supports the regional Bus Transformation Project that’s meant to make similar recommendations across the region, urges the D.C. and Metro to:
— Add dedicated bus lanes to make trips more consistent and reduce delays (along with associated enforcement of bus lane rules with traffic officers or cameras).
— Allow all-door boarding to reduce time spent waiting at stops, which could include setting up mobile or off-board fare payment procedures.
— Expand transit signal priority and queue jumps that let buses enter an intersection from a stop before other traffic to let buses spend less time waiting at lights.
— More limited-stop routes and consolidate local stops that are very close together.
— Upgrade bus stops for accessibility and amenities.
— Give free transfers between bus and rail, and discount fares for low-income riders….
D.C. has only two miles of bus-only lanes — 1.4 miles of which is only temporary for the summer.
The city has promised 16th Street NW bus lanes in the next year or so, and bus lanes along K Street NW by 2024. But official city plans called for 25 miles of bus lanes to be in place in the 2020s.
The report card calls for 14th Street bus lanes in the near future, followed by bus lanes on U Street NW and Florida Avenue NE by 2024, North Capitol Street bus lanes by 2025, and improvements along M Street SE/SW and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE.
To do that, the report suggests phasing out parking on streets with the highest ridership bus routes to create lanes that serve more people.
Read full WTOP story here.
CSG in the News: New report card gives Metrobus service in the District a failing grade
CSG in the Washington Post: New report card gives Metrobus service in the District a failing grade
But an analysis says there’s hope for a better bus system if recommendations are carried out.
by Luz Lazo, Washington Post, July 10, 2019
Despite efforts to improve bus service in the District to make it a more attractive option for travel, it continues to be slow and unreliable, with some saying the situation has reached a crisis point.
A report card to be released Wednesday gives Metrobus a grade of D — barely passing.
“Transit is really in crisis,” said Cheryl Cort, policy director at the Coalition for Smarter Growth, which co-sponsored the report along with the MetroHero commute app. “We have been losing riders for quite a few years, and the speed and reliability of the bus just continues to decline.”
Metrobus’s grade was pulled down by some of its biggest — and well-known — problems: buses are commonly stuck in traffic gridlock, they aren’t properly spaced, and they are chronically late.
The good news is the system, which for a long time was an afterthought in a region that prioritizes Metro, is getting some attention….
The report card unveiled Wednesday concurs with the recommendations by the [Metro-led Bus Transformation] transportation project. Among them are making boarding easier through mobile or offboard payment systems; enhancing affordable options with free transfers between bus and rail and reduced-fare passes for low-income riders; and improving the rider experience with efficient next-bus technology, modern fleets, clear system maps, and safe and accessible bus stops….
The District this summer launched the H and I street NW bus lanes, aimed at speeding travel of about 70 buses an hour in the downtown corridors. Hill said that though the bus lanes are only a pilot, she hopes they will be made permanent. The District is also moving toward construction of a long-planned bus lane on 16th Street NW and a transitway in the congested K Street corridor, which carries a bulk of the routes servicing downtown.
“This is the right direction. These are the things D.C. should be doing,” she [co-author Jennifer Hill] said.
[Poll: Majority of Washington-area residents support bus-only lanes.]
Jeff Marootian, director of the District Department of Transportation, said the recent investments in the downtown bus lanes, along with the other bus priority plans, will make buses more attractive to riders and are part of the city’s strategy to decrease congestion and make the District’s transportation more sustainable.
Read the full Washington Post story here.
RELEASE: DC Bus Service gets a “D” on its Report Card
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 10, 2019
CONTACT
Cheryl Cort, Coalition for Smarter Growth
202-675-0016
cheryl@smartergrowth.net
DC Bus Service gets a “D” on its Report Card
Groups highlight how DC buses can be faster and more reliable
D.C. – Today, Coalition for Smarter Growth and MetroHero released a first-ever performance-based DC Bus Report Card. Developed from real-time data collected in May 2019 by MetroHero, the report shows DC’s major bus routes suffer from poor reliability and sluggish speeds, factors that are likely major contributors to the system’s declining ridership. The analysis of the report card can be found here.
