Transcript Euclid Corridor Transportation Project BRT Workshop

Euclid Corridor
Transportation Project
BRT Workshop
HealthLine
Operations
July 22, 2008
ECTP Project Goals
Improve service to GCRTA
customers
 Increased service frequency and transit
efficiency
 Reduced congestion in and adjacent to
the Euclid Corridor by providing a more
efficient roadway and bus distribution
system
 Reduced travel time
 Inclusion of customer amenities
2
Previous Operations

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Bus operations were
slow—averaging 5.5
miles per hour
The #6 Euclid line
serves almost 10% of
RTA’s bus riders
Routes #7, #9 also
operated on Euclid
Avenue.
Inefficient Operations resulted from:


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Roadway
configuration
Poor pavement
condition
Mixed traffic flow
Parallel parking
Antiquated traffic
signal system


Frequent stops
Long dwell times
associated with
boarding, fare collection,
and ADA lift/ramp
utilization
All contributing to bus bunching and
irregularity of service frequencies
ECTP Major Elements
HealthLine (Euclid Avenue BRT)
Connects the region’s two major
employment centers, Cleveland’s
Central Business District and
University Circle, with the
Stokes/Windermere RTS in East
Cleveland.
University
Circle
Downtown
Stokes/
Winder
mere
ECTP Major Elements
Transit Zone
Establishment of BRT dedicated rightof-way required revising routing for 13
routes through downtown along
Superior and St. Clair Avenues.
Transit Zone designed to alleviate
impact of increased bus volumes
along the alternate routings.
Transit Zone Features
Superior Avenue
1.02 miles of 24-hr.
exclusive roadway
Peak hour service
frequency: every 30
seconds
St. Clair Avenue
Peak hour service
frequency: every 90
seconds
0.7 miles of peak hr.
exclusive roadway
HealthLine Service Frequency

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Five-minute
weekday peak
10-minute midday
15-minute
evenings and
weekends
Peak Hour Operations
ROUTE
HEADWAY
VEHICLES/HOUR
HealthLine
5 minute
12
7
20 minute
3
9
12 minute
5
32
15 minute
4
TOTAL
A bus every 2.5
minutes in peak
direction
24
Faster Travel Times

Coordinated traffic signals—maximizes
traffic flows.

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Continuous collection and
transmission of traffic data across
fiber optic lines from computers
connected to an assortment of datacollection points.
City of Cleveland’s Traffic Control
Center can modify signal operations
based on data flow
Faster Travel Times

Exclusive right-of-way

Transit Vehicle Priority

Advanced GPS Opticom system will give BRT
vehicles signal priority.

BRT given two opportunities per signal cycle
for green phase.

Approaching BRT vehicles will advance the
start of and/or delay the end of the BRT green
phase.
Vehicle Monitoring

GPS based TransitMaster system

Updates vehicle locations every minute.

Displays schedule adherence information to
vehicle operator.

Allows Integrated Communications Center to
react and redirect vehicles to smooth schedule
irregularities and adjust to emergency and
unusual situations.
Wireless LAN at
Garages
(schedule updates)
BRT Vehicles

ECTP is designed to accommodate
the unique BRT Rapid Transit
Vehicles (RTVs) that will operate on
the HealthLine, as well as existing
low-floor 40-foot buses between E.
22nd and Stokes/Windemere RTS.
Improved Boarding Facilities

Expedited Boarding:
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Low-floor vehicles

Fast-loading, ADA accessible, near-level
platforms with minimal platform gap
similar to rail.

Mechanical Docking provides uniform
small gap while protecting platforms and
vehicles from damage.
Improved Fare Collection

Off-board fare collection

Proof-of-Payment Fare System

Allows boarding through all doors.

Eliminates farebox queuing
Reduces dwell time
Minimizing Bus Bunching
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Schedule coordination between the four
BRT routes.
Stations designed to accommodate one
HealthLine vehicle and one of the other
BRT routes simultaneously .
If a station is occupied by two vehicles a
third approaching vehicle will hold prior
to entering intersection until the station
is clear likely moving the third vehicle
into the next traffic light cycle.
Projected Travel Time Savings

From Public Square to Windermere,
peak hour travel time will be reduced
from 46 to 34 minutes—a savings of
12 minutes or 25%
Early Operating Segments

Transit Zone
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BRT – E. 17th St. to E. 55th St.

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Rerouted Euclid Avenue services to new
exclusive bus lanes – Nov. 2005.
Began median operation – Nov. 2007.
BRT E. 55th St. to E. 83rd St.

Began median operation – Apr. 2008.
Transit Zone
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Instructed Operators concerning
exclusive lane usage.
Reoriented passengers to new
downtown patterns.
Worked to educate public about new
traffic patterns and exclusive bus
lanes.
Transit Police began issuing parking
and moving violation tickets.
What can go wrong, will go
wrong!

12 days after revised routes became
effective, Public Square construction
required major reroutes and stop
relocations.

Police and court personnel ignored rush
hour parking restrictions within St. Clair
bus lanes adjacent to courthouse.
What can go wrong, will go
wrong!

