Transit death spiral starts with Philadelphia

Most major transit systems are experiencing funding difficulties because of how post-covid work from home (WFH) has affected transit system business models.  

-- "Three ideas to save S.F. Muni that have nothing to do with cutting service," "‘There is a real problem’: Bay Area legislators seek to prevent BART and Muni from unraveling," San Francisco Chronicle, "A Last-Ditch Effort to Fund Bay Area Transit Tries to Pick Up Support," KQED/NPR

-- "Chicago ain’t ready for transit reform — yet," Crain's Chicago Business, "llinois lawmakers call for special session to address $771M public transit shortfall," ABC7

-- "As WMATA’s new budget goes into effect, future funding woes remain," Greater Greater Washington

Formerly, there was lots of ridership during M-F community periods, with some ridership at night and on weekends.  Now there are fewer riders, which significantly reduces farebox revenues.  For bus-based systems fares aren't that significant a funding source.  They are for rail.

Poster by Joseph Binder, c. 1950s.

Chicago Transit Authority, Avoid Street Congestion poster by Arthur A. Johnson, 1926.

MBTA Commuter Magazine 1971: Welcome to the T Party

Philadelphia's transit system, SEPTA, is the closest to the brink.  Effective yesterday, they started cutting service ("Phillies fans slowed but not deterred by SEPTA service cuts," Philadelphia Inquirer).  From the article:

Ryerson noted the critical — but sometimes overlooked — role that public transportation plays in everyday life.

“If you really think about how you’ve made some big choices — where you live, where your children go to school, where you work, even the frequency at which you go to a Phillies game — all of these choices are shaped around your income, the makeup of your family, and your transportation accessibility,” she said.

The elimination of certain bus routes might force some parents to rethink where their children attend school, Ryerson said, while teenagers could lose a pillar of their independence. Transit cuts can also lead to an increase in people skipping health screenings and vaccinations. “There’s a huge negative impact on public health from not providing that connectivity,” Ryerson said.

The Pennsylvania Legislature is pretty evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, and the Republicans in the Senate aren't interested in long term funding or stability, and have proposed some short term fixes, which the Democrats do not support.  So the state hasn't passed a budget, and SEPTA has started cutting service, as it first proposed during initial budget discussions.

-- "Philadelphia transit hits ‘death spiral.’ More cities could follow," Washington Post

SEPTA officials have called it a “death spiral.” The changes to one of the nation’s largest mass transit agencies are expected to hit the poor, elderly and daily commuters the hardest. Many will have to start their commutes earlier and arrive home later.

They have warned of “fiscal cliffs” in which transit systems start cutting services, potentially reducing ridership in ways that necessitates even deeper service cuts. Transit agencies in Chicago, Dallas, Portland and San Francisco all face similar challenges.

SEPTA, which serves about 800,000 riders daily, will curtail service on all bus and rail lines by 20 percent as well as eliminate 32 bus routes on Sunday. The changes are expected to make buses and trains slower and more crowded as well as present new complications for 55,000 Philadelphia students who start school on Monday.

But since the pandemic slashed ridership for big city transit systems, officials and transit experts have been raising questions about the sustainability of public transportation that millions of Americans rely on each day.

The cuts this month are just a preview of even more painful reductions in January unless Pennsylvania’s legislature acts soon to help SEPTA close a $231 million budget shortfall. The transit agency will raise fares by about 22 percent on Sept. 1, and reduce service by another 25 percent in January. It will also eliminate five commuter rail lines that service the suburbs as well as Delaware and New Jersey.

-- "SEPTA’s massive cuts are here and it’s ‘bad on so many levels’," Philadelphia Inquirer

SEPTA is cutting 20% of its service; 32 bus lines will be eliminated, including series 400 routes that serve schools, and 16 other routes will be shortened. Buses, trolleys, and subways will reduce the number of trips offered, lengthening waits for riders.

On Sept. 2, Regional Rail service will be reduced. That could mean up to two hours between trains in the midday hours during the week and on weekends.

I never did write a blog entry about how I was impressed with the graphic renditions of what the service cuts would mean.  And an infographic they produced on the economic value of transit in Philadelphia to the region and state.  

Unfortunately, conservatives tend to be anti-public good, anti-transit, and anti-public investment.  They have a hard time thinking about transit as a product and as an economic development tool, or that Philadelphia's economy is important to the rest of the state.

Usually a crisis gets people to finally act, but that hasn't been the case in Pennsylvania.

Chicago's transit system has the same problem, but transfers from other regional transit services have staved off the kinds of cuts that are starting in Philadelphia. ("CTA gets $74M from Metra, Pace to delay 40% service cuts next year," Chicago Sun-Times).

Since the Trump Administration is anti-transit, federal funds aren't something that agencies can try to get to deal with the "fiscal cliff."  Transit is an essential foundation of success for large legacy cities, which could not support the number of people and trips by relying on the automobile.

======

Never stop building your transit funding sources, it's easier when you are successful, and very hard when you are failing.

This article, "Key Oregon Democrats signal support for public transit, climate-friendly transportation framework." (Portland Oregonian) reminds me of past writings about setting up for success in case of potential failure, using the example of the Rochester NY bus system, which before the Great Financial Crisis, had already established relationships with local institutions, which paid toward transit provision ("Creativity Helps Rochester’s Transit System Turn a Profit," New York Times).  So when tax revenues dropped, they had access to other sources.

