Christof SpielerMETRO Board Member

Green Transit: tools for planners, leaders and citizens

WHY DOES TRANSIT MATTER?

bus with 40 passengers

single occupant car

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180

passenger-miles per gallon

Transit is energy-efficient

Transit uses less land

Transit encourages walking and biking

Penny wise, pound foolish, CNT, March 2010

Transit saves families money

Transit supports economic vitality

Transit makes lives easier

SO HOW DO WE BUILD EFFECTIVE TRANSIT?

Effective transit is not about choosing a technology.

Las Vegas Monorail23,000 boardings a day

San Francisco “F” line23,000 boardings a day

Good service

In the right places

Good service means competitive trip times

5. Time, not speed

30 min.

18 min.

car

light rail

subway

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Travel time, Downtown to TMC

walkwaitleave garagetripenter garagewalk

Travel times from Google

¼ mile walk = 5 min.

3 mile train ride, top speed 35 mph = 8.5 min

¼ mile walk = 5 min.

18.5 minutes

¼ mile walk = 5 min.

3 mile train ride, top speed 35 mph = 8.5 min

¼ mile walk = 5 min.

¼ mile walk = 5 min.

3 mile train ride, top speed 60 mph = 7 min

½ mile walk = 10 min.

18.5 minutes

22 minutes

¼ mile walk = 5 min.

3 mile train ride, top speed 35 mph = 8.5 min

¼ mile walk = 5 min.

¼ mile walk = 5 min.

3 mile train ride, top speed 60 mph = 7 min

½ mile walk = 10 min.

¼ mile walk = 5 min.

3 mile train ride, top speed 35 mph = 6 min

½ mile walk = 10 min.

18.5 minutes

22 minutes

21 minutes

Good service means reliable trip times

Houston: Local bus in mixed traffic

Houston: Park and Ride bus in HOV lane

Houston: Light rail in dedicated lane

Local Bus

Park and Ride Bus

Light Rail

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

on timelate

0-1 miles

1-5 miles

5-10 miles

10-19 miles

20-29 miles

30-39 miles

40-49 miles

50-59 miles

60-69 miles

over 70 miles

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Transit use for Downtown workers by commute distance

Downtown Houston Commute Survey Report, Central Houston, Inc., August 2009

Park & Ride: choice transit

Good service means high frequency

Washington Metrorail

Commuter rail networks(to scale)

Commuter rail networks(to scale, with train frequency)

Commuter rail networks(to scale, with ridership)

Portland: frequent service system

Good service means simple routes

Houston: typical bus network

Toronto: grid network

37

Westheimer Street, Houston before:2 Routes, 6 Branches, Different Days of Operation

38

Westheimer Street, Houston after:3 Routes, 0 Branches, 7 Days of OperationRidership +19.5%

Good service means customer information

Portland: clear destination information

Portland: Next Bus information

Trip planner

Google Transit

Portland: display at the airport

Good service means easy transfers

Houston: TMC Transit Center

London: weekly travelcard

Good service

In the right places

Houston: 7.5 miles

Dallas: 72 miles

Dallas

Houston

Length

Dallas

Houston

Cost

Dallas

Houston

Ridership

7.5 mi

72 mi

$320m

$3,800m

35,700 / weekday

76,800 / weekday

The right places meansconnecting centers

Employment center (Boston Back Bay)

Transit (MBTA heavy rail and commuter rail)

TMCTexas Medical Center, Houston14 hospitals with 6,800 beds9 universities with 71,500 students93,500 employees

Downtown

Downtown Houston140,000 employees11 fortune 500 companiesMost theatre seats in US outside New YorkBaseball, Basketball, Soccer

256,000 jobs within ½ mile of 5 rail lines

Downtown37% transit useUptown

7% transit use

Medical Center28% transit use

Greenway5% transit use

Energy Corridor2% transit use

Westchase7% transit use

6 new office towers in Downtown Houston since light rail construction began

The right places meansmultiple uses

¾ of trips are not home-to-work

Nancy McGuckin and Nanda Srinivasan, 2005

Home Work

Lunch

Work

Dinner

Store

Home

The right places meansserving density

BART: 104 miles, 370,200 weekday riders

WMATA: 106 miles, 1,023,500 weekday riders

The right places meansstations in the center

METRO

richmondrail.org

Houston: University Line freeway elevated option

Houston: University Line arterial at grade option

freeway elevated option

freeway elevated option

arterial at grade option

freeway elevated option

arterial at grade option: 40% more ridership

Uptown

Downtown

Greenway

TMC

UH

Houston: planned light rail

The right places meansa good pedestrian environment

Houston: Midtown

San Diego: Commercial Street

Portland: Pioneer Square

Good service

In the right places

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN?

Barrier: interagency cooperation

Zoningcommissioner

Ped-bike coordinator

Transit planner

Architect

Public worksengineer

Public servicesadministrator

Traffic engineer

Developer

Houston

Christof Spielerchristof.spieler@ridemetro.org