1. FUTURE SERVICE PLAN OPTIONS COMMUNITY FORUM FEBRUARY 6, 2010

2. Major Challenges: Resizing the Service
Key Discussion Points:
Considering a “Reduced” MARTA service: What does that look like?
The number of days of service per week
Span of service hours
Defining core quality sustainable service
Bring understanding to the community whereby the public can give input as to how MARTA’s current service shall be reduced with respect to the Budget Shortfall.
Capturing public input is critical to the development of a resized service plan that will meet the greatest community need consistent with financial projections.

3. Major Challenges: Resizing the Service
Key Considerations
Do we continue to operate 7 days a week?
ELIMINATE SUNDAY SERVICE? SUNDAY AND A PORTION OF SATURDAY SERVICE? SATURDAY AND SUNDAY SERVICE?
Ridership Impact:
Saturday – Rail: 128,171 (66% of weekday ridership); Bus: 130,978 (62% of weekday ridership)
Sunday – Rail: 86,331 (45% of weekday ridership); Bus: 97,782 (45% of weekday ridership)
Impact of the termination of any portion of weekend services is significant.
Directly impacts work trips and access to services and activities for the transit dependent – one of the key goals of providing transit service:
A significant number of weekend work, social, recreational, and church-related trips occur during non-peak periods and weekends, and are made by patrons who have no other transportation alternative.
Many routes on Saturdays and Sundays perform better than less-productive weekday routes
Cutting an entire day of service – any day – will cause:
Worsened existing social disparities, cutting people off from other parts of the city where they may have family, friends, religious functions, community or civic functions, and jobs.
A mobility constraint for the transit-dependent and a less attractive option for transit-choice riders.
Economic hardships on numerous levels (personal for riders and their employers, for neighborhoods, cities, and regionally).
Cutting a day of service means that changes in the weekly and monthly pass prices would need to be considered.
From a budgetary perspective, shutting the system down for a day yields more savings while leaving the service on the remaining days closer to current levels.

4. Major Challenges: Resizing the Service
Key Considerations
What is the Acceptable Span of Service hours?
WEEKDAY –
BEGIN SERVICE AT 6AM? WHAT IS THE LATEST?
Rail: 6,384 riders (3.2% of total daily rail ridership) enter the rail system before 6:00 a.m.
Bus: Nearly 8,362 riders (3.7% of the total daily bus ridership) are on the bus system before 6:00 a.m., many to access the rail system.
TERMINATE SERVICE AT 1AM? AT MIDNIGHT? WHAT IS THE EARLIEST?
Rail: Over 1,122 riders or <1% of the total daily entries into the system occur after midnight. Most of these riders are employees returning home from work (e.g., Airport).
Bus: Over 1,195 riders (<1% of the total daily bus ridership) are on the bus system after midnight.
WEEKEND –
BEGIN SERVICE AT 6AM? WHAT IS THE LATEST?
Rail: 2,872 riders (~2% of the total Saturday rail ridership) and 2,077 riders (2.4% of total Sunday rail ridership) enter the system before 6:00 a.m.
Bus: 2,388 riders (~2% of the total Saturday bus ridership ) and 1,426 riders (1.5% of total Sunday ridership) board the system before 6:00 a.m.
TERMINATE SERVICE AT MIDNIGHT? WHAT IS THE EARLIEST?
Rail: Nearly 1,654 riders (1.3% of total Saturday rail ridership) enter the rail system after midnight on Saturdays, highest across all days. Only 780 riders (>1% of total Sunday rail ridership) enter the system after midnight on Sunday.
Bus: 716 riders (<1% of the total Saturday bus ridership) board the bus system after midnight. Only 290 riders (<1% of the total Sunday bus ridership) board a bus after midnight on Sunday.