And the point I make about transit systems, and DC in particular, that the best time to solidify funding agreements are when you are wildly successful.  For DC that was within the first 10 years of the launch of Metrorail in 1976 ("WMATA and MWCOG announce new joint transit initiative | Could a regional "transport association" be on the horizon, or just a transit bailout?," 2024, "WMATA Chief says it’s time to talk about a regional tax to help fund Metro (DC area)," 2023).

From the Oregonian:

A group of Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday unveiled a high-level concept for a transportation package that would significantly boost funding for public transit and climate-friendly pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure.

To pay for those needs while also funding basic road and bridge maintenance, Democrats proposed gradually increasing the state’s gas tax from 40 cents to 80 cents per gallon, increasing car registration and title fees, implementing a 2% sales tax on new vehicles and increasing the state’s payroll tax for transit fivefold to 0.5%.

It’s unclear how many of those suggestions will ultimately end up in a transportation package that lawmakers are hoping to pass this legislative session, which must end by late June. But a significant number of Democrats, about 17, have expressed support for the transit and climate related provisions, including three members of the key Joint Transportation Committee.

The basic ideas underlying the new proposal are similar to a more comprehensive transportation funding framework that the Democratic leaders of the Joint Transportation Committee put forward in April. That framework suggested more than 10 tax and fee increases to better maintain Oregon’s roads and bridges as well as shore up funding to public transit, rail and bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. Those tax hikes included a 20 cent increase to the gas tax and a 1% tax on new vehicle purchases.

Note that the past blog entry, "Metrolinx Toronto: 25 potential tools to fund transit-transportation infrastructure," (2013) lists many different funding sources for transit, based on a study for Greater Toronto's Metrolinx regional transportation authority.  I've since added a few in the comments, although the overall entry hasn't been updated.  (I haven't compared the ones suggested in the proposed Oregon framework against this list.)

Metrorail night hour extension vs. creating a metropolitan overnight transit network

I was surprised to see an article ("Bowser pushes for late-night Metro to boost D.C. economy," Washington Times) about how Mayor Bowser was "organizing a protest" at WMATA headquarters advocating for extending Metrorail subway operating hours later on Fridays and Saturdays.

-- #KeepMetroOpen
-- city press release

Before the system's "crash" it did operate later, but cut back on hours in order to provide more time for maintenance and repair ("Plans for Metrorail contraction in the face of London Night Tube expansion," 2016).

Transit as a commuter service versus a sustainable mobility platform that supports placemaking and quality of life: the city versus the suburbs.  I agree with the need for longer Metrorail hours, but given the current circumstances of the system in terms of "State of Good Repair," this is likely to be less realizable as DC and the suburbs (excepting Arlington) tend to have different philosophies about the system, which shapes their budget and planning priorities.

To the suburban jurisdictions for the most part, Metrorail is seen a service for commuters Monday through Friday, not a transit service that supports sustainable mobility, de-emphasis of the automobile, placemaking, and the night time and weekend economy.

They have a hard time people choosing to ride transit for any reason other than going to and from work--and they think of work as a day job during the week, not people working in jobs outside of those traditional hours.

The economic impact of the nightlife economy.  As part of DC's campaign to extend Metrorail hours, it released a report on the Night Time Economy ("Limited late-night Metro service is hurting D.C. economy, study says," Washington Post).

-- Economic Impact of DC's Nightlife Economy 2020, Mayor's Office of Nightlife and Culture

Transit as a supporting element for the nightlife economy.  The report acknowledged the city's transit mix -- Metrorail and buses -- as a supporting condition.

But it focused mostly on the Metrorail, which even in the best of conditions only runs later two nights a week.  It used to run during the week until about 1am, and later than that on Fridays and Saturdays only for about a decade.  it starts up rather late on weekend mornings.  Now on Sundays it closes pretty early.

No mention of streetcar.  And interestingly, although H Street NE is a major and growing nightlife district, it doesn't mention streetcar service as an element of the transit mix and clearly the city doesn't see expanding the streetcar network as a priority within the night time economy ("D.C. drops plan to extend streetcar line to Georgetown," Washington Post).

Unlike cities such as Philadelphia, Toronto, and Melboune, where streetcars are key building blocks of their transit networks.

How about starting off by creating an integrated night time transit network?  For some time I've been writing about late night transit, which is an issue beyond extending Metrorail hours for a couple hours on weekends.

-- "Night moves: the need for more night time (and weekend) transit service, especially when the subway is closed," 2013
-- "Night and weekend transit/subway service: Metrorail edition," 2016
-- "Overnight transit service: San Francisco," 2016

In DC, the main bus lines run 23 hours/day providing a good foundation for 24 hour transit service, but the suburbs don't have a similar set of routes.

Plus, overnight transit service along the Metrorail line and to the airports is mostly non-existent.

Many cities have created a night transit network with a mix of rail and bus services.  Toronto, London, other European cities, and the San Francisco Bay are best practice examples.

And over the years, WMATA/DC have expanded night time service where demand warrants, in particular in the 16th Street corridor ("Along 16th Street, late-night workers are often left behind by overcrowded buses" and "Metro to expand night bus service along 16th Street NW," Washington Post).  The S routes on 16th Street were already a line with 23 hour service--but they needed more frequent service and more capacity at certain times.

