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Evolution, Benefits & Challenges

Unit 1: Introduction

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Outline

• Evolution of US public transportation system

• Benefits and challenges

• Use of public transportation

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EVOLUTION OF US PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

Let’s start with a history lesson

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History of Public Transportation

Date Mode or EventPre-1800s Foot + Horse + FerryEarly 1800’s Horse-Drawn Omnibus (~20 people)Mid 1800’s Horse-Drawn Tramways (rails)Late 1800’s Mechanical revolution

Steam-powerCable cars

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History of Public Transportation

Date Mode or Event1882 American Street Railway Association1888 First Electric US Streetcar (Richmond, VA)1897 First US subway (Boston, MA)1920’s Rise of the automobile1945 - 1965 Transition to bus as predominant mode1974 Only 7 US street railways in operation

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History of Public Transportation

• Centuries of overcoming technological problems

• Issues still exist…

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DISCUSSION TOPIC

• Consider the prominent US public transportation systems in place today– What are the critical issues for these systems?– What makes these systems useful/ successful?– What encourages people to use these systems?

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Critical Transportation Issues

…many solved by Public Transportation!

– Congestion– Energy / Environment– Equity– Safety– Health– Land Use / Availability– Aging Population– Community

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BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES

Worth achieving these goals, but many issues need to address

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Congestion

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Why travel collectively? Simply: Space

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Energy / Environment

• In 2005, Public transportation reduced CO2 emissions by 6.9 million metric tones

• 340 million gallons of gasoline saved

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Equity

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Safety

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Accessibility

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Solving problems…

So, transit solves most of these problems.

Yet, we aren’t using transit.

Why?

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Solving problems…

1. Auto traffic no regulated

2. Integration & regulation of transit lacking

3. Planning & organization limited

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Modal Split Change

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7 Demands of Useful Transit Service

It takes me where I want

to go.

It takes me when I want

to go.

It is a good use of my

time.

It is a good use of my money.

It respects me. I can trust it.

It gives me freedom (to change my

plans).

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Elements of Good Transit Service

7 Demands of Useful Service

How Transit Services Them

It takes me where I want to

go.

It takes me when I

want to go.

It is a good use of my

time.

It is a good use of my money.

It respects

me.

I can trust it.

It gives me freedom

(to change my plans).

Stops/ Stations

Connectivity

Frequency Span Speed or Delay Fares Civility Reliability

Simplicity /Presentation

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USE OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

Let’s look at where transit is being used

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2010 APTA Agency Facts

Agency City Un Pass Trips Rank Pass Miles RankMTA NYC New York, NY 3,274 mil 1 11,611 mil 1

CTA Chicago, IL 517 mil 2 2,004 mil 6

LAC MTA Los Angeles, CA 463 mil 3 2,176 mil 4

WMATA Washington, DC 418 mil 4 2,055 mil 5

MBTA Boston, MA 356 mil 5 1,704 mil 8

SEPTA Philadelphia, PA 347 mil 6 1,557 mil 10

NJ TRANSIT New York, NY 268 mil 7 3,254 mil 2

MUNI San Francisco, CA 217 mil 8 455 mil 18

MARTA Atlanta, GA 146 mil 9 773 mil 13

MTA BUS New York, NY 120 mil 10 361 mil 25

King County Metro

Seattle, WA 114 mil 11 530 mil 17

BART San Francisco, CA 108 mil 12 1,390 mil 11

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2010 APTA Metro FactsUn Pass Trips

Rank Pass Miles Rank Pop Rank

New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT 4,080 mil 1 21,286 mil 1 17,800,000

1

Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA 672 mil 2 3,384 mil 3 11,790,000

2

Chicago, IL-IN 628 mil 3 3,980 mil 2 8,308,000 3

Washington, DC-VA-MD 476 mil 4 2,529 mil 4 3,934,000 8

San Francisco-Oakland, CA 425 mil 5 2,496 mil 5 3,229,000 12

Philadelphia, PA-NJ-DE-MD 368 mil 6 1,761 mil 7 5,149,000 4

Boston, MA-NH-RI 364 mil 7 1,781 mil 6 4,032,000 7

Seattle, WA 190 mil 8 1,222 mil 8 2,712,000 14

Atlanta, GA 158 mil 9 940 mil 9 3,500,000 11

Miami, FL 153 mil 10 912 mil 10 4,919,000 5

Portland, OR-WA 111 mil 11 491 mil 15 1,583,000 24

Baltimore, MD 106 mil 12 780 mil 11 2,076,000 19

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2012 Atlanta Area Service Statistics

Vehicles in max service

Weekday unlinked trips

Saturday unlinked trips

MARTA Rail 182 ~232,000 ~144,000

MARTA Bus 443 ~198,000 ~123,000

CCT 99 13,715 6,316

Gwinnett 69 7,736 1,028

GRTA 191 8,432 0

BUC 6 509 135

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Transit Ridership over time

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Transit Use Growing

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Fixed Guideway Systems

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New Rail Systems (2004 – 2010)

Location System Mode Year Houston, TX MTA Harris County Metro Rail Light Rail 2004 Trenton, NJ NJ Transit River Line Light Rail 2004 Minneapolis, MN Metro Transit Hiawatha Line Light Rail 2004 Las Vegas, NV Monorail Monorail 2004 Little Rock, AR CAT River Rail Light Rail 2004 San Juan, PR Tren Urbano Heavy Rail 2005 Albuquerque, NM Rail Runner Express Commuter Rail 2006 Nashville, TN RTA Music City Star Commuter Rail 2006 Portland, OR Aerial Tram Aerial Tramway 2006 Charlotte, NC CAT LYNX Blue Line Light Rail 2007 Seattle, WA SDOT South Lake Union Streetcar Light Rail 2007 San Diego, CA NCTD Sprinter Light Rail 2008 Salt Lake, City UT UTA FrontRunner Commuter Rail 2008 Phoenix, AZ Valley Metro Rail Light Rail 2008 Portland, OR Tri-Met Westside Express Service Commuter Rail 2009 Seattle, WA Sound Transit Central Link Light Rail Light Rail 2009 Minneapolis, MN Metro Transit Northstar Commuter Rail Commuter Rail 2009 Austin, TX Capital Metro Rail Red Line Commuter Rail 2010

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Do voters support transit?

Year Measures on Ballots

Measures Approved

Percentage Approved

2003 17 12 71% 2004 50 40 80% 2005 25 21 84% 2006 45 34 76% 2007 18 12 67% 2008 47 35 74% 2009 11 8 73% 2010 56 43 77%

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Conclusion

• Centuries of overcoming technological problems, but issues still exist

• Transit can help with– Congestion– Energy / environment– Equity– Safety– More

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Conclusion

• Yet transit usage is low– Auto traffic not regulated– Transit suffers from improper planning, design and

operations

• Thus the need for this course

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Reference

Materials in this lecture were taken from:• Vukan Vuchic, “Urban Transit Operations, Planning and

Economics” (2005).• Walker, J. (2011). Human transit: How clearer thinking

about public transit can enrich our communities and our lives. Island Press.

• Schrank, David, Bill Eisele, and Tim Lomax. "TTI’s 2012 urban mobility report." Proceedings of the 2012 annual urban mobility report. Texas A&M Transportation Institute, Texas, USA (2012).

• SAIC, 2007, Public Transportation’s Contribution to US Greenhouse Gas Reduction Chen, Ewing, Winkelman, 2008, Growing Cooler.

• Dickens, Matthew, John Neff, and Darnell Grisby. "APTA 2012 Public Transportation Fact Book." (2012).