“Our analysis shows the challenges Metrobus riders encounter on a daily basis. On the city’s priority corridors with high-ridership routes, we found service to be generally unreliable and unpredictable, with speeds slower than 10 mph,” said Jennifer Hill, Ph.D., Lead Researcher at MetroHero.
“The slow speeds and lack of on-time reliability are contributing factors in declining ridership. But we know how to turn this around: give buses priority on the streets, speed up boarding, balance bus stop spacing, and provide customer-focused service,” said Cheryl Cort, Policy Director for the Coalition for Smarter Growth.
MetroHero analyzed bus performance for 34 routes in DC’s highest ridership corridors in May 2019, focusing on three key factors: adherence to designated headways, adherence to scheduled arrival times, and average travel speed. Bus speeds on these routes averaged just 9.5 mph over the entire month, confirming other data showing that Metrobus speeds across the entire system have been getting slower every year.
“We hope that this report will be a useful tool to inform decision-makers about where DC’s buses need the most help and what solutions will have the greatest impact for riders,” said Hill.
DC and Metro are stepping up to implement improvements to bus service. DC recently implemented pilot bus lanes on H and I Streets downtown, and is planning to run bus lanes on 16th Street and K Street in the near future. The city has also implemented traffic signal priority and queue jumps on several corridors.
On an average weekday, Metrobuses transport over 200,000 riders around the District of Columbia to and from work, school, doctor appointments, grocery stores, entertainment, and more. Buses offer transit service far beyond the reach of Metrorail.
“This is an important moment for DC’s bus service. Buses are the most efficient use of limited public street space for moving people, and critical if the city is to grow without choking on traffic. We are encouraged by recent city actions, but urge the Bowser administration to make moving buses truly a top priority on our city’s streets,” said Cort.
About the Coalition for Smarter Growth
The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington DC region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Our mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies and investments needed to make those communities flourish. Learn more at smartergrowth.net.
About MetroHero
MetroHero (www.dcmetrohero.com), which began as a simple app designed to visualize real-time train positions in the D.C. Metrorail system, has been monitoring and providing performance metrics on WMATA’s trains for over three years. The app has gained popularity with many area commuters, averaging roughly 15,000 unique users every month, largely due to its unique real-time visualizations of the current state of the Metrorail system, from train delays and service outages to user-driven reports of inconveniences such as station crowding and broken intercoms. In September 2018, the MetroHero team extended a number of their train performance tracking algorithms to the Metrobus system, which they used to gather performance data for the report card.
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Making DC’s Buses the Best: A forum on the first performance-based D.C. Bus Report Card and next steps for faster, more reliable bus service for all.
Join us for the release of the first D.C. Bus Report Card. A short presentation will be followed by an interactive discussion with leading decision-makers, transit experts, and advocates sharing ideas on how to make D.C.’s bus system the best way to travel on city streets.
WHEN: July 10, 2019, 6:30-8:30 pm
WHERE: Georgetown University’s Downtown Campus, 640 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, D.C.
There is no charge to attend this event, but pre-registration is required.
Representatives from the Coalition for Smarter Growth and Metro Hero will present the results of the first ever performance-
based report card for D.C. buses and a panel of local experts will discuss how this assessment ties in with other studies being done to improve the bus. The panel will include Councilmember Mary Cheh, DDOT Director Jeff Marootian, and representatives from WMATA, TransitCenter, and the Greater Washington Partnership. Uwe Brandes, of the Georgetown Urban & Regional Planning Program will moderate.
Join us on July 10 to learn about new ideas and next steps to improve bus service in the District and hear updates on current projects at DC Department of Transportation and Metro! Through this discussion, we hope to inspire public involvement and support for the best possible bus service in the District of Columbia and the National Capital Region.
Co-hosted by: Coalition for Smarter Growth, MetroHero and Georgetown SCS Urban & Regional Planning Program
photo credit: Cheryl Cort