MARC train service.  While not focused so much on "DC's" night time economy, the MARC Penn Line train runs reasonably late between Baltimore and DC, not overnight though--it used to run close til midnight until budget cuts as a result of the 2008 recession.  In 2013, they extended Penn Line service from Monday-Friday only to weekends too, which is great.  But Amtrak service does run between DC and Baltimore for most of the night.

MARC used to print separate weekday and weekend schedules, but now they are integrated into one Penn Line Schedule brochure.

VRE does not provide night or weekend service between DC and Northern Virginia.

The bus service in Columbus, Ohio has overnight bus service on some lines, which is indicated on bus stop signage.

Conclusion.  (1)  The night time economy should be treated as a design product:  Basically the idea is to treat night time transit service as a "design product" ("Night time as a daypart and a design product," 2017), in this case within the context of the transit system ("Branding's NOT all you need for successful transit," 2018).

(2) Branding: An overnight transit network should be branded, like SF's All Nighter, many cities and the Night or Nite Owl, Night Tube and Night Bus in London, and the Blue Network in Toronto.

(3) Create an overnight transit network: At the very least, DC should be advocating for an integrated and complete overnight transit network, operating when the Metrorail system is closed for starters, but also integrating extended hour service by Metrorail, trains, and streetcar.

I think this is more important than programs to subsidize late night ride hailing trips ("Metro Is Subsidizing Lyft Rides. Here’s How The Program Works," WAMU/NPR), but that can be included.

(4) Start with what already exists (and branding it as such): DC's bus lines with 23 hour service can be re-branded as the Overnight Transit Network and a night time bus network schedule and map, like Chicago's, should be created.

(5) Identify and build the night transit network outward from nodes in the transit network: Major rail and bus transit stations, like Union Station, Silver Spring, etc., should be designated as nodes within a overnight transit system.  For example, how late night buses operate from train stations in London (I know, I had to take one because my train from Liverpool was way late, arriving after the Underground and Overground shut down for the night.)

This map of night bus services shows how the overnight transit network serves both the Victoria Train Station and the Victoria Coach (long distance bus) Station.

(6) Pricing: And to encourage transit use on weekends (and to discourage car trips, including ride hailing), some transit systems offer special pricing, such as low cost all day passes on weekends, or additional riders can ride free for monthly pass holders.  This is important, because with larger groups, it's often cheaper to drive or use ride hailing than if each had to pay round trip transit fare.

(7) Marketing: If you want people to use transit it needs to be marketed (presuming there is a quality product worth marketing).  The overnight transit network needs to be supported with signage, schedules, advertising, and other promotion.




Some best practice examples

San Francisco.  The SF MUNI system has had overnight service for decades.  Over the past few years, transit agencies across the SF Bay have aimed to create a broader system, called the All Nighter service.  They even market it as a network.

Toronto's system, called the Blue Night Network is a mix of streetcars and buses and the most extensive in North America ("TTC Set to Expand Blue Night Network in September," Urban Toronto).

London.  When I got a walking tour of "Downtown London" with Ivan Bennett, former product design  manager for the Transport for London bus network he made a great point about digital information delivery in bus shelters, how a map of the network could change based on time of day.

London produces a Night Tube map for Fridays and Saturdays, when certain lines run 24 hours.  They complement it with a map for taxi stands operating alongside the Night Tube.  Transport for London also produces night maps for all buslines with late night service.

New York City.  A few years ago, the NYC Subway system published a special map for night time services as they run some subway lines 24 hours.  It's out of print now, but they maintain an online version.

Hamburg has two different night services maps, one for during the week,  when the rail services close around 1 am, the other for weekends, which is much more extensive and includes a mix of services including certain lines of the U bahn subway.

Seattle.  King County (Seattle) now has 18 bus routes that run overnight, which are focused on but not limited to Seattle.

-- Seattle best practice review of overnight bus services (not absolutely definitive)

Chicago.  The foundation of the overnight transit network in Chicago is 24 hour service on the Blue Line subway and Red Line rapid transit line, complemented by bus services.

-- Chicago Night Owl printed schedule.

Capital Transit system, DC.  DC's transit system had an Nite Owl service mixing streetcar and bus service (just like how Toronto does it today).

1946 Capital Transit map

So did Philadelphia ("The Origin's of SEPTA's Nite Owl Service").  It's the foundation of the current service program, which includes 24 hour weekend service on the Market-Frankford Line.

SF area bus systems to institute "Early Bus Express" service as BART to start service one hour later (because of long term seismic retrofitting project)

For years I've suggested that the DC area needs an integrated night owl bus network, although for DC proper there is such a network although it connects poorly to Union Station and there needs to be service to National Airport as needed when the Metrorail system is closed:

-- "Night moves: the need for more night time (and weekend) transit service, especially when the subway is closed," 2013
-- "Night and weekend transit/subway service: Metrorail edition," 2016
-- "Slight revisiting of the issue of overnight transit service: San Francisco," 2016
-- "London 24 hour weekend Underground service launches tonight," 2016

BART is the regional rapid transit system in the SF Bay and the east and west sections of the region's transit system--split by the San Francisco Bay-are connected by the Transbay Tube under the Bay.

To accommodate construction in the upcoming 3.5 year project of seismic updates to the Transbay Tube, the system will be opening one hour later, shifting from 4am to 5am.

According to the webpage announcing the "Early Bus Express" service, about 2,900 people use BART during that hour.  To maintain service to this customer segment, the area's transit agencies are launching a special bus service is launching.

