PROPOSED TRANSIT SERVICE CHANGES TO CONSIDER PREPARED BY CLIFF GALANTE

 

 

ROUTE 1:

·               To increase ridership on Route 1 that links Southeast Lawrence to Downtown, I believe you must adjust the service route to better accommodate serving new developments being constructed off of O’Connell Road as well as providing more convenient access to the Douglas County Jail where prisoners will use the transit system to meet their transportation needs for work release programs and for family members and friends visiting the facility.  In addition, re-routing Route 1 south of 23rd Street will allow transit vehicles to travel on more transit friendly corridors and be less obtrusive in narrower residential neighborhoods.

·               To accommodate the change, the City will need to invest in extending the current bus out located just east of the intersection of Harper and 23rd Street on the southside of 23rd Street.  This will need to be done so that transit vehicles traveling southbound on Harper Street will be able to legal make a left hand turn onto 23rd Street, change lanes and pull into the bus out so that passengers can transfer to the Route 5 bus. 

·               Once this infrastructure improvement is completed, the route would be extended to O’Connell Road. With the construction of the 25th Terrace from O’Connell Road to Franklin Road, the Douglas County Jail will be better served where a bus stop can be installed at the intersection of O’Connell Road and 25th Terrace.    After traveling south on O’Connell Road, the bus would then head west on 28th Street to Harper Street.  Then the bus would travel south on Harper Street past the Praire Park Nature Center to 28th Street, where it would travel west to Haskell Ave.  At Haskell Ave, the bus would take a right and travel north to 23rd Street.  At 23rd Street, the bus will head east to Harper Street.  The bus would then take a left onto Harper and travel north continuing on its regular route.  Rerouting this bus this way, takes the route off of Harper, south of 23rd Street which is really not very conducive for public transit fixed-route service since it is more of a residential street.

·               I would anticipate that this service change could possibly add 5 minutes to the route, but it would serve more area and likely capture more ridership.

 

ROUTE 2:

·               Route 2 that currently links Haskell Indian Nations University to downtown is currently one of the transit system’s lowest performing routes.  In fact, ridership on Route 2 is the second lowest performing fixed-route being operated.

·               To increase ridership, I believe that the City should continue negotiations with Haskell Indian’s Nations University on a Universal Unlimited Access Program for students, faculty and staff to access Lawrence Transit System fixed-route service.  HINU would pay the City a subsidy annually to have this Universal access.  The revenue generated by HINU to pay a subsidy would come from fees assessed to all students, faculty and staff members regardless if they choose to use the transit system or not.  These types of programs are very popular in many other communities around the country.  KU recently implemented such a program for access to KU on Wheels.

·               If an agreement with HINU cannot be worked out, then I would recommend either eliminating the route and reallocating the resources or combining Route 2 with Route 1.

 

ROUTE 3:

·               Route 3 links North Lawrence West of the Kansas River from the Lakeview Industrial area to downtown.  Due to recent interest expressed by Lawrence Memorial Hospital regarding their desire for additional public transportation service to their facility to help alleviate parking congestion issues for hospital staff and vistors, I recommend that the route and it’s frequency stay the same.  I think that the City should work with KU to see how their 2nd and Michigan KUOW route can be adjusted to directly serve the hospital to increase frequency of service to the hospital.  I would also strongly recommend that the City initiate negations with LMH about using the underutilized parking on fourth floor of the Downtown Parking Garage located at 9th and New Hampshire Streets for offsite LMH employee parking.  Employees could then use the Lawrence Transit System Route 3 to travel from 9th and Mass directly to LMH.  The travel time would be 6 minutes.  LMH could pay the City a subsidy annually to rent out the forth floor of the parking garage for employee parking.  The revenues generated could be used either to support the garage or be used to support transit operations.  Currently, the public is not charge a fee to park on the fourth floor generating no income for the City.

 

ROUTE 4:

·               Route 4 that serves North Lawrence east of the Kansas River is currently the transit system’s lowest performing fixed-route.  Based on the level of use, I do not believe fixed-route service is justified in this area of community, even at a reduced frequency.

