Managing Increasing Ridership Demand (2010) / Chapter Skim
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The members of each study team are fully briefed prior to departure. The intensive, professionally challenging, 2-week mission has three objectives: to afford team members the opportunity to expand their network of domestic and international public transportation peers, to provide a forum International Transit Studies Program Report on the Fall 2009 Mission MANAGING INCREASING RIDERSHIP DEMAND This TCRP digest summarizes the mission performed October 31 to November 14, 2009, under TCRP Project J-03, "International Transit Studies Program." This digest includes transportation information on the organizations and facilities visited.
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Metrovia is based on a bus rapid transit (BRT) model that utilizes exclusive bus lanes, bus stops specifically designed for high-floor buses, transfer terminals, bus priority at traffic lights, and prepaid fares to create an optimum experience for riders (Figure 1)
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Immediately, many problems became evident, causing the media and others to refer to the opening day as the "Transantiago Tsunami." One of the biggest problems was the fare payment validation system, which failed, forcing Transantiago to offer free rides for a week. Transantiago also lacked a fleet management system, an organized infrastructure, well-informed operators, and an effective educational campaign for riders.
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In addition to the usual integration of the BRT to connecting bus services and other transportation modes (minibuses, cars, bicycles, and taxis) , it will also house service and retail activities.
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The Foundation's income comes almost entirely from property leases and fees from advertisements placed in the terminals and at bus stops. Passenger revenue is distributed among the two bus consortiums; each consortium receives the fares collected on its routes, less the 9.3% that is paid to Metrovia for fare collection services.
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Bus service in Buenos Aires is provided by private operators controlled and regulated by the government through a permit/franchise process. The government-regulated system, which was implemented in 2002, has resulted in larger, more professional companies providing the bulk of the service with newer buses, many of which are lowfloor buses.
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The Association of Transportation Providers of Porto Alegre (ATP) gathers information from 14 bus operators forming three consortiums that operate 80% of Porto Alegre's bus service.
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A new system was envisioned that would provide high levels of bus service on major corridors and more efficient boarding through the use of dedicated bus lanes and prepaid fares. The new service would be called "Transantiago" and would have as its goals improving the city's bus services, reducing congestion and pollution, and relieving ridership pressures on the overtaxed Metro de Santiago system.
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The feeder bus routes use standardsize buses, which are better suited than articulated buses for circulating through residential areas. In some cases, the feeder buses bring passengers to one of the terminal stations where passengers transfer to the BRT service serving the central business district.
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Within the Metrovia system, all transfers between buses are free at major terminals and station stops, as long as the passenger remains within the prepaid area. Passengers transferring from one BRT corridor to the other can do so within the prepaid area at common stations, and passengers transferring between Metrovia feeder buses and trunk BRT service can do so within terminal stations.
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Fare Payment Procedures and Route Information There was little or no public information about how to use the new bus routes. In instances where a direct bus trip under the old system was replaced by feeder line service to a trunk line, passengers did not know where they needed to make a transfer, which bus to transfer to, or how to pay their fare.
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A bidding process took place among other firms to determine a new operator, and the successful bidder was often a formal operating company. Bus services have evolved in Buenos Aires from private, small-scale collective operators that competed with the subway to a more formalized structure where professional operating companies provide the bulk of service.
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Carris provides radial service that links the center of the city with various subregions, while the private operators provide most local service within the subregions. Each of the three private concessions manages bus operations within its sector and may reassign vehicles and drivers from its constituent private operators to each route to ensure that adequate capacity is being offered.
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It is estimated that the end-to-end travel time along each route has been shortened by an average of 30 min each way. The feeder buses are designed such that passengers can access the system by boarding and touching their farecard to the smartcard readers on board.
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This significantly reduces the loading time at the station and allows more vehicles to serve the same stations in far less time. New bus stops have been added, bringing the systemwide total to more than 10,000.
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These included peak/off-peak fares, electronic fare collection, fare vending machines, and reductions in onboard train staff. Peak/off-peak fares were considered as a means of shifting some of the crowding seen during peak periods to off-peak periods, when more capacity was available.
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In Porto Alegre, the transit system utilizes a unique service optimization technique called comonor, which is a convoy type service that provides improved bus service delivery. This technique consists of six buses lined up at the transit station or bus stop into three groups of two buses, with each group headed to the same destination.
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The city is pleased not only with the improved public service, but also with its contribution to an improved state of the city. More BRT lines are planned, and, assuming continued political leadership and support, the service will be successful in meeting and managing the demand for public transit services.
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of exclusive bus lanes. The number of smartcard recharging locations has increased from 558 in 2007 to almost 2,000 today.
