As Houston's overhaul draws new riders, other cities mulling bus changes
Houston's bus overhaul, planned for years but rolled out literally overnight in 2015, has led to an increase in bus ridership, bucking state and national trends. Many are taking notice.
BY BRANDON FORMBY DEC. 8, 2016
... Houstonians who rely on the regional transit agency more frequently since it dramatically retooled its bus routes and stops last year. That massive overhaul decreased the amount of wait times between buses and simplified route geography so maps were easier to understand and read.
...urban planning experts say system improvements can actually have broader, more dramatic impacts on residents’ quality of life, job access and living costs. They say better public transportation, especially in car-centric urban areas like those in Texas, can also help people pull themselves out of poverty.
“It should go beyond functionality and mobility concerns,” said Shima Hamidi, director of the University of Texas at Arlington’s Institute of Urban Studies. “It should be planned as enablers.”
Dallas has among the highest levels of extreme poverty in the country. More than half of households earn less than $50,000, their median incomes are falling and more than 80 percent of jobs can’t be reached by public transportation in less than 90 minutes, according to a presentation given to the council’s housing committee this week.
The Dallas City Council voted unanimously last fall to make overhauling the bus system a top priority. That decision was cited in a recent effort to replace several of the city’s DART board representatives.
“If we start heading more toward a gridded system, there is an opportunity for more intuition to be built in the network,” he said.
DART officials say they’re working to speed up their long-term plans.
In August, DART will begin tinkering with bus routes that currently have poor on-time performance, mostly during the middle part of the day. Those changes will focus on off-peak times for now because the agency is awaiting the delivery of about 41 new buses.
Tivo_Kenevil wrote:Dallas needs to look at Seattle. They prioritize buses and get people where they need to go on time via buses. Take note Dart.
DART Demos New Proterra Zero-Emission, All-Electric Buses
The seven zero-emission all-electric buses are partially funded by a $7.6 million from the Federal Transit Administration’s Low or No Emission Vehicle Deployment Program (LoNo Program). The grant also helps fund the infrastructure to charge and maintain them.
DART plans to use the electric buses on D-Link, a downtown circulator route currently subsidized by the city of Dallas and Downtown Dallas, Inc. This smaller Proterra vehicle will be easier to navigate through busy city streets and reduce noise pollution downtown. The electric battery technology is similar to what is used on the Dallas Streetcar.
DPatel304 wrote:DART Demos New Proterra Zero-Emission, All-Electric Buses
The seven zero-emission all-electric buses are partially funded by a $7.6 million from the Federal Transit Administration’s Low or No Emission Vehicle Deployment Program (LoNo Program). The grant also helps fund the infrastructure to charge and maintain them.
DART plans to use the electric buses on D-Link, a downtown circulator route currently subsidized by the city of Dallas and Downtown Dallas, Inc. This smaller Proterra vehicle will be easier to navigate through busy city streets and reduce noise pollution downtown. The electric battery technology is similar to what is used on the Dallas Streetcar.
http://dartdallas.dart.org/2018/01/10/d ... ric-buses/
When I made this DART bus topic, I mentioned they should focus on the 'green' aspect of riding the bus. Looks like that's exactly what they are doing here, and taking it one step further. I love this idea, and I hope it's a hit for them. I think it's great they are starting with the D-Link, which, I believe, is a good way to 'convert' people to bus riders.
Major Bus Service Additions Proposed For August 2019
A public hearing, preceded by a series of community meetings, has been scheduled to receive comments on major bus service improvements proposed for implementation in August 2019. These changes also represent a major step in the creation of a long-range Transit System Plan for the DART service area.
The community meetings will seek input on long-range opportunities and provide an update on near-term DART projects. Each meeting will include an open house to view displays and discuss DART's 2045 Transit System Plan; highlights of the plan include:
DART's committed capital expansion program;
DART's transit service strategies for the future;
Streetcar and regional opportunities beyond our 13-city service area, and more.
A formal presentation of the August 2019 service change proposals will follow.
itsjrd1964 wrote:I wonder what they'll do with all those electric buses they just acquired. Does seem odd. If you're a rider and you want to take a trip somewhere downtown, at least to me, "on-demand" means a cab, Uber, or Lyft.
