Meeting_Body
OPERATIONS, SAFETY AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE COMMITTEE
JUNE 17, 2021
Subject
SUBJECT: JUNE 2021 SERVICE CHANGE
Action
ACTION: RECEIVE AND FILE
Heading
RECOMMENDATION
Title
RECEIVE AND FILE status report on June 2021 service change.
Issue
ISSUE
Metro implements transit service changes (bus and rail) in June and December of each year. Metro plans to implement the next service change on Sunday June 27, 2021.
Background
BACKGROUND
Metro’s twice annual service change program allows Metro to improve the customer experience through revised transit routes and schedules. The June 2021 service changes focuses on rebuilding service as riders return to the system while adjusting service consistent with the NextGen Bus Plan focused on building a fast, frequent, and reliable Metro bus network. The changes are consistent with Board Motions 10.1 and 27.1 for service restoration.
Discussion
DISCUSSION
The June 2021 service change focuses on the following key areas of improvement for Metro bus service as the second phase of NextGen Bus Plan implementation with a particular focus on the San Fernando Valley and San Gabriel Valley:
• Increasing overall service from 5.6 million revenue service hours (annualized) as at December 2020 to 6.5 million revenue service hours (annualized), consistent with phase one of recent Board Motion 27.1 on service restoration:
o Focus on improving daytime weekday frequencies on Metro’s highest ridership (NextGen Tier 1) lines as well as contracted lines and lines in the San Fernando Valley and San Gabriel Valley.
o Additional 2,073 trips weekdays (+18.9%), additional 1,491 trips Saturdays (+17.3%), and 1,622 trips Sundays (+19.5%)
• Consolidating Metro Rapid & Local service on an additional eight key corridors. This maximizes service frequency with slightly wider than existing local bus stop spacing while retaining Metro Rapid attributes such as transit signal priority. This is the second round of such Rapid/Local consolidations, following eight similar consolidations implemented in December 2020. The Rapid/Local lines to be combined in June 2021 are as follows:
o Whittier Bl Lines 18 & 720
o Garvey Av, Atlantic Bl, Cesar Chavez Av new Line 70, & Lines 68, 770
o San Fernando Rd Lines 94, new Line 294, & 794
o Ventura Bl Lines 150, 240 & 750
o Colorado Bl, Hollywood Bl, Fairfax Av Lines 180, 217, & 780
o Reseda Bl, Ventura Bl, Van Nuys Bl Lines 233, 240, & 744
o Sepulveda Bl 234 & 734
o Western Av Line 207 & 757
In addition, the former Van Nuys Bl 788 and Sepulveda Bl 734 lines between the San Fernando Valley and Westside will be replaced by new Metro Rapid Line 761 between Sylmar/San Fernando Metrolink Station, Van Nuys Bl and the Westside.
A total of 77 transit lines will be adjusted by route alignment or service day changes, most significantly in the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys. These changes are consistent with the NextGen Bus Plan. All changes to route alignment or service day changes are listed in line number order in attached Appendix A. Full details of frequency changes are shown in Attachment B.
Rail Service: The peak period weekday service on Metro heavy and light rail lines will be increased from 12 to 10 minute for the June 2021 service change. Staff continues to monitor Metro rail ridership and adjusts train consists as needed to provide capacity.
NextGen Service Evaluation
A key follow-up to the implementation of the NextGen Bus Plan is the need to evaluate the success of the plan. Providing high quality mobility options that enable people to spend less time traveling on the transit network requires that:
• Service is available when and where customers want to travel (the Find stage)
• Service is competitive enough to have customers try them over other options (the Try stage)
• Service is attractive enough to ensure customers are retained and ideally make more trips (the Rely stage)
Therefore, recommended measures of success are focused on evaluating the bus network within these three stages of Find, Try, and Rely. These customer focused measures help to balance traditional performance metrics of productivity and efficiency (e.g. ridership, boardings per hour, subsidy per boarding). Several of these measures (italicized below) will be used to evaluate the network through the lens of equity.
Find - How well do people understand how effectively transit can serve their needs? Is the system easy to understand and use? Proposed measures include:
- Services and information are Readily Available
• Percentage of trip ends within ¼ mile of transit stop
• Trip planner, app, and website usage rates
• Percent of public considering transit (survey-based)
- The Bus System is Easy to Understand and Use
• Percentage of out of direction travel
• Percentage of route miles with all-day frequent service (<15 min headways)
• Percent of public understand how to use system (survey-based)
Try - How can we encourage customers to try the regional transit system? (Metro and Municipal Bus Operators) Proposed measures include:
- Bus Goes Where/When Customers Want
• Percentage of trips compatible with transit by time of day and day of week
• Number of jobs/activity centers accessible within a 15 and 30 minute transit ride
• Number of unique transit users
- Bus system is Competitive
• Door-to-door travel times
• Competitiveness of transit time to drive time
• System-wide boardings
- Coverage is Adequate
• Population within ¼-mile of transit stops by frequency of service
- Transit Journeys are Simple
• Average number of transfers
• Percent of trips that are one-seat rides
Rely - How can we provide services that customers can rely on for their travel needs? Proposed measures include:
- Bus System is Effective and Productive
• Competitive transit paths for short, evening, midday, and weekend trips
• Number of frequent customers
• Boardings by time of day and day of week
• Boardings per revenue hours and miles
• Cost per passenger mile
- Buses are Reliable
• Headway regularity on frequent routes
• On-time performance
• Real time arrival accuracy
- Customers are Satisfied
• Rides per week for frequent and infrequent users
• Percentage of customers satisfied with Metro services (survey-based)
These metrics can be reviewed once the NextGen Bus Plan has been implemented for a period of six to twelve months.
Financial_Impact
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Impact to Budget
Implementation of Metro’s June 2021 service change is consistent with the Board amended FY2021 Annual Budget and is recommended as part of the FY22 Annual Budget. The planned changes are made within the allowed for revenue service hours.
Implementation_of_Strategic_Plan_Goals
IMPLEMENTATION OF STRATEGIC PLAN GOALS
Recommendation supports strategic plan goal #1: Provide high quality mobility options that enable people to spend less time traveling. The service changes also respond to the sub-goal of investing in a world class bus system that is reliable, convenient, safe, and attractive to more users for more trips.
Next_Steps
NEXT STEPS
Staff will implement the June 2021 service change on Sunday June 27, with marketing of the changes occurring beginning June 1 up to and beyond the implementation date.
Attachments
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A - Description of June 2021 Service Change
Attachment B - NextGen Implementation Frequency Tables by Tier as at June 2021
Prepared_by
Prepared by:
Joseph Forgiarini, Senior Director, Service Performance and Analysis, (213) 418-3400
Conan Cheung, Sr Exec Officer, Service Development, (213) 418-3034
Reviewed_By
Reviewed by:
James T. Gallagher, COO, (213) 418-3108