The alternative service plan creates 14 new express bus lines that will run from 3:45 am until 6:00 am. This includes 7 Transbay bus routes, 5 East Bay routes and 2 San Francisco/Peninsula routes.

The Early Bus Express fares will be set to be no more than the current BART fare.

-- PDF

This kind of anticipatory creation of new service in response to service cessation to maintain serving segments of the ridership is often overlooked by transit systems in other areas.

The Early Bird Express will launch on February 19th, the day that BART service hours change.

Greater New York Avenue Gateway revitalization organization (and the loss of industrially-zoned lands)

Received email from a new organization spearheading revitalization for New York Avenue in the Northeast quadrant of DC.

-- Greater New York Avenue Gateway Group

with an upcoming meeting on Thursday January 29th.

Traffic volumes on New York Avenue, circa 2000.

Generally, the corridor has been marked by the reality of its serving as a traffic-engorged entry in and out of the city, serving as a connection between the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, I-95, and Rte. 50 and I-395 in DC and Virginia.

That makes it pretty grim.  Plus it's bracketed by train tracks and a major train yard on the north side.   A Costco opened in the corridor a few years ago and does very well, but while satisfying consumer demands, doesn't make the corridor look any better.

In general, the New York Avenue corridor doesn't offer much in the way of high quality placemaking or entryway characteristics.

The city did a plan in the early part of the last decade that had some great ideas, and addressed the entirety of the corridor from the DC-Maryland line to where it joins I-395 around 3rd Street NW.

After this there was an attempt by Abdo Development to develop a big section of it, between Montana Avenue and Bladensburg Road, but that fell through after the 2008 real estate crash.  Another plan for that section was for a Walmart-anchored shopping center, which also fell through.

Since then, the prominent local real estate development firm, Douglas Development, has made a big investment in buying the historically designated art deco Hecht's Warehouse and a lot of the adjoining properties, including the 17-acre section once controlled by Abdo Development.  I don't know the exact amount, but it must be in excess of 50 acres.

They are converting the Hecht's into apartments, with retail on the ground floor and in adjoining buildings.

-- Hecht Warehouse District, Douglas Development Company
-- Washington Business Journal article

I think they are somewhat "crazy" a/k/a "ahead of the market," because the area is somewhat of a no person's land, distant from quality transit and definitely not particularly "walkable" and automobile-dependent.  That will change as more of the area gets repatterned.

Rendering of a DMU unit in MBTA Boston livery from BostonInno.  Note that this shows the possibility of a single railcar powered by electricity, which is more efficient than diesel.  A DMU integrates the engine into a single car, allowing for significantly smaller train sets and more frequent service. 

And as residential development and activity increases, an idea I once saw as crazy, adding an infill MARC railroad station at Bladensburg Road ("McDuffie suggests a Bladensburg Rd MARC or Metro station," BeyondDC), starts to make sense. Especially if it were possible to provide a type of transit service using Diesel Motive Units, something Boston is pursuing for one of its city-serving lines ("MBTA to purchase new trains, open new Blue Hill station," Boston Globe). This would allow for more frequent service, treating the railroad line as a kind of more frequent subway line, providing a type of fixed rail transit service that the corridor doesn't enjoy now.

A MOM Organic Market opened in November 2014 and despite my questioning the likelihood of success ("Sometimes a bad idea is just so obvious: MOM organic grocery on New York Avenue NE") allegedly it is already one of their highest-performing stores.

Other retailers and restaurants are announcing plans to open there.  Although my understanding is that retailers are getting sweetheart deals, which makes sense, because the retailers are taking big risks by locating there now, when the base of immediately located customers is low and most people will have to drop to shop there.

2.  Interestingly, I would argue these plans are somewhat counter to the recently produced Ward 5 Industrial Land Transformation Study, which recommended that industrially zoned land in the ward be preserved to support provision of space for "production, distribution, and repair" businesses, as well as the development of the creative economy by providing access to flexible spaces and artisanal production of food and beverages, as well jobs preservation and development.

These projects subtract 5% to 10% of the ward's industrially-zoned land in one fell swoop.

Integrating community and university bus systems

The City of Fairfax and George Mason University are engaged in a design intervention and process  called Vision Fairfax Mason, with the end goal of better linking the city and campus.  Last week they held a charrette (press release) which was also discussed earlier in the week in GGW.

Part of the discussion in the GGW piece concerned the distance between the city, the Vienna Metro Station, and the campus, the separate city bus system, CUE, which could be more frequent and run later on the weekends, and separate shuttle bus system run by the university (GMU image at left).

It made me think that perhaps the city and the university could unite their bus systems.

This isn't unprecedented.  Central Washington University provides transit service to Ellensburg as part of their service, although this service was cut way back in the post-2008 crash period of financial exigency.

Fairfax CUE bus.  Flickr image by BeyondDC.

The University of Maryland bus service got permission to sell passes to residents to be able to use the university system.  Currently, they have agreements with College Park and Greenbelt ("Hyattsville passes on adults-only bus passes," Gazette).

In looking into this more deeply, I found out that the bus system in Lawrence, Kansas, while separate from the University of Kansas' bus system, is integrated, with coordinated bus scheduling, a joint operations and dispatching center, shared pass systems, and a single map for both systems.  See "Columbia officials explore Lawrence's coordinated city-KU bus system" from the Missourian.

I think that's a model that more cities should be aiming for, in order to maximize their ability to provide more transit, more cost effectively.