5. Major Challenges: Resizing the Service
Key Considerations
Quality of service: What is the acceptable level of core service?
SERVICE COVERAGE OR SERVICE AVAILABILITY (FREQUENCY)?
Developing a balance of both by trying to minimize impacts to transit access and MARTA Mobility coverage while preserving capacity in corridors with high ridership volumes.
PEAK RAIL SERVICE – EVERY 12 MINUTES, EVERY 15 MINUTES, OTHER?
PEAK RAIL SERVICE HOURS = 6 AM TO 9 AM AND 3 PM TO 7 PM
PEAK BUS SERVICE – USE SYSTEMIC FREQUENCIES: EVERY 15 MINUTES (MAJOR ROUTES), AND ½-HOUR (MINOR ROUTES), OTHER?
PEAK BUS SERVICE HOURS = 6 AM TO 9 AM AND 3 PM TO 7 PM
Generally, frequencies are set based on demand on a route by route basis while maintaining high frequency on major routes due to high ridership and the potential for severe overcrowding.
OFF-PEAK RAIL SERVICE: EVERY 20 MINUTES, EVERY ½-HOUR, OTHER?
OFF-PEAK BUS SERVICE – USE SYSTEMIC FREQUENCIES: EVERY ½-HOUR? EVERY 45 MINUTES? HOURLY? LONGER?
Maintain service frequencies based on demand on a route by route basis.

6. Major Challenges: Resizing the Service
Key Considerations
Other Considerations: Jurisdictional/Geographic balance, Land use and Smart growth actions that support higher density and greater transit service efficiency
JURISDICTIONAL/GEOGRAPHIC BALANCE:
Maintain a natural balance by sustaining service in major corridors in each jurisdiction and linking to critical facilities spread throughout the service area.
LAND USE AND SMART GROWTH ACTIONS:
Should be based on current densities, particularly in minority and low income areas. To be sustainable, the plan should be accommodating to growth trends in the service area over the 2010 and 2020 planning horizons.

7. Building a “Reduced” Service Plan

8. Building a “Reduced” Service Plan
Service Planning Approach
Building a “Reduced” Service Plan will begin with planning principles that are consistent with MARTA’s FY10 Service Standards. These principles are as follows:
Maximize ridership based on utilization trends and transit demand
Ensure access for transit dependent to key/critical activity centers and facilities is maintained (Lifeline Services)
Ensure compliance with federal regulations and mandates (Title VI/E.J. Considerations)
To the extent possible, maintain jurisdictional service equity
Minimize paratransit impacts due to decreased service footprint
Ensure service reliability by developing and structuring a core service that is safe, convenient, consistently reliable, and sustainable

9. Ridership Activity by Day/Hour

10. Reduced Plan Considerations
Title VI Regulations
Impacts to Title VI defined areas must be minimized
Most of the current service operates in census tracts that exceeded the service area average for minority, low income, and transit dependent populations
Minority Average – Black: 48.4% Hispanic: 6.7% Asian: 3.4%
Anticipated impacts in these areas is the reduced service density resulting in increased walking distances at the neighborhood level
Impacts those who have problems walking

11. Reduced Plan Considerations
Environmental Justice
Impacts to Environmental Justice areas must be minimized
Low-Income Average – 11.8%
Transit Dependent Average – 27.5%
As with minority areas, the general impact to these areas is the reduced service density resulting in increased walking distances at the neighborhood level
Elderly Population

12. Reduced Plan Components (Rail)
Rail Service Plan
Rail service plans take into account the following ridership sources:
Bus service
Park/kiss riders
Non-motorized access
Rail service levels are largely based on passengers transferring from buses feeding the rail stations
These changes include:
Change in time between trains (service frequency)
Change in size of trains during certain times of day
Current rail ridership
Average Weekday – 196,168 riders
Average Saturday – 128,171 riders
Average Sunday – 86,331 riders

13. Reduced Plan Components (Rail)
Rail Service Plan
Service ends at 1:00 am all days
Increased headways
Weekday peak: 12 minutes, all lines
Weekday midday: 15 minutes, all lines
Weekday evening: 20 minutes, all lines
Weekday night: 20 minutes with turnbacks
Weekend: 20 minutes from 7am to 9pm, all lines
Weekend: 30 minutes before 7am and after 9pm all lines
Turnbacks after 9pm all days
Varied train sizes
Reduces maintenance costs
Weekday peak: 6-car
Weekday off peak: 6-car / 4-car mix
Weekday nights and weekends: 6-Car / 4-car mix

