state of the practice - how public transportation is ... · public transportation is addressed in...
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civil and environmental engineering
State of the Practice - How Public Transportation is addressed in Traffic Impact Studies
ITE Transit and Traffic Impact Studies Committee
civil and environmental engineering
Purpose of Report Relevant Literature Survey Results Current and Emerging Issues Best Practices Information Gaps Conclusions
civil and environmental engineering
Purpose of Report
• Provides a “snapshot” of the state of the practice of how public transportation is addressed in Traffic Impact Studies
• Committee purpose and goal – June 2015 Journal Article • Based primarily on a survey of ITE members
civil and environmental engineering
Purpose of Report
• Identifies substantial knowledge gaps that will help ITE and its members identify next steps
• Will lead to an ITE recommended practice for how to
consider public transit in traffic impact studies.
civil and environmental engineering
Purpose of Report
Typical TIS does not address: • Transit service adequacy in terms of availability,
frequency, and capacity; and
• Mitigation measures to improve transit service and bicycle/pedestrian infrastructure
civil and environmental engineering
Relevant Literature
A literature review was conducted of current guidance:
TCRP Report 165 Transit Capacity & Quality of Service, Chapter 5 Transit Quality of Service Fixed Route Transit
“Quality of service (QOS) is the overall measured or perceived performance of transit service from the passenger’s point of view” – similar to vehicle LOS?
civil and environmental engineering
Relevant Literature
A literature review was conducted of current guidance:
Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) 2010 Chapters 16 and 17. Urban Streets
Chapters 16 and 17 of the HCM 2010 (TRB, 2010) provide level of service (LOS) estimation procedures and LOS thresholds for the four modes (auto, transit, bicycle, and pedestrian) of urban streets – Anyone used this?
civil and environmental engineering
Survey Results
Survey responses from ITE members: • Survey responses were received from agencies in more
than 30 US states, four provinces in Canada, and from eight other countries
• 250 initial responses to the survey, 78 said they did not
have or didn’t know if they had TIS guidelines • 69 said they have adopted TIS guidelines and completed
the survey
civil and environmental engineering
Survey Results
Questions sent to ITE members - Guidelines: Does your agency use or have written guidelines for Land Development projects? Are the written guidelines based on a reference document such as the ITE Recommended Practice on Traffic Impact Assessment for Site Development?
civil and environmental engineering
Survey Results
Questions sent to ITE members – TIS vs Planning: Does this agency use these same TIS guidelines for assessing the impact of a transportation project (as opposed to a land development project)
How is the issuing agency for the traffic impact study guidelines related to the public transit agency or agencies that provide service in this community?
civil and environmental engineering
Survey Results
Questions sent to ITE members – How to measure impacts: Is a Transit Quality of Service analysis required/suggested in the setting section? Evaluate the impact of project generated vehicle traffic on transit operations including average speed, delays, headways, reliability? Evaluate the impact of the project's site location, proposed road modifications or other area wide non traffic impacts ?
civil and environmental engineering
Survey Results
Questions sent to ITE members – How to measure impacts and mitigation: Are impacts of new transit riders on transit capacity service, and /or transit passenger pedestrian infrastructure addressed? Is new or improved transit service considered as a potential mitigation measure for traffic impacts/traffic congestion?
civil and environmental engineering
Survey Results
Questions sent to ITE members – Coordination and funding: Are transit providers involved in the traffic impact study process? Are there institutional arrangements between local agencies and transit agencies to help fund transit operations and /or capital purchases via either project development fees, traffic impact fees, and/or projects specific mitigation measures or fees ?
civil and environmental engineering
Survey Results
Setting/Existing Conditions • Transit QOS meant different things to different people • Majority of responding agencies, 86% neither require or
suggest that some aspect of Transit QOS be addressed
civil and environmental engineering
Survey Results
Setting/Existing Conditions • Only one of the agencies uses the HCM Transit MMLOS • Only two of the agencies uses an actual rating, e.g. A-F, to
describe the QOS,
civil and environmental engineering
Survey Results Aspects of Transit Quality of Service Assessed in the Setting Section
Transit QOS Criteria Agencies that Require or Suggest this Criteria
Specific methodology cited in TIS guidelines?