·               I recommend that the City consider implementing general public demand-response service in this area of the community that would operate very similar to T Lift paratransit service.  People would be provided with curb to curb service anywhere within North Lawrence within the City limits by calling in advance to schedule a trip.  Due to amount of demand, this should be relatively affordable to provide.  The City will need to closely monitor.  If demand rises to a certain point in the future, it may be for effective cost wise to revert back to fixed-route service. 

·               For people wanting to travel from North Lawrence to another destination in the City would be transported from any location in North Lawrence to only 9th and Mass Street where they can link with the regular fixed-route T service.  Return trips would be scheduled from 9th and Mass to anywhere in North Lawrence. 

·               If and when more industrial development occurs in North Lawrence near the airport, the City at that time can consider for economic development purposes if they want to revert back to fixed-route service to serve this area of the community if they believe their will be sufficient ridership generated to support the route.  

·               I do not recommend implementing general public demand response service in any other area of the community at this time.

 

ROUTE 5:

·         Route 5 serves the southern portion of the City linking Southwest Lawrence to Southeast Lawrence mainly along 23rd Street.  Due to time constraints on route 5 caused by traffic congestion during certain times of the day during peak commuting hours, I recommend that Route 5 be cut in half rather than extending the trip time which passengers will find undesirable.

·         I recommend that the KU Park and Ride Facility serve as the Lawrence Transit System, southern route transfer hub.  This is where the current Route 5 would be divided and where transfers could occur.  Specifically on leg of the new Route 5 would travel between the KU Park and Ride facility down 23rd St/K-10 to the East Hills Business Park.  The other leg or newly redesignated route number would travel from the KU Park and Ride to Wakarusa Drive serving the southwest area of the community. I would see if the trip times of these shorten routes could be decreased to 30 minutes making the service in this area of the community much more attractive. 

·         Furthermore, I would recommend that service from the KU Park and Ride to all the way to the East Hills Business Park be limited to only peak commuting hours based on employee work shifts.  During off peak times, service could be rerouted to help increase transit service in the Prairie Park Neighborhood. The City should now move away from only offering “vanilla” schedules and start to implement peak and off-peak service schedules to realize efficiencies.  It will be important to help bring the public along with these changes.  Many passengers indicate that one benefit they like of the Lawrence Transit System is that the schedules are always the same, regardless of the day of service.  Putting “bells and whistles” into the service to achieve operational and cost-efficiencies will require a greater understanding by the public to effectively utilize the service.    

 

ROUTE 6:

·         The combined Route 6’s (Clockwise and Counter Clockwise) linking West Lawrence to downtown is the transit system’s make traveled route.  However, due to increasing traffic congestion on 6th Street, the Transit System has difficulty during certain times of the day keeping on schedule.  Also, due to expanding development to the West and the pending Mercado Retail Development, I recommend that Route 6 be cut in half. 

·         I recommend that Route 6(a) travel only on 6th Street from downtown to the future Mercado Development which would be the end points of the route.  Due to all the development along this corridor, this is a highly effective route for the transit system that should always be preserved. 

·         I recommend that Route 6(b) be completely reconfigured to better accommodate University of Kansas needs by providing direct access to the University.  Since there is much off-campus housing on Bob Billings Parkway, it will be important in a future merged system that there is enough frequency of service provided along this corridor to make it attractive for students to utilize.  Another factor to consider or balance is all the medical offices and commercial development along Wakarusa Street that need to be served by the general public which are considered to be major trip generators.  Continuing to serve Pioneer Ridge (Assisted Living Facility) with fixed-route service is also very important because if this service is rerouted, then residents in this facility will only be able to have access to T Lift service which is far more costly for the City to provide service on a per passenger basis.

 

ROUTE 7:

 

·         Route 7 that links downtown to South Lawrence and the shopping on Iowa Street and all the public schools in between is one of the transit system’s more heavily utilized routes.  I believe ridership on this route could be improved by increasing the frequency of service on this route to 40 minutes.  Currently, the service frequency is 80 minutes.  

·         In order to increase the frequency of this route, I believe the City should eliminate Route 8 and reallocate the resources and the bus used on Route 8 to Route 7.