A Route 1 Ride branded bus on Rhode Island Avenue in Hyattsville, Maryland.

Route 1 Ride, Prince George's County, Maryland. And while I can't seem to find the post, I guess it was on Greater Greater Washington, in discussion about WMATA's bus planning for the Rhode Island Avenue/Rte. 1 corridor in DC and Prince George's County, I suggested that a rapid bus service could be offered on the corridor, by extending the already existing branded bus service on Rte. 1 operated by a consortium of organizations including the University of Maryland, which provides the buses,

-- Route Map

That bus service runs from College Park to Mount Rainier--which is the first community in Prince George's County that lies across the DC.border  It would be comparatively easy to extend this service to the Rhode Island Metro station and even beyond to Dupont Circle.

Monckebergstrasse transitway in Hamburg, Germany and bi-articulated buses

Because it seems so difficult to create a network of dedicated transitways within DC ("Lane excuses: Buses deserve dedicated space," Express), on those roads where bus traffic is high, and the ridership carries a significant proportion of the passenger throughput on those streets (such as H Street NW and 16th Street NW especially), it was interesting to see Monckebergstrasse in Downtown Hamburg.

The transitway isn't limited to public buses. Taxis, tourist buses, bicyclists, and pedicabs are also allowed.  (Don't know if shared cars have an exception and can use the street, I doubt it.)

It's a block or two from the train station as well as the inter-city bus station and parallel to the pedestrian shopping street, Spitalerstrasse. Cars are permitted overnight, but not during the prime mobility hours.

It was notable that some of the routes use three-section articulated buses, a so-called "bi-articulated bus" that is 82 feet long, manufactured by Van Hool (they make the buses used for the DC Circulator).  Apparently these routes get about 50,000 riders per day, which is why the local transit authority switched to longer buses on those lines.

In the US, buses of this length aren't legal, although tractor trailers with additional trailers are legal on the roads in many states.  These combos can be 100 feet long.

Also see the past blog entry, "Making bus service sexy and more equitable," which is about double deck buses as a way to re-brand and reposition traditional bus service.

This image of a bi-articulated is from the grounds of the Central (inter city) Bus Station, which is proximate to the train station.  I like how they proudly call attention to the length of the bus in its graphic design scheme.

SF Controller's Office does benchmarking reports: transit comparison

The most recent report on the SF MUNI transit system compares the system to ten other US cities:

Dallas; Denver; Houston; Minneapolis;  Pittsburgh; Portland, Oregon; Sacramento; San Diego; San Jose, California; and Seattle.

Summary:

-- While the SFMTA has higher operating costs than all of its peers for light rail and
trolleybus service, it operates approximately 3 to 14 times the number of vehicles than its peers and the data indicate that the SFMTA's operating costs are commensurate with the level of service provided.

-- The SFMTA’s light rail vehicles, buses, and trolleybuses travel at a slower average speed through the transportation network than transit vehicles in the peer systems. However, the data show a correlation between average vehicle speed and the number of passengers served per mile, and the SFMTA's operations again appear consistent with the level of service provided.

-- Transit fares in San Francisco are consistently lower than fares in most of the peer cities.

-- Compared to the peer vehicle fleets, the SFMTA’s light rail vehicles and buses are generally less energy efficient on an in-use basis; are generally older, and typically
travel a fewer number of miles between vehicle failures.

-----------
In other San Francisco transportation news, the MUNI system has dropped the proposal to triple the fare on the historic streetcar line, the F line ("Plan would triple cost of riding S.F.'s historic streetcars" and "Proposal to triple fare on F-line eliminated," San Francisco Chronicle).

And despite all the complaining that you hear from SF residents about the quality of their transit system (most outsiders think it is quite good), a recent survey finds that customer satisfaction is reasonably high ("Muni riders generally satisfied, survey finds," San Francisco Chronicle).

Night moves: the need for more night time (and weekend) transit service, especially when the subway is closed

People in one of the three taxicab lines at National Airport, around 12:30 a.m., Monday June 3rd, 2013.

Along with my trek walking from National Airport to Capitol Hill last Sunday because the subway had closed and the three lines for cabs were very long and the number of cabs paltry and I hate waiting, the very great GGW entry by Matt Johnson, "A Metrobus Sunday map: Where the service isn't," reminded me that from time to time I have written about night-time transit issues and the need to expand service.

1.  The GGW entry calls our attention to how the transit service in Houston (Harris County) publishes special maps for weekend service, separate maps for Saturday and Sunday, which compared to service during the week, is significantly reduced.  Matt put in the effort to create a similar map for the WMATA system.  And yes, transit service on Sunday is significantly reduced compared to the other days.

This section of the 1946 Capital Transit map for Washington, DC shows how into the late 1940s, weekend bus service was provided in East Potomac Park to make it easier for people to recreate.  There is no bus service to that area now, except by the National Park Service during the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

2.  And the issue has to do with whether or not your community wants to support a livable-walkable lifestyle that doesn't require automobile-dependence.

And as far as late night transit service goes, if you want a 24-hour city--really an 18-hour city maybe, but that 18 hours timeshifts for various segments of the population, one person's 18 hour city might start at 6 am and end at midnite, while another's 18 hour city ends at 4 am.  The various customer segments should be served as much as possible, which means providing close to 24-hour service within the transit shed.