14. Reduced Plan Components (Bus)
Tier 1 - Base Routes
Operates on major roads and corridors such as:
Roswell Road
Buford Highway
Memorial Drive
Glenwood Ave/Rd
Candler Rd
Metropolitan Pkwy
Cleveland Ave
Old National Highway
Campbellton Road
Cascade Road
Fulton Industrial Blvd
Individual Routes carry over 2,000 riders on an average weekday
Route group
Currently transports 111,384 riders per average weekday (52% of total weekday bus ridership)
Current average weekday peak frequency is 19 minutes (no greater than 30 minutes)
Major corridors covered include Fulton Industrial, Cascade Rd, Campbellton Rd, Old National, Metropolitan Pkwy, Pryor Rd, Glenwood Rd, Memorial Dr, Candler Rd, Buford Hwy, E. Ponce de Leon Ave, Peachtree Rd, and Roswell Rd.

15. Reduced Plan Components (Bus)
Tier 1 - Lifeline Services
Provides critical mobility option for Low Income and Transit-Dependent communities
Provides transit access to critical service area facilities and major activity centers
Downtown/Midtown
Perimeter Center
Northpoint
Buckhead
Camp Creek Park Place
Hospitals/Medical, Social, Government, Churches, etc.
Route group currently transports 29,445 riders per average weekday (14% of total weekday bus ridership)
Emory /Clifton Corridor
Gallery at South DeKalb
Mall at Stonecrest
Fulton Industrial Business District
Mountain Industrial District
Major corridors covered include Fulton Industrial, Cascade Rd, Campbellton Rd, Old National, Metropolitan Pkwy, Pryor Rd, Glenwood Rd, Memorial Dr, Candler Rd, Buford Hwy, E. Ponce de Leon Ave, Peachtree Rd, and Roswell Rd.

16. Reduced Plan Components (Bus)
Tier 2 – Efficient Routes
Efficient routes are highly productive segments that are cost-effective service and an important component of the service
Efficient routes have lower daily ridership than the “base” service
Route group was identified using two measures of performance: passengers per hour and net subsidy per passenger
Route group currently transports 8,912 riders per average weekday (4% of total weekday bus ridership)
Tier 3 – System Enhancements
Circulators, short feeders, and extended route segments beyond the critical termini
Enhancers are of low priority and are recommended to be operated as funding allows
Currently, routes collectively transport 6,448 riders per average weekday (3% of average weekday ridership)
Major corridors covered include Fulton Industrial, Cascade Rd, Campbellton Rd, Old National, Metropolitan Pkwy, Pryor Rd, Glenwood Rd, Memorial Dr, Candler Rd, Buford Hwy, E. Ponce de Leon Ave, Peachtree Rd, and Roswell Rd.

17. Reduced Plan Components (Bus)
“New Day” Bus System
66 Weekday routes (down from 131)
65 Saturday routes (down from 113)
64 Sunday routes (down from 108)
Represents a 50% reduction in routes
Represents 30-35% reduction in service
Weekday Saturday Sunday
Routes
New Day Passengers 156,190 95,857 70,272
Current Passengers 215, ,626 93,291
% of current ridership % % %
Major corridors covered include Fulton Industrial, Cascade Rd, Campbellton Rd, Old National, Metropolitan Pkwy, Pryor Rd, Glenwood Rd, Memorial Dr, Candler Rd, Buford Hwy, E. Ponce de Leon Ave, Peachtree Rd, and Roswell Rd.

18. Reduced Plan Components (Mobility)
“New Day” Mobility Coverage
No significant decrease in service area
Current size: square miles
“New Day” size: square miles
Service hours information not yet available
Mobility Patron Impacts
48 patrons will be outside of the proposed service area buffer
In November 2009:
16 of these patrons used Mobility
8 are fully eligible and another 8 are conditionally eligible
These 16 patrons took 315 trips
Trip purposes include dialysis, Hands for Hire, Reach, medical trips, and other
These patrons will not MARTA options for mobility