Express Bus Service

Introduction

Express bus service is a fixed-route service that picks up passengers from park-and-ride lots in suburban areas and takes them to a central urban location. Express bus service runs on longer-distance trips during work-week rush hours and has limited or no service during midday.

These commuter routes have limited stops, use high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes for faster travel, and stop at the central business district in the city. Fares for the service may be comparable to park-and-ride fares, which are slightly higher than local fixed-route service.

Executive Summary

How Will This Help?

Reduces the number of single-occupancy vehicles on major freeways and highways. This decreases congestion on major urban freeways and streets.
Provides an alternative to personal automobiles. Suburban commuters can depend on this transit service to commute to the urban central business district.
Improves passengers’ time management. Passengers can use the bus’s Wi-Fi to handle personal and business matters, rather than driving on a congested freeway.

Target Market

Express bus service focuses on commuters from suburban areas, including students and employees working in the central city or any major employment or commercial center. These commuters would otherwise use freeways to travel to and from work during the week.

Implementation Examples

Lorem Ipsum

Application Techniques and Principles

Agencies should keep land uses, customer origins, and destinations in mind when planning express routes. Morning express lines originate in suburban areas from major stations and park-and-ride lots outside of major congestion points on corridors. Central business districts and major employment and commercial centers are ideal destinations for express routing.

Express routes operate differently than standard fixed-route buses, meaning some different service requirements:

The activity center (a transit station or stop) should have sufficient floor space (20–50 million square feet) to support service.
An express bus that people reach by walking requires:
- A minimum of 15 homes per acre over 2 square miles of collection area for five trips during the two-hour peak periods.
- Trips originating 10 to 15 miles from the largest downtown.
An express bus that people reach by automobile requires:
- A minimum of 3 homes per acre over 20 square miles of collection area for 5 to 10 bus trips during the two-hour peak periods.
- Trips originating 10 to 20 miles from downtown.

Issues

Express bus service requires careful planning, especially in areas with high transit demand during peak periods. Planners should consider vehicle size; larger vehicles should be assigned to routes with the highest demand. Route frequencies can be adjusted as ridership increases. For example, buses arriving as frequently as 5 minutes may be necessary at some locations.

In areas with limited ridership, sustainability can be an issue, so it is critical to market and promote the service.

Adequate planning of the express bus route is critical to success. Planners should survey potential users to determine schedules and routing, and should offer service in conjunction with one or more park-and-ride lots.

These types of routes need access to HOV, high-occupancy toll, and managed lanes. To encourage people to take the express bus, it should take less time than a personal vehicle.

Who Is Responsible?

The local transit provider is responsible for planning and implementing express bus services. This agency may be a transit authority, transit district, the city or local government, or the metropolitan planning organization, depending on the location.

Routes, stops, and park-and-ride lots should be planned and coordinated with local stakeholders.

Project Time Frame

The time frame varies depending on the level of service required. Route planning and implementation usually take six to nine months but can take a year. The following steps are typically required in the process.

Proposal Development

Service analysis—determine whether express bus service is needed or would be a good fit for the area.
Initial concepts—provide basic schematics on the proposed routing and scheduling.
Review of customer and operator input—review customer and operator comments to determine if there is demand in a specific area for express-level service.
Concept refinement and cost estimates—based on the comments, refine the design and schedules; develop costs for service based on the hours of service needed to run the route.
Title VI and American with Disabilities Act review—review legal requirements (recommended for most new services); express routes do not require complementary paratransit.
Initial proposals—vet proposed routes and schedules with internal stakeholders (marketing, scheduling, and operations).
Community outreach (riders, general public, advisory committees, etc.)—take proposals to advisory groups and targeted populations the route(s) would serve to gather feedback.
Public meetings—hold meetings in central locations accessible by public transit to gather additional feedback.
Proposal revisions—revise proposals based on all information gathered.

Board Process

Board committee review—present initial proposals and community feedback to the board work session or board planning committee.
Public hearing—hold a separate public hearing for the last round of comments.
Final recommendations—present the final proposal and recommendations for service to the transit board of directors.
Board decision—the transit board of directors approves or disapproves service.

Implementation Preparation

Schedule development—if the board approves service, test and finalize schedules.
Operator work assignments—present the route for operator bidding at the next work assignment period.
Marketing and communication materials—develop and distribute marketing and communication materials advertising the service offered.
Capital upgrades (vehicles, facilities, stops, etc.)—develop and build accessible stops, benches, shelters, and stations associated with the route; purchase new vehicles if needed.
Information technology updates—update and upgrade the agency website, automatic vehicle location (if applicable), and operator schedule sheets.

Cost

Implementation and planning costs vary according to the planned level of service. Fixed routes in an urban area can cost approximately $100 per hour. The cost is affected by the route features, including hours of service and route mileage. Fare box recovery is nominal and not necessarily taken into consideration for route-funding purposes.

Data Needs

Planners should collect demographic and regional data prior to route planning. Data collection involves collecting origin and destination surveys, and mapping major employment centers and service attractors.