3.  This relates to the point I make about how planning for transit service, especially in terms of network breadth and depth, should be done by the Metropolitan Planning Organization and the local jurisdictions, rather than the transit operator because the transit operator will always satisfice service because of budget.  See "Metropolitan mass transit planning: more thoughts."

Instead if the MPO/jurisdictions mandate a particular service structure, that puts them on the hook for providing the money (not unlike how DC passed a law requiring Sunday service on the part of the library system--see the past blog entry, "Another example of setting global service standards for local government services (libraries)") to the transit service to get the level of service that they call for in master plans.

4.  In response to some good articles in the Post last summer about burgeoning demand on the S bus line (16th Street NW), WMATA and DC responded by providing more service ("Washington Post article on the demand for night-time bus services").  On that line, the issue wasn't the hours of the service footprint, but needing to add more bus capacity.

5.  Besides adding service to more lines on an as needed basis, I suggest from time to time that WMATA provide a Nite Owl Bus Service along the various subway lines, during the time when the subway is closed (other than for maintenance) so that people can still get to and from stations and around the metropolitan area.  See the past blog entry "Overnight transit service." In the US, only New York City provides 24-hour subway service.

Note that in DC on the main buslines (30s--Wisconsin and Pennsylvania Avenues; S--16th Street; 70s--7th Street and Georgia Avenue; 90s--Florida Avenue, 8th Street, Southeast DC; X--H Street and Benning Road) service is provided 22.5 to 23.5 hours per day.  And in the suburbs, some Metrobus lines provide almost as much service.  But in many areas transit service ends when subway service ends.

Night owl bus service that complements subway lines when they are closed is provided in Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco as well as in the part of the San Francisco Bay served by BART, in the hours between 1 am and 5 am when BART doesn't run.  There, it's called All-Nighter Service.

One of the hindrances to Nite Owl service in some jurisdictions are provisions in labor contracts that call for double-time wages during overnight hours.  (I don't know if that provision is in the contracts here, I doubt it.)  See "Survey on MBTA late-night service draws thousands of responses," "Closing time: the chaos of last call," and "Opinion: 7/16/2010: Reviving the night owl" from the Boston Globe.

6.  At the very least, bus service between the airports should be provided during the hours that airplanes arrive and depart, when that period extends beyond the hours of the subway.  During the week, the B30 to BWI runs 16 hours, the 5A to Dulles runs 18 hours per day.  These buses run a bit fewer hours on the weekends (the B30 is tied to the subway service schedule as it departs from Greenbelt station).

Right: a draft version of the WMATA map that will be introduced when the Silver Line opens in August 2013.  See the WMATA blog entry, "We are down to the final two! Based on your comments last month, we made additional changes. Please compare the two maps and let us know which one you prefer."

It will be a few years before the Silver Line is extended to Dulles Airport, and I imagine an additional bus route from the last station of the line--Wiehle/Reston East station--will be added to provide service to Dulles Airport as well.

7.  And bus service between National Airport and the jurisdictions should be provided during the hours that the subway is closed.

Currently, there is no Metrobus service for National Airport with one exception (see the next paragraph).  But there should be the equivalent of the Nite Owl for it, especially in the period before Nite Owl service along the subway lines would be instituted.

Note that to serve employees before the subway starts running on Saturday and Sunday, WMATA provides 2-3 bus runs per day (13F/13G) per direction from and to National Airport from certain locations in DC, serving the Pentagon and Crystal City as well, between the hours of 6 am and 7 am. 

Nite Owl Service inset map, from the 1946 Capital Transit map.

Cut and run: transit and crime edition

In the run up to Hurricane Sandy, the Washington Post reported in "Citing attacks directed at buses, Metro weighs service cuts in Anacostia," that the DC-area transit authority proposes to cut bus service at night to a transit-dependent part of DC's Ward 8 because of rampant vandalism--rock throwing etc.--being directed at the buses at night.

Note that this is another illustration of my point that these kinds of transportation service decisions are too important to be left to the transit operators, they should be made as part of general metropolitan scale transportation planning and plans.  (See, among others, the past blog entry "Washington Post article on the demand for night-time bus services.")

From the article:

The steep, narrow streets around Robinson Place, often the scene of violent crime, have become treacherous territory for Metrobuses in Southeast Washington.  Police say teenagers are pelting buses with rocks, bricks and debris, causing injuries and damage and heightening anxiety among drivers and passengers.

Now, Metro wants to end night service in the trouble spots, all but giving in to the unidentified young people thought to be menacing the route.  Metro Transit Police say they have not been able to halt the attacks, with no arrests in at least two years.

The chief spokeswoman for the D.C. police says the department does not assign officers or detectives to the bus cases because the attacks on Metrobuses are the transit agency’s responsibility. Caught in the middle are residents who live in the heart of the city’s poorest ward and who depend on bus service. If the proposed service cuts to the routes — the W6 and W8 — are approved, some riders would be forced to walk up to half a mile to the nearest bus stop.

While I understand the transit authority's desire to limit vandalism, reacting by retreating is not the best course of action, it furthers disorder.

Furthermore, addressing equity issues concerning transit access means that those with fewer transportation resources at their disposal shouldn't be denied service because of the negative actions of others.

And DC's police department needs to step up. 

Interdicting this violence should be a #1 priority of the Metropolitan Police Department, which maybe doesn't need to do city-wide "All Hands On Deck" ("D.C. police on deck but robberies increase" from the Washington Times) initiatives as much as they need to do focused policing initiatives, not unlike how Michael Davis, who went around assaulting-killing people with hammers and rocks in the Petworth neighborhood, was apprehended through filling the area with uniformed and undercover police (Brother of two NFL players arrested in Petworth hammer attack" from the Washington Post).

