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58
The second surveyor sat in the first seat on the right side of pedestrian environment characteristics not previously re-
the bus and was equipped with forms listing all of the bus stops searched. In addition, the routes selected in Northern Virginia
served by the route in each direction. This surveyor was re- included urban street segments also being used by GMU for
sponsible for recording the number of people getting on and the automobile LOS element of this project.
off at each stop and for recording the last survey serial num- In Northern Virginia, WMATA Route 2B starts in the
ber handed out at each stop. One team per route also carried dense urban portions of Arlington (Ballston-MU Metrorail)
a GPS unit that generated a log file recording the bus' position and travels past sprawling residential neighborhoods, golf
and speed every second; the second surveyor was responsible courses, cemeteries, office parks, and strip commercial uses
for using it. A new log file was generated for each trip. The GPS in Falls Church and Fairfax. Route 2B stops at several auto-
unit used was tested in an automobile prior to use and worked oriented Metrorail stations (i.e., East Falls Church, Dunn
as expected; however, when used on buses, the unit sometimes Loring-Merrifield, and Vienna/Fairfax-GMU) before com-
had problems receiving satellite signals. As a result, GPS data pleting its trip at the Fair Oaks Shopping Center in Fairfax.
were not available for all bus trips. In Portland, the hand- Some peak-period trips operate as Route 2G, deviating to
held GPS data were supplemented with archived data from serve an AT&T office building, but otherwise serving the
TriMet's automatic vehicle location system. same route. The eastern half of the route is duplicated by
For the Phase 2 surveys, one surveyor was assigned per Route 2C, which effectively doubles the service frequency on
door to each bus that was surveyed; for example, two sur- that portion of the route.
veyors were assigned to regular buses, while three surveyors WMATA's Route 38B also starts at the Ballston-MU Metro-
were assigned to articulated buses. Surveyors handed out a rail station, but travels through the most dense, transit-
questionnaire to each person boarding the bus. Surveyors oriented portions of Arlington, stopping near three Metrorail
also attempted to interview standing passengers, asking them stations (i.e., Clarendon, Court House, and Rosslyn) sur-
questions while the bus was in motion; consequently, sur- rounded by mixed uses and high-rise buildings, before cross-
veyors with multi-lingual capability were assigned to specific ing the Francis Scott Key Bridge into Washington's dense
routes that carry large numbers of non-English-speaking Georgetown neighborhood and ending at Farragut Square,
passengers. just two blocks from the White House. Route 38B is the only
Exhibit 59 shows the number of surveys distributed and re- all-day WMATA route crossing the Key Bridge, although one
turned in each location. Not all returned surveys were filled of the Georgetown Metro Connection routes also crosses
out completely. For Phase 2, surveyors were unable to keep the bridge.
track of the number of surveys distributed due to the heavy In Portland, Route 14 is one of TriMet's most frequent bus
workload on crowded buses. routes (eight buses per hour peak, five buses per hour mid-
day) and has one of the longest service spans. Route 14 runs
from the I-205/Foster Road interchange in southeast
Route Characteristics Portland (no park-and-ride provided) into downtown
Portland via the Hawthorne Bridge (a drawbridge) and then
Routes were selected to create variety in (1) particular route
runs along the downtown bus mall to Union Station. East of
characteristics that previous research had determined to be
downtown, the street frontage is primarily commercial or
important (e.g., the TCQSM's LOS factors), and (2) specific
mixed-use office and commercial in multiple-story buildings.
Some low- to medium-density multi-family residential build-
ings also front the streets served by the transit route. Past the
Exhibit 59. Transit Survey Distribution.
immediate transit street frontage, land uses are primarily
Location (Route) Distributed Returned Usable medium- to high-density single-family residential.
Virginia (2B) 186 182 172 TriMet Route 44 connects Portland Community College's
Virginia (38B) 181 166 154
Portland (14) 218 204 198
Sylvania campus in southwest Portland to downtown and
Portland (44) 268 262 255 Union Station via the bus mall, passing through the com-
Florida (18) 306 276 165 mercial districts of Multnomah Village and Hillsdale. Outside
San Francisco Muni (1) NA NA 201 the commercial areas, land uses served by the route are a mix
San Francisco Muni (14) NA NA 366
San Francisco Muni (30) NA NA 112
of medium-density single-family residential and low-density
San Francisco Muni (38) NA NA 339 multi-family residential. A 1-mile section of the route south
San Francisco Muni (38L) NA NA 153 of Multnomah Village lacks sidewalks. The route is also one
AC Transit (51) NA NA 199
of many serving Portland State University at the south end of
AC Transit (72) NA NA 239
AC Transit (72R) NA NA 101 downtown. Service from Hillsdale into downtown is dupli-
AC Transit (218) NA NA 24 cated by several other routes, creating a better effective
Total NA NA 2,678 frequency.