Specific Metrics from the TC&QOS Manual (TCRP report no.165 )
Transit Multimodal LOS (Bus Route and Segment QOS)
MassDOT (in certain cases) VDOT * (in certain cases)
HCM 2010 Transit MMLOS TC&QOS Manual (TCRP report no.165)
Headway / Service Frequency Oakland, Halifax, Washington DC, Waterloo, MassDOT, FDOT none
Hours of Service Oakland, Washington DC, MassDOT, Waterloo none
Travel Time difference compared to Auto Travel San Francisco**
Change in average dwell time VDOT; Required by the following agencies in the impacts section: MassDOT
TC & QOS manual 2nd edition
Diminish Transit Speeds/ increase transit travel time/ increase transit delay “
Required by the following agencies in the impacts section: Oakland, Ottawa, Waterloo, MassDOT
none
Passenger Load (passengers per seat or passengers per square foot)
Waterloo, MassDOT, New York, Washington DC (if >30 peak hour transit trips are generated) none
civil and environmental engineering
Survey Results
Impacts of the Project on Transit Service and Operations and facilities • Only six respondents indicated that analysis of traffic ‘s
adverse impact on transit is required • The City of San Francisco requires analysis of Transit
Capacity Utilization and Trip Generation per the City’s 2002 Transportation Impact Analysis Guidelines
• The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) in South San Francisco Bay area requires a quantitative estimate of additional seconds of transit vehicle delay
civil and environmental engineering
Survey Results Impact of Project’s New Transit Riders on Transit
infrastructure and Capacity Transit Passenger
Service Analysis Transit Facility
(Escalators/Stairs) Analysis
Platform Loading Analysis
Sidewalk Capacity Analysis
US/Canada Respondents
Not Mentioned 56 62 61 56
Suggested 4 0 1 4
Required 4 2 2 4
civil and environmental engineering
Survey Results Transit Considered Mitigation for Traffic Impacts
• Mitigation is rarely if ever required • A few agencies require provisions for right of way or bus
turnouts • Many agencies do not consider new or improved transit
service as a mitigation measure.
civil and environmental engineering
Survey Results Involving the Transit Provider in the TIS Process
civil and environmental engineering
Survey Results Involving the Transit Provider in the TIS Process – follow up
responses if they are involved and do they have a written policy? • Most of these guidelines required that transit service in the
vicinity of the site be documented or that the transit agency be notified
civil and environmental engineering
Survey Results Involving the Transit Provider in the TIS Process – follow up
responses if they are involved and do they have a written policy? • The most comprehensive policy provided was The
Commonwealth of Massachusetts - includes data collection on transit usage, a multi modal level of service analysis and transit mitigation
• Transit operators felt that there were major flaws in the TIS
process - determination of mode split of the project trips and which bus routes the transit trips are assigned to
civil and environmental engineering
Current and Emerging Issues
• California Senate Bill No. 743 - de-emphasizes the use of
roadway capacity and level of service and emphasizes the use of alternative measures, primarily vehicle miles travelled (VMT)
• Lack of Transit Analysis Affects Infill development and
Regional Transit Generators
civil and environmental engineering
Best Practices
• Florida DOT provides thorough guidance to practitioners
assessing transit within a traffic impact study • City and County of San Francisco- downtown Transit
Impact Development Fee
civil and environmental engineering
Best Practices
• Fort Collins Colorado - MMLOS manual quantitatively
evaluates the accessibility, connectivity, and continuity of motor vehicle, public transit, bicycle, and pedestrians
• MassDOT - Transit service improvements must also be
considered to reduce the number of study area-generated vehicle-trips
civil and environmental engineering
Information Gaps
• Pervasive lack of understanding of what Transit QOS is • Need for thresholds and standards for transit impacts -
minimum number of projected transit trips • Need for a methodology that is both simple to use and
would receive buy-in from all stakeholders
civil and environmental engineering
Conclusions
• Premature to identify specific best practices for
incorporating transit into the TIS process?
• State of the practice report will be useful in leading to an ITE Recommended Practice
• Cities and DOTs need to recognize that the construction of a new buildings/intensified land use will generate additional demand for travel by all modes