Contrast this to the response in the Gold Coast region of Australia to the same problem.  From "Teen vandals hurl rocks at buses" in the Gold Coast Bulletin:

... Mr Fernandez said bus drivers did not have support mechanisms in place to protect them.  He said the Newman Government should follow the lead of NSW and South Australia and impose harsher penalties on people who attacked drivers.

"The driver of that bus is pretty shaken up,'' Mr Fernandez said.  "We're going to keep pushing the Attorney-General (Jarrod Bleijie) to adopt harsher penalties for those who attack bus drivers.''

Meanwhile, police have warned that rock throwers terrorising bus drivers and passengers would face the wrath of the courts.  Superintendent Paul Ziebarth said endangering lives on public transport was a more serious offence than the culprits might realise.

Clearly, all of the city's (not just WMATA's) criminal justice and prosecution forces need to be mobilized similarly here, to reduce this problem, which we must note, is a recurring one (for example this Post article from 2003, "Metrobuses Face Rock Attacks On Streets of Southeast D.C.; Stone-Throwing Incidents Causing Injuries, Damage"), although this is the first time that I have heard of the proposed response being cessation of service.  

(Another option, if the buses are lightly filled at night, would be to shift to a jitney/taxi collectif type service.)

Sunday March 18 is International Bus Driver Appreciation Day

Image from the blog entry, "Grace: The Nicest CTA Bus Driver Ever" from the Go Shorty blog.

I think being a bus driver is one of the hardest jobs around because:

(1) not only do they have to deal with riders, who can be rude;

(2) they face the constant threat of potential dangers--bus drivers are alone and therefore face threats from some riders, especially when it comes down to ensuring that fares are paid;

(3) driving a big vehicle in traffic, when other vehicles don't pay your vehicle much mind is very hard; and

(4) likely they face a fair amount of management direction and control--even though when they are driving, they are independent.

Bad service from bus drivers

On the other hand, a lot of bus drivers can be jerks. Witness this recent article from Baltimore Brew, "Once proudly car-less, Baltimore bus rider bails after final insult: "No business, not even the MTA, can hope to survive with that kind of employee." ( Also see "MTA responds; plus, more bad bus stories.")

From the article:

... What unfolded yesterday morning, however, was different. It was the last straw in a run of headaches and frustrations that make the Maryland Transit Administration buses, for me, an unrealistic option.

As I sat waiting on the MTA-provided bench at the Fleet and Albemarle streets bus stop for the No. 11 bus at 9:08 a.m., I was getting a jump start on the day’s emails and appointments with my smartphone. As I heard the familiar sound of the bus approaching, I looked up to watch the No. 11 continue right past me without ever slowing down.

I jumped up and chased the bus on foot – in my work attire and carrying my work bag – and actually managed to catch up to the bus at a red light about one block from the dedicated stop where it drove right past me.

As the bus was stopped at the red light, I knocked on the doors to be let in, but instead the driver looked at me through the glass of the doors and yelled, “Next time stand up!” Then he drove away, leaving me standing in the street.

Of course, the DC region has a number of bad examples too, e.g. this blog entry from 2010, "When the union label may be terrifying: transit edition." That being said when I was riding the MTA bus service regular in 2009 and 2010 I felt that the MTA drivers were better than the bus drivers for WMATA, at least in DC.

Phoenix (and Halifax) bus strike

Plus, for most of this week, bus drivers in Phoenix and Tempe, Arizona were on strike. While the director of the contractor, Veolia, running the service didn't seem to understand why the strike was occurring, as recounted in this op-ed, "Westbrook: You should ask: Why the strike?" in the Arizona Republic, oddly enough it appears the strike was a tactic to get the City of Phoenix to reduce its penalties for service failures, so that the contractor would have more money that they could use to fund raises. See "Phoenix-area bus strike has been 22 months in the making" and "What's at stake in Phoenix bus-driver strike" from the Arizona Republic.

Meanwhile, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, bus drivers just ended a six week long strike. See "Halifax transit workers on strike" from The Chronicle Herald" and Metro Transit faces $900,000 deficit: City says long-term savings will be 'positive' outcome" from CBC. Imagine not having transit service for 6 weeks!

Where are transit unions on the value and importance of customer service?

I raise these counter-examples wrt bus driver appreciation because I don't think transit unions express much concern for the driver-rider experience.

Many drivers do bad things, and the drivers for the most part go unpunished, and the union stands up for following procedure etc., not ridding a transit service of employees who don't properly represent the value of the transit service.

A lot of the time this is ignored, because in most communities transit truly is a service of last resort for people who have no other choices.

Note that the Market Urbanism blog had an entry last year, "Five union work rules that harm transit productivity," about how union work rules drive up the cost of transit. Certainly, most of the need to increase fares in the DC region for next year's transit service has to do with personnel-related costs.

If we want transit service to succeed, especially for choice riders, the service and experience has to be high quality. This point doesn't need to be belabored. It's obvious.

Just like other professions--taxi drivers, airport workers, hotel workers, restaurants in tourist areas, etc.-- where the workers are front line personnel serving visitors and the community at large, so the local convention and visitors bureau invests in training these people, transit workers need "hospitality training" too, and the training needs to be updated and refreshed constantly.