Bus volumes along Superior westbound
during the evening rush, required
passengers to board two buses (different
routes) at each stop at the same time.
Reorienting both Operators and
customers that a bus could not stop
twice at a stop was difficult. Failure to
move two buses through each light cycle,
created major bus lane jams.
BRT First Segments

Docking devices not yet available
 Added steering guides to place
buses near the platform without
hitting the platform
BRT First Segments

Unauthorized vehicles operating in
and across BRT right-of-way.
 Added flexible delineators to
prohibit restricted turns.
 Revised “Bus Only” signs to better
indicate exclusive lane.
 Transit Police began ticketing
vehicles operating improperly in
BRT lanes.
Traffic Enforcement
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Established ability for RTA Transit Police
to issue traffic citations along the BRT
and Transit Zones
Patrol areas daily ticketing vehicles
improperly operating within the exclusive
lanes as well as citing parked vehicles
interfering with operations.
Revising pavement markings and signs
to better inform other drivers of BRT and
Transit Zone regulations.
Proof-of-Payment
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Proof-of-Payment fare collection on

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HealthLine
Other BRT service when within BRT
corridor
Red Line Rapid Transit
All other services retain traditional
on-board fare collection.
Proof-of-Payment

Fare vending machines will be
installed at each station.

Passengers must purchase and/or
validate tickets prior to boarding
vehicles allowing use of all doors.
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RTA Transit Police will monitor
vehicles to ensure riders have paid.
Ticket Vending Machines
Ticket vending machines
will be installed at every
HealthLine and Red Line
station.
 Regular
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Dispenses single-fare
tickets and day-passes
only.
Validates multi-ride tickets
by subtracting a ride.
Ticket Vending Machines
Kiosk

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Sells 7-day and monthly passes, multi-fare
tickets as well as single-fare tickets and daypasses.
Validates multi-ride tickets by subtracting a
ride.
Validator

Supplements TVMs and Kiosks at heavy
boarding locations to validate multi-ride
tickets by subtracting a ride.
Ticket Vending Machines
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All HealthLine boarding locations are
equipped with at least one TVM.
Heavy locations may have an additional
TVM, Kiosk, and/or Validators to
accommodate passenger volume.
In the event of TVM failure, passengers
at stations without a redundant TVM will
purchase tickets from farebox located on
every RTV.
Low-volume times

During late evening and overnight
passengers will insert tickets into farebox
to verify ticket validity.

Transit Police will not examine tickets on
the HealthLine during these hours.
Other BRT Routes

Passengers boarding Routes #7, #9, or
#32 outside of the BRT corridor will
insert fares/fare media in the farebox.
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The farebox will validate multi-ride
tickets, sell all-day passes, and issue a
receipt for single-ride transactions.
Enforcement
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Passengers must have a valid, validated
ticket while on vehicle.
23 part-time Transit Police officers will
randomly board vehicles to examine
passenger tickets.
Passengers without valid fare media will
be issued a “Penalty Fare” notice.
Penalty Fare
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RTA Board established a Penalty Fare
equal to the cost of a month pass
(currently $63.00.)
Riders not presenting valid, validated
fare media when requested will be
issued a notice of penalty fare.
All penalty fare recipients must provide
name and address.
Penalty Fare

Riders failing to pay the penalty fare
within seven days will be charged with a
misdemeanor and processed through
the court system.

Fare evaders with outstanding penalty
fares or facing court action will not be
issued a penalty fare notice but will be
immediately charged.
RTV Maintenance Facilities
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Hayden Bus Maintenance Facility
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Central Bus Maintenance Facility
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Base garage for HealthLine RTVs.
Performs all routine maintenance and
inspections.
Performs overhauls and heavy
maintenance.
Buildings and equipment modified to
accommodate RTVs.
Facility Maintenance
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Station Cleaning
Station Repair
Landscaping
Snow Removal
Facility Maintenance
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Need to provide maintenance without
obstructing either BRT or general traffic.
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Only one general traffic lane in each
direction.
Must work at night when both BRT and traffic
volumes are light.
Requires maintenance of traffic measures
including placing traffic signs and cones to
block traffic lane adjacent to median
platforms
Station Cleaning
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HealthLine stations are swept and trash
removed six nights/week utilizing two
teams of two employees.
More intensive cleaning including
washing all windows and pavement
cleaning twice per week.
Station Repair
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RTA employees perform basic repairs
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Monthly inspections of all stations
Replacement of light bulbs
Replacement of damaged pavers
Station Repair

Stations much more vulnerable to
damage than rail stations

Median operations require stations to be
very close to traffic flows.

Street configuration did not allow for
physical separation between BRT and
traffic lanes.
Station Repair
Establishing on-call contractors for:
 Glass replacement

Tempered, laminated glass cannot be cut
to size

Pieces too heavy to be handled with our
maintenance equipment
Station Repair
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Steel repairs

Damaged sections must be cut-out and
replacement repair sections welded in
place
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Structures too large to be removed and
repaired off-site.
Landscaping
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Utilizing outside contractors for
landscape maintenance.
Snow Removal
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The City of Cleveland is responsible for
removing snow from the bus lanes.

The RTA is responsible for keeping
platforms clear of snow.
Snow Removal
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Different than rail stations.
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Access to platforms must be maintained at
all times.
Difficult to plow snow adjacent to platforms—
no place to push snow; fear of hitting
platforms results in large gap.
Q&A
Thank You!