Strategy Guide to Enable and Promote the Use of Fixed-Route Transit by People with Disabilities (2014) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 44-68
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From page 44... ...
44 C h a p t e r 5 Improving the accessibility of bus stops and the pedestrian infrastructure is an important strategy for enabling people with disabilities to use fixed-route transit. Transit agencies have addressed the accessibility of bus stops for some years; however, the need for accessibility extends beyond the bus stop and, increasingly, transit agencies are expanding their accessible bus stop programs to focus on improving pathways of travel to and from stops, facilitating travel to and from the accessible stops for people with disabilities.
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accessible Bus Stops and pedestrian Infrastructure 45 5.1 Background -- The Bus Stop and Beyond The Bus Stop Accessibility requirements for bus stops are defined through the ADA Standards for Transportation Facilities (ADA Standards)
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46 Strategy Guide to enable and promote the Use of Fixed-route transit by people with Disabilities Common Problems Recent stop and pathway accessibility studies (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15) have found that the more common problems relate to: • Accessibility from both directions at the nearest street intersection -- there may be a curb ramp on one side of the street but not on the other side.
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accessible Bus Stops and pedestrian Infrastructure 47 service, the pedestrian environmental barriers were the most important factor and likely prevent their ability to use fixed-route transit more often. From the Perspective of Transit Agencies Study efforts also show that many transit agencies are addressing the accessibility of their stops as well as connecting sidewalks and pathways.
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48 Strategy Guide to enable and promote the Use of Fixed-route transit by people with Disabilities Use of CDBG Funds: Utah Transit Authority, Salt Lake City, Utah In Salt Lake City, for example, the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) identified problems with the pedestrian infrastructure when the Authority began to implement conditional eligibility for its ADA paratransit program after the fixed-route transit system became fully accessible.
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accessible Bus Stops and pedestrian Infrastructure 49 Accessibility improvements, however, have been a challenge given the large service area and lack of sidewalks as well as the many unimproved bus stops along rural routes. Among various improvements to ensure accessibility such as extra training for fixed-route transit drivers and extensive travel training, Link Transit identified high use stops and installed benches and shelters, used New Freedom funds to construct curb ramps at a major medical facility, and coordinated with local businesses such so that these private entities made accessibility improvements at their store fronts.
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50 Strategy Guide to enable and promote the Use of Fixed-route transit by people with Disabilities Transition Planning: Bellevue, Washington Some communities have addressed the needs for pedestrian infrastructure improvements for better fixed-route transit access as part of their required Transition Plans. These plans, required under Title II of the ADA, apply to public entities with 50 or more employees.
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accessible Bus Stops and pedestrian Infrastructure 51 users. Additionally, the Town's public transit staff is specifically included during the review process for new development and redevelopment.
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52 Strategy Guide to enable and promote the Use of Fixed-route transit by people with Disabilities A suggested process for the assessment of stops and connecting pathways is described below, building on the case study findings and direct experience by members of the research team with stop and infrastructure improvement studies. Once the assessment is complete and improvements prioritized, the next steps would involve planning for construction of the improvements.
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accessible Bus Stops and pedestrian Infrastructure 53 Develop Annotated Data Dictionary. The transit agency should develop an annotated "data dictionary," providing a list of data fields, a detailed description of each field, the data format and structure of the field, and the types of information to be collected.
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54 Strategy Guide to enable and promote the Use of Fixed-route transit by people with Disabilities Assess Available Resources A critical part in preparing for a bus stop inventory effort is to identify the surveyor resources because the fieldwork is labor intensive and time consuming. On average, a trained surveyor can complete approximately 20 bus stops in an eight-hour period (typically also including travel time to the stops)
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accessible Bus Stops and pedestrian Infrastructure 55 Conduct the Survey. Surveying a bus stop for ADA compliance and accessibility should not be limited to just the bus stop.