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The federal government also is responsible for negotiating with labor unions and setting salaries. Bus services in Buenos Aires are still dispersed among a number of private operating companies, which often compete with one another along major corridors.
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This expenditure included the exclusive bus lanes, priority signalization, bus stops/stations, and the terminals. This was funded through municipal bonds for which the federal government pays the debt service.
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The World Bank has also provided loans to fund the system. Porto Alegre, Brazil Fares/Fare Structures/Fare Collection The transit fare is approximately US$1.25, while the average fare is significantly lower at nearly US$0.86.
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Buenos Aires provided an example of a subway system where the infrastructure was primarily owned by the city and managed by a concessionaire, but where the true decision-making takes place at the federal level. The federal government is also involved in bus services in Buenos Aires, issuing the permits/ franchises for each set of routes and determining performance standards, such as the maximum age of equipment and minimum headways.
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Bus services in Buenos Aires are still dispersed among a number of private operating companies that often compete with one another along major corridors. There has not been a demonstrated need to change operations from the private sector to the public sector, as was done in Guayaquil and Santiago, because the current bus operators are providing an adequate level of service due to the requirements of the permit/franchise program imposed by the federal government.
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Many bus riders turned to the highly regarded Santiago Metro instead, immediately overwhelming the Metro and causing a further erosion of public confidence in all modes of public transportation. When the new electronic fare collection system did not function properly, further adding to the chaos, the public's discontent got the attention of the politicians, who decreed that steps had to be taken to turn the system around.
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Technology and Service Optimization Technology All four cities have introduced technology as a means of better managing demand, whether by electronic fare collection or by vehicle locator systems based on a network of cameras and control centers that oversee traffic "hotspots." All of the cities visited used technology to enhance their operations. Guayaquil, Santiago, and Porto Alegre use sophisticated camera surveillance systems and control centers to manage traffic operations and maintain reliability in their bus operations.
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While the bus systems in Guayaquil, Santiago, and Porto Alegre are able to purchase new vehicles using the revenue stream generated from fares, the rail systems in Santiago and Buenos Aires face greater capital funding challenges for expanding and renewing their capital elements All three BRT systems have benefitted from the local, state, or federal government guaranteeing the bulk of the capital costs associated with BRT infrastructure, such as dedicated lanes and station stops. Generally, federal or state government funding for public transit has been constrained by competing demands, not only from other cities, but also from rural areas.
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Gomez, Transit Director, Regional Transit System, City of Gainesville, Gainesville, FL Elsa Gutierrez, General Manager, Service Planning, Chicago Transit Authority, Chicago, IL Michael Ledesma, Manager of Bus Service Transportation, VIA Metropolitan Transit, San Antonio, TX Marian Lee, Executive Officer, Planning and Development, San Mateo County Transit District, San Carlos, CA Gail Lyssy, Director of Program Management and Oversight, Federal Transit Administration, Fort Worth, TX Maureen McCarthy, Community Relations and Marketing Manager, Whatcom Transportation Authority, Bellingham, WA Jeffery Parker, Deputy Commissioner, Connecticut Department of Transportation, Newington, CT Mark.
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Porto Alegre, Brazil Empressa Publica de Transporte e Circulacao S.A. -- EPTC Dr. Eng Emilio Merino, Gerente de Projetos Estrategicos em Mobilidade Sergio Marinho Lopes da Silva, Diretor de Transito e Circulacao Eng Marcio Saueressig, Coordenador de Regulacao de Transporte, Gerente do Programa Cidade Acessivel Fernando Dutra Michel, Secretaria Municipal dos Transportes Substituto; Director de Transportes Lucas Barroso, Journalist Associacao dos Transportadores de Passageiros -- ATP Luiz Mario Magalhaes SA, Gerente Executivo Francis Rauber, Subgerente de Projeto TRI– Transporte Integrado Viacao Pelicano Magnus Aurelio Isse, Diretor, Sudeste Sudeste Transportes Coletivos Ltda.-Tito Fabio Schmidt, Diretor APPENDIX C -- ABBREVIATIONS AFT -- Administrator Financiero de Transantiago ATP -- Association of Transportation Providers of Porto Alegre, Associacao dos Transportadores de Passengeiros AVL -- automatic vehicle location BRT -- bus rapid transit CCTV -- closed circuit television EPTC -- Empresa Pública de Transporte e Circulação FTA -- Federal Transit Administration IT -- Information Technology Metro -- Metro de Santiago PPP -- public-private partnership TBA -- Transportes de Buenos Aires TDM -- transportation demand management TRB -- Transportation Research Board TSP -- traffic signal prioritization TVM -- ticket vending machines 29
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Subscriber Categories: Public Transportation ISBN 978-0-309-15495-6 9 780309 154956 9 0 0 0 0
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