1. Transit in TSMO: Bus On Shoulder
I’ll be talking about Transit in TSMO, and the San Diego Bus on Shoulder pilot project (also called BOS). I am the design lead for the I-805/SR-94 BOS and I-680 BOS. They introduced me as Caralee but I also respond to “BOS lady.”
June 25th, 2019
Caralee Jaeckels, Kimley-Horn

2. Agenda
TSMO Basics
Bus On Shoulder Basics
San Diego Case Study

3. Transportation Systems Management and Operations
TSMO
Institutional collaboration
Transportation systems & technology
Operational management
TSMO maximizes existing infrastructure by using performance targets to improve operations. It emphasizes collaboration and reducing silos to make data-based decisions.
Goes further than individual projects. It can encompass capital improvements, technology infrastructure, and most importantly involves institutional collaboration with the goal of improving performance.
Some of this is currently happening on a localized scale – Integrated corridor management, 805 BOS
The goal is to increase the viability of transit

4. Transportation Systems Management and Operations
Traditional
TSMO
Strategies
Adding lanes, project-focused
Operational collaboration, data sharing, data and performance based operations, ITS
Performance Metrics
On time, budget, standards
Customer focus-
reliability, delay
Timelines
Project schedule in months, years
Real-time response (24 X7)
Partnerships
Contracted
Collaboration, heavy dependence on external partners

5. TSMO Has High B/C
Many agencies are putting a lot of energy into promoting a cultural shift towards TSMO because TSMO has a higher benefit/cost ratio than traditional roadway projects. There are larger benefits and they show better in grant applications, which are also favoring projects that display accountability of performance, using ongoing performance monitoring.
Since technology is one of the 3 components of what makes a TSMO project, often TSMO is associated primarily with ITS. Many types of projects are can be TSMO projects, and the San Diego BOS implementation is an example of a transit application of TSMO.

6. Bus On Shoulder Leverage existing assets Bypass freeway congestion
Improve transit schedule reliability
Bus On Shoulder is an innovative low-cost way to improve mobility. The purpose of Bus On Shoulder projects is to bypass freeway congestion in order to improve transit schedule reliability. Minimal physical improvements are required for BOS operations – most of the work is traffic and ITS, with some highway design.
In addition to improving schedule adherence, transit buses have the potential to remove 1.2 lane-miles of queued vehicles per hour which benefits everyone on the road.

7. Transit Only Lanes Pilot
3-year Demonstration Starting 2020
Convert freeway shoulders into Transit-Only Lanes (TOL)
Demonstrate v2i for ramp metering safety enhancements when buses enter potential conflict areas
SANDAG is calling their BOS project Transit Only Lanes in order to conform to regulatory requirements pertaining to lawful use of a shoulder, but the basis of the operations and overall concept are based on the same principles.

8. Project Map Chula Vista to Downtown San Diego
Part of the South Bay Bus Rapid Transit corridor
805 one of San Diego’s most congested commuter corridors. It has a strong directional distribution northbound in the morning and southbound in the evening.

9. Institutional Collaboration
Project Charter
Decision Document
Ongoing coordination in project meetings
Extensive collaboration between many agencies at the federal, state, district, and local level.
Caltrans, MTS, SANDAG, CHP, Federal Highway Administration, and Federal Transit Administration
Project charter was developed to establish project goals and create an agreement to work together toward a successful project.

10. Operational Management
Enter TOL (i.e. shoulder) only when adjacent speeds are below 35mph
Keep the bus speed within 15 mph faster than the adjacent speed of traffic on the regular lanes, and not faster than 35 mph
Operator will always operate with caution in conflict zone
Concept of Operations
Operational parameters:
Speed less than 35 mph
Bus can only go up to 15 mph faster than adjacent traffic up to 35 mph
Decision to use shoulder is always at the discretion of the driver, and yield to anything that is in the shoulder such as stalled vehicles, CHP, and debris. The transit operator is dedicating 4 months to train drivers specifically for the BOS corridor. In order to minimize impact to enforcement and transit operations, the shoulders will be swept nightly and additional funding is being allocated to Freeway Service Patrol to assist and remove stalled vehicles.

11. Transportation Systems: V2I Technology
Integration of a Transit Priority System with ramp metering
Utilizes vehicle-to-infrastructure communications (e.g. DSRC) to support safe maneuvers
Vehicles held at ramp meter to allow the bus to travel unimpeded
Ramp meter hold includes static and activated signs
Transportation Systems: V2I Technology
Integration of a Transit Priority System with ramp metering
Utilizes vehicle-to-infrastructure communications (e.g. DSRC) to support safe maneuvers
Vehicles held at ramp meter to allow the bus to travel unimpeded
Ramp meter hold includes static and activated signs

12. Transportation Systems: On-Bus Technology
Forward Collision Warning
Lane Departure Warning
Blind Spot
Warning

13. Performance Metrics Customer: Transit operator:
Transit schedule reliability
Transit operator:
Effectiveness of technology

14. BOS Summary Concept of Operations, FSP, CHP
Federal, state, district, and local collaboration
V2I and On-Bus Technology
Concept of Operations, FSP, CHP

15. That concludes my presentation
That concludes my presentation. If you have any questions, I’m going to leave my contact information up here.

16. 1-800-BOS-LADY
That’s a joke, please don’t call that number looking for me.