 

ROUTE 8:

 

·         Route 8 is the City’s most productive route after the Route 6 (combined) despite operating on an 80 minute frequency.  The route links downtown to the KU campus and shopping on South Iowa.  I believe under a merged system with the University of Kansas, that the City would no longer need to have a bus travel through the campus.  Route 7 and Route 8 are very similar routes in that the end points of each route are Downtown Lawrence and the shopping at South Iowa.  The only difference is Route 8 travels through the KU campus, and Route 7 serves Lawrence High School, Central Junior High, Cordley Elementary, and South Junior High. By merging with KU, KU can use the service they currently provide to serve the campus and the City can focus its efforts on off-campus routes.  For persons wanting to travel to and from downtown Lawrence directly to the KU campus can utilize the Downtown/25th & Melrose KUOW route.

 

HUB SYSTEM:

 

·         Some citizens have expressed their desire for the transit system to convert to a hub and spoke type service.  Where all vehicles meet and one point then travel in different directions throughout the community.  The benefit of providing such a service is that transfers are limited and seamless.  However, the downside of operating a hub system is that if one bus is running late due to be stuck in traffic, adversely impacts the entire system by delaying the system for people to be able to make transfers.  In addition, for a hub system to effectively work requires that there be sufficient space for all transit vehicles to congregate in one location at once.  Due to limited space downtown and concerns by the downtown business community, buses arriving downtown are intentionally staggered to minimize their impact.  This could be resolved with the City investing in a downtown transfer center similar to what the Topeka Metropolitan Transit Authority operates called, “Quincy Station” that has helped bring about much economic development in downtown Topeka as a result.  I recommend at this time that the City not implement a hub system and stick with its current design of staggering buses even though for some people it may require some extended transfer times.

 

GRID SYSTEM:

 

·         The benefits of operating a grid system where routes intersect in many locations is that it helps minimize the time that people are on buses.

·         The downside of operating a grid system is that it requires people to make multiple transfers that many have expressed they don’t desire.

·         Another downside, is that the transit system may be required to operate more transit vehicles in service to minimize the time waiting to transfer since it is not always possible to have routes intersect at exactly the same time. 

·         Many densely populated communities such as New York City, Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco operate grid systems and have the resources necessary to provide this high level of service.  I don’t think Lawrence could afford this level of service to truly make it attractive for most citizens to utilize.

 

MERGING ROUTES WITH KUOW:

 

·         What currently frustrates that public is when they observe two transit vehicles (one city and one KU) following each other with each half full.  What will have to be worked through is how to correct this issue to properly space out the time and distance when these vehicles will travel down a certain corridor.  Having different vehicles travel down the same corridor or overlap is not necessarily bad thing if it helps provide the additional frequency of service that people desire.  The challenge will be designing the service schedule to accommodate the needs of the various passengers.  For example, work start times may vary when University and public school class times begin.  It will be important for everyone to understand that there will need to be many tradeoffs and not everyone may be served to the level of convenience they desire. 

 

·         Also, it will be important to design a system with merging with KU that does not adversely impact off-campus routes with KU in not in session and university service is scaled back.  The effectiveness of transit service could be adversely impacted if an important link to off-campus routes to make it function properly was eliminated or reduced when school is not in session if it was a route that the University was to provide.

 

·         KU service should be concentrated on the KU campus where off-campus City service bounces off of.  Off-campus KU service should be used to compliment and improve City service by providing express bus service with limited stops and providing peak and off-peak service to increase frequency.

 

OTHER CHANGES:

 

·         Moving forward, the City should investigate implementing peak and off-peak service and express type service where stops are limited on routes during certain times of the day specifically during peak commuting hours to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of transit services.  However, this will add a level of complexity to the service that many residents may have trouble initially adjusting to and may not find the most user-friendly.  It will require that the transit system develop and implement all tools available to assist the public which includes revising route maps and schedules into formats that are more user-friendly that may require individual route maps for each route, installing specific route information at all designated bus stops, implementing Google Transit Trip Planning services, and increasing the amount of travel training conducted.   In time, residents will adjust to the complexity of the new service like it is offered in much larger cities throughout the country.