Third Avenue Skip-Stop Operations Now a Rainbow of Frequent, Efficient Service Owen Kehoe, PE, PTOE King County Metro Transit, Transportation Engineer Seattle, WA

Background Transit through Downtown Seattle North-South Orientation 5 Surface Avenues Bus/LRT Tunnel 5,300 Daily Trips 3 rd Avenue Transit Spine 60,000 riders/weekday

2005: 2-year Bus Tunnel Closure –Traffic restrictions –Blue/Yellow Skip-Stops 2007: Tunnel reopening –Keep transit priority features –Capacity evaluation 3 rd Avenue Transit Spine Recent History Pine St Pike St Union St University St Seneca St Spring St Madison St Marion St Columbia St Cherry St James St

1 st Ave Construction –Long term –Intermittent closures –Need to move service Questions: –Can 3 rd Ave take the 1 st Ave routes? –Which routes to assign to which skip-stops? 3 rd Avenue Transit Spine February 2011 Service Change Pine St Pike St Union St University St Seneca St Spring St Madison St Marion St Columbia St Cherry St James St

Goals: –Move 1 st Ave routes –Prepare Rapid Ride routes –Minimize changes Constraints: –Rapid Ride stations on same block both directions –Common stop routes –Trolley wire 3 rd Avenue Transit Spine February 2011 Service Change Pine St Pike St Union St University St Seneca St Spring St Madison St Marion St Columbia St Cherry St James St

Methodology General Approach Develop Scenario V<=C ? Compute Bus Volumes [bus/hr] Capacity Analysis (PM Peak) NO YES Service Change Package

Methodology Bus Stop Capacity # of Loading Areas Dwell Time Clearance Time Signal Timing Failure Rate Main InputsCalculation WorksheetOutput Bus Stop Capacity [bus/hr] Right-Turn Traffic

Methodology Corridor Capacity Adjacent Lane traffic Corridor Capacity [buses/hr] Yellow Zone Capacity Blue Zone Capacity Main InputsCalculation WorksheetOutput

Methodology Capacity Analysis Results Pine St Pike St Union St University St Seneca St Spring St Madison St Marion St Columbia St Cherry St James St Yellow Stops 80 buses/hr SB Corridor Capacity: 130 buses/hr Blue Stops 65 buses/hr Blue Stops 65 buses/hr NB Corridor Capacity: 130 buses/hr Yellow Stops 85 buses/hr SOUTHBOUNDNORTHBOUND Capacity Critical Bus Stops

Bus Stops Overloaded –B–Blue SB –Y–Yellow NB Possible Solutions –M–Move routes to 2 nd /4 th Ave –S–Split common routes –D–Different color per direction –S–Something else? Scenarios First Attempts Pine St Pike St Union St University St Seneca St Spring St Madison St Marion St Columbia St Cherry St James St

New Skip-Stop Colors –Red: Rapid Ride & related Routes –Green: Routes adjusting to make room for Red routes Each Route Assigned One Color Refine Scenarios Scenarios A New Approach Pine St Pike St Union St University St Seneca St Spring St Madison St Marion St Columbia St Cherry St James St

Move some routes to 2 nd /4 th Ave –Suburban peak-only routes –Available capacity Consider future changes –2012: Rapid Ride C & D –Avoid making customers switch twice Tunnel Closed Scenario Scenarios Refinement Pine St Pike St Union St University St Seneca St Spring St Madison St Marion St Columbia St Cherry St James St

Scenarios February 2011 Final Pine St Pike St Union St University St Seneca St Spring St Madison St Marion St Columbia St Cherry St James St Yellow/Green 80 buses/hr SB Corridor Capacity: 130 buses/hr Blue/Red 65 buses/hr Yellow/Green 60 buses/hr SB Corridor Volume: 121 buses/hr Blue/Red 61 buses/hr Blue/Green 65 buses/hr NB Corridor Capacity: 130 buses/hr Yellow/Red 85 buses/hr Blue/Green 44 buses/hr NB Corridor Volume: 107 buses/hr Yellow/Red 63 buses/hr SOUTHBOUNDNORTHBOUND CapacityVolumeCapacityVolume

New Color Markers –At bus stop sign –Overhead advance markers Operator Training Street Teaming Implementation

Frequent Service Common Stops Improved! Maximizing use of Transit Priority Street Color System Tool for Identifying Skip Stops Results Customers Perspective

See for yourself! 3 rd Avenue Tour –Meet at Westlake Station after the Tunnel Tour Estimated Departure 2:30PM –Visit critical bus stops Results Your Perspective

Third Avenue Skip-Stop Operations Now a Rainbow of Frequent, Efficient Service Owen Kehoe, PE, PTOE King County Metro Transit, Transportation Engineer Seattle, WA