See "CROSS­CULTURAL TRAINING FOR HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM: IMPROVING SERVICE ENCOUNTERS THROUGH INDUSTRY­TARGETED CRITICAL INCIDENTS" and this document on a proposed hospitality worker training program for Michigan, as well as the Detroit Orientation Institute.

That being said, I've come across many great bus drivers, who probably don't get enough commendations.

I know that every time I ride the bus, when I get off, I say thank you.

Earth Day and Intra-neighborhood transit

Orbit bus, Tempe, Arizona. Photo: Venus Lee/The Arizona Republic. Hundreds of people have signed petitions, sent e-mails and made phone calls voicing opinions about if and where free shuttle service should be expanded throughout the northern half of Tempe.

In a paper I wrote a couple years ago, among other things I proposed intra-neighborhood transit designed to move people in and around a neighborhood, and to major transit stations and lines, without their having to drive. (E.g., it is a big problem in neighborhoods with transit stations when people with Ward parking stickers drive to the station area and park, taking up all-day spaces.)

In the context of what I call the Metropolitan Transit Network, I call this type of service part of what could be termed the DC Tertiary Transit Network.

It turns out that Tempe Arizona has refigured part of its bus service to do exactly that. See the Tempe In Motion (the city's Department of Transportation) website for information on the Orbit bus system as well as these articles (no longer available for free) from the Arizona Gazette, "Neighborhood circulator buses bring sense of community" and "Venus, Mercury bus routes are in Tempe's Orbit circulation."

From the Orbit webpage:

Orbit (a FREE service) uses mini-buses to serve residential areas and connect them to local destinations such as shopping areas, other neighborhoods, major bus routes, schools and multi-generational centers. All Orbit routes run from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. every 15 minutes, 7 days a week. "No stop zones" occur in between the crosswalks of all schools served by an Orbit route. The Orbit routes use “flag” stops, which means that the driver will pick up and drop off passengers in residential neighborhoods provided it is safe to do so.

Note that the Tempe In Motion website is another example of a best practice government agency transportation website, focused on mobility, not just transit.

Scottsdale, Arizona has introduced a similar service.

And you could argue that the GEORGE service within Falls Church, Virginia does the same thing. But the Washington Post believes it is a luxury service and ought to be dropped for financial reasons. See the editorial, "A Bus to Nowhere: In Falls Church, a transit boondoggle."

Now the problem, likely with the GEORGE Service has more to do with population density and limited number of activity centers within the city. Rather than dump it, figure out how to make it work first. Maybe it can't work based on the conditions of transit demand within the city. But figure that out first. The Associated Press ran a story on the bus service, "INSIDE WASHINGTON: Pricey bus test a bust," which wasn't favorable, but it focused on the fact that the system was funded by earmarks.

The sign for the GEORGE bus line is seen at the East Falls Church metro stop in Arlington, Va. on Wednesday, April 8, 2009. It seemed like a good idea to its proponents, perhaps one that could be emulated nationwide: a fleet of electric buses that would ease congestion in one of metropolitan Washington's traffic-choked suburbs and do it in an environmentally friendly way. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

I don't know if Falls Church has done the kind of transportation demand management planning done in adjoining Arlington County, but it would be "fascinating" to do a study there, a full "TravelSmart" survey of each household, and figure out how to best make transit work.

But the survey would have to be much deeper, concerning travel behavior for the entire household for the entire day, not just for trips to/from work. The model would be the TravelSmart Australia program (first piloted in Victoria, see TravelSmart), which looks at all trips, not just work trips, albeit focused on major trip generators. From the website:

Many organisations are "trip-generators", which mean that the needs or desires of people to get to there, whether as a worker, a shopper or a student, cause frequent trips and visits by large numbers of people.

The types of organisations that generate frequent travel by many people include: places of employment, hospitals, schools, universities, sports & entertainment venues, commercial centers and supermarkets. Your organisation or community can become TravelSmart by using ideas from the national toolkits as they are available.

My sense is that during specific periods of the day, the George service may make a lot of sense, but not all day, when demand is likely to be extremely limited during time periods outside of rush hours in the morning and evening. But again there are other problems, if the transit service there competes with free parking, that makes it difficult. Plus, in the future, when the Silver Line subway system is in operation, it could be a completely different situation in terms of how such a service fits into the transitshed in Falls Church, and Fairfax and Loudoun Counties.

George bus. Photo: Adam Moreira via Wikipedia

But I am the first to agree that legislating bus service, be it the George bus service in Falls Church, or the DC Circulator service between Adams Morgan, Columbia Heights and Downtown (Ward 1) or between Union Station and the Navy Yard (Ward 6), or special shuttles that duplicate extant bus service (H Street NE), is the wrong way to go. It ends up disserving people who have limited transit options, who find these services limited, in periods of budget difficulty, such as people in the Oxon Hill area of Prince George's County, who face the loss of direct bus service to DC. See "5-Cent Hikes Better Than Bus Cut Idea, Many Riders Say" from the Post.

Bus, H Street Shuttle.

In a transportation plan for the city and region, there need to be hard numbers that proposed services have to meet, in order for the service to be able to be approved. And these requirements need to be hard, and impervious to legislative legerdemain and waste.

In any case, it is almost always a mistake to develop transit service without considering how it fits into a Metropolitan Transit Network. When service is created by legislation, you can almost always be assured that the service isn't viable otherwise.