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56 Strategy Guide to enable and promote the Use of Fixed-route transit by people with Disabilities LAND USE (10 Points) Proximity to a Hospital (3 Points)
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accessible Bus Stops and pedestrian Infrastructure 57 planned sidewalk extension that is being installed past an existing stop, coordinate the installation of a landing pad with the sidewalk installation. In this example, there will be some cost savings since the labor, equipment, and materials will already be on site.
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58 Strategy Guide to enable and promote the Use of Fixed-route transit by people with Disabilities guidelines that meet (or exceed) ADA requirements and encourage placement of amenities in a way that does not impede access.
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accessible Bus Stops and pedestrian Infrastructure 59 strategies that can be employed to help riders with vision disabilities find the bus stop include tactile signage (with Braille and/or raised lettering) , tactile sidewalk surface at the boarding location, and Remote Infrared Audible Signage System (RIAS)
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60 Strategy Guide to enable and promote the Use of Fixed-route transit by people with Disabilities Montgomery County, Maryland Montgomery County's assessment of its improvement efforts looked to pedestrian safety results, since improved safety was a primary objective of its efforts. According to County data from 2011 and compared to 2000, pedestrian collisions decreased by 4% and pedestrian fatalities by 39%.
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accessible Bus Stops and pedestrian Infrastructure 61 At Intercity, the increase in lift deployments represented 467 trips at the 24 improved stops. Providing those trips on fixed-route transit rather than Intercity's ADA paratransit service in 2011, the transit agency saved $17,996, based on the 2011 net difference between the trip cost of ADA paratransit versus fixed-route transit.
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62 Strategy Guide to enable and promote the Use of Fixed-route transit by people with Disabilities The fixed-route transit data for the 17 improved stops shows that lift deployments nearly doubled after the improvements (increasing by 96% from fall 2008 to fall 2009, and continued to climb, with a 112% increase from 2008 to 2011)
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accessible Bus Stops and pedestrian Infrastructure 63 While the analyses do not definitively prove the new lift/ramp-using riders at the improved stops would have otherwise used ADA paratransit, the data are powerful nonetheless. Improvements to bus stops and their connecting pedestrian infrastructure do induce additional fixedroute transit use by riders with mobility devices.
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64 Strategy Guide to enable and promote the Use of Fixed-route transit by people with Disabilities Implementation Issues As reported by the case study transit agencies, implementation issues include: • For multi-jurisdictional transit services, good working relationships between the transit agency and its jurisdictions are important and can facilitate leveraging of additional funding for the improvement projects. TriMet reports that, when feasible, improvements are constructed and installed as part of a larger project such as adjacent land-use development or street projects.
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accessible Bus Stops and pedestrian Infrastructure 65 • The inclusion of transit-related design standards for development and redevelopment can help support improved access to public transit for residential projects and retail/commercial activity centers. • Transit agencies should advocate strongly the importance of constructing sidewalks to bus stops.
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From page 66... ...
66 Strategy Guide to enable and promote the Use of Fixed-route transit by people with Disabilities 5.6 Evaluation of Bus Stop and Connecting Pedestrian Infrastructure Improvements Several evaluation strategies are possible, from the less to the more involved, depending on data availability, and are listed below. Details are provided in Appendix D
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From page 67... ...
accessible Bus Stops and pedestrian Infrastructure 67 in fixed-route transit ridership at the improved stops as well as changes in ADA paratransit ridership within a ¼-mile radius of the improved stops. The assessment looks at the change in number of lift/ramp deployments at the improved stops for a time period before the improvements to a similar time period after: a one-year time period is suggested.
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From page 68... ...
68 Strategy Guide to enable and promote the Use of Fixed-route transit by people with Disabilities improvements, measuring the year before and after the improvements, increasing 96%. Assessing ADA paratransit ridership in the ¼-mile radius of the improved stops, ridership by conditional riders decreased 12%, measuring before and after the improvements.
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