Hannibal Lecter wrote:Our million-dollar bus doesn't add up. We did the math
https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/edit ... t-add-math
muncien wrote:Hannibal Lecter wrote:Our million-dollar bus doesn't add up. We did the math
https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/edit ... t-add-math
The busses are overpriced and we should have done better... but this article is very poorly researched and written. It goes on to factor 'upkeep' of the electric busses, but does NOT factor in upkeep for diesel version, even though all other metrics are direct comparison.
Anybody who has ever worked on diesel or electric power trains knows diesel's are ridiculously expensive to maintain, while electric's are almost no maintenance.
They also mention that the excessive weight of the batteries means greater brake ware... But, if we bought busses worth a damn, they have regenerative breaking and the brakes will easily outlast those of a diesel.
It's garbage articles like this that actually make those against electric look truly clueless about the topic.
Tucy wrote:muncien wrote:Hannibal Lecter wrote:Our million-dollar bus doesn't add up. We did the math
https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/edit ... t-add-math
The busses are overpriced and we should have done better... but this article is very poorly researched and written. It goes on to factor 'upkeep' of the electric busses, but does NOT factor in upkeep for diesel version, even though all other metrics are direct comparison.
Anybody who has ever worked on diesel or electric power trains knows diesel's are ridiculously expensive to maintain, while electric's are almost no maintenance.
They also mention that the excessive weight of the batteries means greater brake ware... But, if we bought busses worth a damn, they have regenerative breaking and the brakes will easily outlast those of a diesel.
It's garbage articles like this that actually make those against electric look truly clueless about the topic.
Why would regenerative braking cause the brake pads and other brake parts to last longer? (Regenerative braking means they generate electficity. It does not mean they regenerate themselves.)
itsjrd1964 wrote:I have recently been on 2 of the newest DART buses. I'm not sure yet what I think of them compared to the previous ones. Here's a look at the model...
The outside. Headlights are much more visible (similar to the newest Express buses) than the models used up to now. There is a higher roofline. The LED displays on the front and side don't appear to have multi-color capability like the buses have had in the ones used previously.
(photo from DART's website)
20190918_052021.jpg
Looking inside, towards the front. There is still a separating door for the driver to optionally use but this one is darker and is shaped differently than the previous buses. Some drivers like to use them, others don't mess with them. The ceiling in the entry area in this model is lower than the previous bus model. A red LED indicator showing things like upcoming intersections, time/date, and alerts when passengers want to stop, is visible at the point where the ceiling height changes. Previously, these LED displays were all the way to the front of the bus, above the driver's windshield.
20190918_052957.jpg
Further back, but still looking forward. These new models all have new vinyl seats, which are somewhat cushioned. The patterned cloth fabric used previously is being phased out. Also, the new models have much taller and broader windows than before; they are great if riders are into sightseeing. There are 2 monitors, just like the previous bus model, but the screens that show upcoming bus stops have been changed to a different format with a DART-yellow background.
20190921_032853.jpg
20190921_032923.jpg
Now, looking back. These new buses continue the split-level floor and seating that the previous model introduced, but the stair-step between the 2 levels in this bus style is slightly different. It has an angled step between the lower and upper sections.
20190921_032951.jpg
Near the back, the next-to-last set of seats are mounted sideways. For the first time with this model, DART buses will start having USB ports on board for use in charging cell phones. Rather than along the walls (like the railcars on TexRail trains), the USB ports are on the base structure underneath each set of seats. They aren't easily seen unless you are right in front of the seat or look under it. Each spot has 2 USB ports. On this seat, the 2 white slots are visible between the seat cushions, with a blue LED light just above the slots.
20190921_032612.jpg20190921_041151.jpg
I don't know how many buses will have this feature, but 1 of the 2 buses I've been on had this first forward-facing seat (behind the handicap-accessible/senior-citizen sideways seating area), fixed up with different-color vinyl (almost DART-yellow), and an embroidered message to remember the late Rosa Parks. On a few previous occasions, DART would remember Rosa Parks with a covering over the first forward-facing seat and a similar message. It wasn't clearly implied that no one was supposed to sit in that seat during those times, but occasionally passengers would sit there anyway. As for this version, this is the first instance I've seen of something that looks more permanent as a remembrance of Rosa Parks.
