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NEWS, PHOTOS FROM THE BUS & PARATRANSIT CONFERENCE

Closing Session: Update Routes to Meet Rider Needs

A public transit system should change its routes according to “what makes sense for riders” rather than just doing what it has always done, W. Curtis Stitt, president and chief executive officer, Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) in Columbus, told the May 10 Closing General Session.

Stitt, a panelist at the session “Re­imagining Bus Service in Your Region,” said a COTA staff member found a 1974 route map that was “almost identical” to the map the agency replaced with a comprehensive redesign earlier this month. Additional research showed that some of the routes dated to the era when horse-drawn coaches provided ­service in Columbus.

The question an agency must consider, Stitt said, is “Is this the best service we can provide to our customers?” The route overhaul provides improved region-wide service while staying within fiscal constraints. The issue of effective service is especially important, he said, because Columbus is the fastest-growing city in the Midwest, estimated to gain one million new residents by 2050.

Henry Li, general manager/CEO, ­Sacramento Regional Transit District (RT), said the city’s opening of a new sports facility was one catalyst for its route overhaul, but another was the need for a “bold, comprehensive transformation” of service to keep the system economically viable. About 10 percent of visitors to the city’s new sports arena use RT, he said, citing extensive positive media coverage that touched on concerns about nearby parking.

“Our riders asked us to optimize the entire system, so we began a study,” he said. He also noted other ways RT has “stabilized its service by cutting costs without cutting service,” such as its partnerships with Uber, Lyft and a local cab company to enhance first- and last-mile connections and its recent testing of autonomous vehicles. Li also said the agency currently receives little local funding and hopes to place a sales tax measure on the ballot in 2018.

Christine O’Claire, assistant ­general manager, planning and customer service, King County Metro Transit in Seattle, said the agency’s new strategic plan turns a bus agency into a “mobility provider.” Instead of maintaining its long-standing hub and spoke route ­configuration, she said, King County Metro operates the largest vanpool program in the nation and an extensive employer transit pass program and has received a federal Mobility on Demand sandbox grant to help it develop first- and last-mile connections.“We need to make sure people are working together on this process,” she added.

Todd Hemingson, vice president, strategic planning and development, for the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority in Austin, TX, said his agency’s primary inspiration was to “match service to the market … enhancing the customer experience is the most important factor.” He said Capital Metro is working to “make transit more valuable for the ­community” by examining how the pieces of the network fit together.

Moderator Timothy Kelly, executive vice president of Houston’s Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, said his agency was operating the same hub and spoke system as 50 years ago, when the region was smaller and had a single downtown, at the time of its comprehensive route overhaul in 2015. “We were not serving our riders well,” he said, leading to a replacement of the entire system at one time. “The new service is good, but there’s more to do,” he added.

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