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TriMet Route 15, used for the pilot test, runs from the · The Muni 14 Mission begins in the downtown Financial
Parkrose/Sumner transit center, light rail station, and park- District and runs through the Mission District to Daly City.
and-ride lot in northeast Portland south to Mall 205 (a small This is Muni's busiest route, carrying over 60,000 passen-
shopping center). The route continues west through down- gers on an average weekday. Although articulated buses are
town Portland (at right angles to the bus mall), past a hospital, used on this route, buses are frequently crowded, with
and ends in northwest Portland. Alternate trips terminate in a most passengers standing. This bus runs on a priority bus
residential area of northwest Portland or at Montgomery Park, lane (buses and right turns only) along Mission St. to about
a large office building (the surveyed trips went to Montgomery 10th St., but the bus lane is frequently violated by cars.
Park). Land uses vary along the route and include medium- to · The Muni 30 Stockton, a trolley bus, runs from the Caltrain
high-density single-family residential, low- to medium-density Depot at 4th and Townsend north through the Financial
multi-family residential, and office and commercial uses. District, then through Chinatown and North Beach to the
In Broward County, Route 18 runs north-south the length Marina District. Buses frequently bunch up; because it is a
of the county along U.S. 441, from the south edge of Palm trolley bus, buses cannot pass each other. Buses move espe-
Beach County to the Golden Glades park-and-ride lot in cially slowly through Chinatown, where there are large
northern Miami-Dade County, where transit connections can numbers of boardings and alightings. The bus operates on
be made for trips continuing south. Service is provided at 9-minute headways during the peak periods.
15-minute headways during peak and midday periods. A · The Muni 38 Geary and 38L Geary Limited operate from
weekday peak-period limited-stop version of the route (Route the Transbay Terminal along Market St., then along Geary
18LS, not surveyed) duplicates all but the very northern end to western San Francisco. Past 33rd Avenue, the route splits
of the route and operates at 45-minute headways. into three branches. This is one of Muni's busiest routes,
Phase 2 sample selection was guided by the results of analy- carrying about 60,000 passengers per day. Buses are articu-
sis of the Phase 1 data set. Based on that analysis, it was de- lated, but are frequently crowded with most passengers
termined that the Phase 2 sample should be designed to standing. Effective headways east of 33rd Avenue are be-
round out the characteristics of the Phase 1 data set. In par- tween 4 and 8 minutes, depending on whether the local or
ticular, we sought a sample that included routes with one or limited service is used. The bus runs on dedicated priority
more of the following characteristics: bus lanes (buses and right turns only) from downtown to
Van Ness Avenue, but these are frequently violated.
· Moderate to severe crowding, with load factors greater · AC Route 51 Broadway, one of the busiest routes on the
than 1; AC Transit system, runs from Alameda (an island off of
· High-demand density; Oakland) through the Posey Tube through downtown
· Frequent service; Oakland, then north along Broadway and College Avenue
· Operation on reserved bus lanes; and/or to Berkeley, and then west to the western part of Berkeley.
· Low frequency. This route serves the UC Berkeley campus, so many of the
riders are UC students or faculty. The bus operates on
The San Francisco Bay Area has two transit agencies that about 8-minute headways during the peak periods.
operate routes with these characteristics. The San Francisco · AC Route 72 San Pablo runs along San Pablo Avenue from
Municipal Railway (Muni) operates service within the City downtown Oakland along San Pablo Avenue through
and County of San Francisco, with over 800,000 boardings Berkeley to Hilltop Mall in Richmond. The 72 operates on
on an average weekday. The Alameda-Contra Costa Transit 30-minute headways throughout the day, but service is
District (AC Transit) operates service in the East Bay; cities paralleled by the 72M, which also operates on 30-minute
within its service area include Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, headways on the part of the route that was surveyed.
Hayward, and Fremont. · AC Route 72R San Pablo Rapid is a new rapid bus service
For all routes surveyed on Muni and AC Transit, surveys that runs from downtown Oakland along San Pablo
were taken on bus trips in both directions during the AM Avenue through Berkeley to Contra Costa College. Stops
peak and PM peak. The following routes were selected for the are spaced about every half mile. The bus operates on
sample: 12-minute headways throughout the day.
· AC Route 218 Thornton was chosen to provide a sample
· The Muni 1 California, a trolley bus, operates from the on a long-headway route (1 hour). The 218 runs from
San Francisco Financial District westbound through Ohlone College in Fremont to the Lido Faire shopping
Chinatown, Pacific Heights, and Laurel Heights to the center in Newark.
Inner Richmond district. Surveyors rode the bus only from
the Financial District to Laurel Heights. The bus runs on Exhibits 60, 61, and 62 summarize key characteristics of the
between 8 and 9-minute headways during the peak periods. selected routes.
