Meeting_Body
Operations, Safety, and Customer Experience Committee
OCTOBER 17, 2019
Subject
SUBJECT: Motion 22.1: NextGen Bus Speed Engineering Working Group Status Update
Action
ACTION: RECEIVE AND FILE
Heading
RECOMMENDATION
Title
RECEIVE AND FILE the status report in response to Motion 22.1 entitled NextGen Bus Speed Engineering Working Group (July 2019). This update provides details regarding a technical working group appointed by Metro and its efforts to coordinate with a complementary group from LADOT to develop a work program to improve bus priority and assess the need to coordinate with other jurisdictions and municipal operators.
Issue
ISSUE
In July 2019, the Board approved Motion 22.1 entitled NextGen Bus Speed Engineering Working Group as part of the NextGen Service Concept. This motion requests the following:
A. Develop a list of priority bus-supportive infrastructure projects needed to support the NextGen bus service plan, with an emphasis on near-term improvements that can be implemented concurrently with each phase of NextGen;
B. Form a NextGen Bus Speed Engineering Working Group co-chaired by the Metro CEO and the General Manager of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, or their designees, and establish a regular meeting schedule, at least monthly;
C. Assess the need for coordination with additional local jurisdictions and municipal operators where bus delay hotspots exist; and
D. Report back to the Operations, Safety, and Customer Experience Committee on the above in October 2019, and quarterly thereafter.
This report provides a status update on the response to Motion 22.1.
Background
BACKGROUND
In July 2018, the Board adopted Motion 38.1, endorsing travel speed, service frequency, and system reliability as the highest priority service design objectives for the NextGen Bus Study. These objectives have been incorporated into the Regional Service Concept, that was approved by the Board in July 2019, which provides the framework for restructuring Metro’s bus routes and schedules, and includes:
1. Goals and objectives of the new bus network;
2. Measures of success;
3. Route and network design concepts based on public input and data analysis; and
4. Framework for balancing tradeoffs that consider Metro’s Equity Platform.
Concurrent to the approval of the Regional Service Concept, the Board approved Motion 22.1: Engineering Working Group, which provides direction to staff to establish a partnership between Metro and LADOT to identify, design, fund and implement transit supportive infrastructure to speed up transit service as part of the NextGen bus restructuring effort.
Discussion
DISCUSSION
The Metro CEO has appointed a Technical Working Group focused on identifying, planning, designing and implementing bus speed and reliability improvements. This group, consisting of Metro Service Planning will work in close partnership with LADOT’s equivalent technical team, consisting of Traffic Operations, Active Transportation, and Transportation Planning Groups, meeting on a regular basis (every 2-4 weeks), to ensure continued coordination and advancement of the program. Additional Metro departments (e.g. Communication, Planning, OMB, OEI, Program Management, Security), as well as other municipal traffic departments and transit operators, would be engaged as needed when specific projects have been defined and advanced towards design and implementation.
At major milestones and as needed, the Technical Working Group will report on progress to the Metro CEO and LADOT’s GM, and/or their designees, to seek direction on goals and objectives of the Technical Working Group as well as policy guidance on balancing priorities for roadway and curb space.
Some early action projects for the working group include:
Downtown Los Angeles Area
• Evaluate the benefits of the Flower Street pop-up bus only lane on speed and reliability, and consider maintaining the lane after the completion of New Blue;
• Evaluate transit priorities for critical north/south and east/west transit corridors, including bus-only lanes, queue jumpers, and strategic bus stop relocation.
Congested Corridor Program
• Evaluate transit priority programs for other critical NextGen corridors based on criteria such as severity of delay, number of trips per hour, and ridership. Each corridor program should consist of recommendations for bus stop relocation, bus lanes, queue jumpers, enhanced transit signal priority, traffic signal timing improvements, and curb extensions.
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. Improving the speed and reliability of the bus network will reduce transit travel times as well as improving competitiveness with other transportation options.
Next_Steps
NEXT STEPS
Metro and LADOT will continue to collaborate on implementing transit supportive infrastructure and provide quarterly progress reports to the Board.
Attachments
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A - Motion 22.1 Speed Engineering Working Group
Prepared_by
Prepared by: Conan Cheung, SEO Service Development, (213) 418-3034
Reviewed_By
Reviewed by: James T. Gallagher, Chief Operations Officer, (213) 418-3108