20190920_025000.jpg
DART Is (Finally) Ready to Redo Its Bus System
DART has hired Jarrett Walker, the consultant whose firm redesigned Seattle and Houston's networks, to redesign its bus network. In its previous work, Walker's firm improved bus networks by focusing them less on area coverage and more on high ridership. In Houston, his firm's plan doubled the number of both people and jobs within reach of frequent bus service without needing a budget increase. DART aims to roll out the redesigned network by 2022.
DPatel304 wrote:DART Is (Finally) Ready to Redo Its Bus System
DART has hired Jarrett Walker, the consultant whose firm redesigned Seattle and Houston's networks, to redesign its bus network. In its previous work, Walker's firm improved bus networks by focusing them less on area coverage and more on high ridership. In Houston, his firm's plan doubled the number of both people and jobs within reach of frequent bus service without needing a budget increase. DART aims to roll out the redesigned network by 2022.
https://www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/2 ... us-system/
I've heard nothing but good things about Seattle's and Houston's bus system, so I'm definitely curious to see how this plays out.
saxman wrote:I was hoping DART would look into what Houston Metro did a couple years ago. I listened to Jarrett Walker on a podcast and he talked extensively about the process of reducing connections by making the system less hub and spoke and more like a grid.
Redblock wrote:Another D-Town doing a transit study. Sound familiar?
https://www.denverpost.com/2019/10/02/r ... ne-genova/
Jbarn wrote:Redblock wrote:Another D-Town doing a transit study. Sound familiar?
https://www.denverpost.com/2019/10/02/r ... ne-genova/
Seems their issues are very similar to DART’s. Build out a rail network and let the bus system languish.
northsouth wrote:It does. It was made the terminus of D-Link when it switched to electric buses, and now is the terminus of route 749, which now uses the ex-D-Link buses. The requisite investment in a bus charging station is also probably part of why they want to find ways to continue using the electrics.
TNWE wrote:northsouth wrote:It does. It was made the terminus of D-Link when it switched to electric buses, and now is the terminus of route 749, which now uses the ex-D-Link buses. The requisite investment in a bus charging station is also probably part of why they want to find ways to continue using the electrics.
I did not know that 749 was now using the electric buses - I had assumed they were sitting in a parking lot somewhere...
In Overhauling Its Bus System, Dallas Faces a Much Different Challenge Than Houston
The chart depicted the share of bus routes in DART’s current system that are designed around providing either coverage or ridership. Today, according to Walker’s analysis, DART’s bus system devotes around 43 percent of its routes toward maximizing the system’s overall coverage, and it dedicates around 56 percent toward enhancing ridership. There is also around 1 percent of routes that are duplicates—redundancies in the system.
At a glance, the chart reinforces common knowledge about DART’s system. The bus network neither excels at offering a reliable transit option nor connecting people to the places where they would like to go. But the breakdown reveals something more.
As Walker explained to the 200 or so people who had gathered in the debate hall in the Old Parkland campus, bus networks can only do one of two things. They can focus on maximizing the amount of space they cover or they can focus on providing the most reliable service. By prioritizing neither and splitting the number of routes dedicated to those two functions down the middle, DART’s current bus system reflects an inability on the part of DART’s board to decide what kind of bus system it wants.
In other words, the problem with DART is DART’s leadership, which has not decided what DART wants to be. The result is a system that tries to do a little bit of everything—to have it both ways with regard to ridership and coverage, and, therefore, it is a system that doesn’t do a good job of anything.
itsjrd1964 wrote:DART is making some changes to ensure passengers are well-distanced:
* Interior areas at transit centers that have them, will close. Outdoor areas will remain available.
* Concierges, the information window clerks, will be reassigned to other duties.
* For boardings onto buses that have side doors, those passengers will be asked to enter through the side door (instead of the front door)
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/coronavirus ... g/2340440/
TNWE wrote:
DART rail has the same problem - rather than sequencing trains Red-Green-Blue-Orange through downtown so the Red/Blue and Green/Orange overlap sections are running at a 10 minute headway, they have two trains in 5 minutes, then 15 minutes till the next set. I hope the vaunted bus route consultants address the connectivity "cliffs" that exist as a result of trying to "bank" their bus connections.
Hannibal Lecter wrote:^ Keep in mind that DART itself has no desire to build D2.
The push for the subterranean albatross is coming from the Dallas City Council, which has never met a boondoggle it didn't love -- as long as another taxing authority was on the hook for it.
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