Local Bus Service

Introduction

Local bus service is the most common type of public transportation service available. The service is designed to ensure a basic level of access for the general public in a local area.

Buses usually follow a fixed route. They have preset routes, stops, schedules, and frequencies. Local bus service can also be flexible, but these services are considered demand-response service rather than local bus service.

In metropolitan areas, local bus routes may feed into limited-stop transit services, such as bus rapid transit or light-rail transit. Local bus routes may also offer connections from express bus service. Express bus service has very few stops until arriving at a destination, such as downtown; local bus service gets passengers from the end of the express bus service to their final destinations.

General Public within Municipal Boundary
Most local bus systems operate within a municipal or county boundary and connect major destinations with each other. Service frequency and the degree of accessibility depend on population and employment density.

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• Gives individuals access to employment, education, social activities, and other destinations.
• Provides an affordable transportation option for daily trips. Taking transit instead of driving can save a person an average of $9,069 per year.

• Reduces transportation-related carbon dioxide emissions by reducing single-occupancy vehicle use (one car transporting one person). Buses also often use clean and alternative fuels. Use of alternative fuels in buses increased 10 percent from 2000 to 2010.³
• Does not require the transit agency to purchase right-of-way. Local buses share lanes with other vehicles, unlike commuter buses or bus rapid transit, which operate in dedicated lanes.

Service Design
Service providers follow these steps to create a new service design:

1. Perform sound market research to estimate ridership and potential fare-box recovery.
2. Identify route alignment, bus stops, facilities, and needed street improvement.
3. Determine the vehicle requirements based on the estimated demand and service type. The primary goal of local bus service is to provide access to major trip origins and destinations. Planners should avoid duplication of service along streets where there are neither major transfer points nor activity centers.³
4. Implement a timeline and corresponding marketing strategies.

Existing-Service Evaluation
Service evaluation assesses the ability of a transit service to provide effective service. Service providers follow these steps to evaluate the existing service:

• Study the area’s demographics.
• Measure the existing service. Common evaluation measures include service coverage, span of service, frequency of service, schedule adherence, vehicle use, cost per passenger, and customer service rating.^{3, 5}

Performance Evaluation
Performance evaluation assesses the ability of a transit agency to function efficiently. Service providers follow these steps to evaluate performance:

• Monitor selected operational and financial measures. Common performance measures are unlinked passenger trips, miles between mechanical service interruptions, complaints per passenger boardings, and on-time performance. Analyze performance on a quarterly basis to monitor progress.
• Compare these measures with the agency’s established service standards.
• Evaluate progress toward agency goals and objectives.
• Adjust the implementation plan or request service changes if necessary.

Planning Guidance
In metropolitan areas, transit projects are included in a Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP), which is updated every five years to specify the area’s goals and objectives. Guided by the MTP, the metropolitan planning organization develops a two-year Transportation Improvement Plan to list projects with priorities. Similar plans are also prepared in small urban and rural transit agencies for their service area.

Slow Speed
“Buses are slow” is one of the most cited reasons for not riding a bus. Improved service speed may increase ridership. Local buses typically run in mixed traffic and, on average, stop seven times per mile. Buses’ speed is influenced by traffic congestion, traffic signals, how long the bus stops at a bus stop, how long people take to board the bus, and other unexpected factors such as weather. The average speed of bus systems is 10–15 mph.¹

Many methods improve bus speeds, including streamlining routes, consolidating stops, using multiple doors on the bus, using dedicated bus lanes, giving buses priority at intersections, using speedy fare-payment technologies, and having yield-to-bus laws.⁶

Service Frequency
Local bus routes follow preset schedules and may not be available immediately for riders. The frequency differs by route:

• In high-frequency corridors, the average time between vehicles can be 5–15 minutes.
• In low-density cities, the typical upper limit for the time between vehicles is 1 hour and is widely applied.¹

Who Is Responsible?

The providers of local bus service vary according to the operational area’s size. Local bus service can be provided by metropolitan transit agencies, small urban transit agencies, local municipalities, regional transit agencies, or rural transit districts.

Project Time Frame

The time needed to implement a specific project depends on the scale (ranging from adjusting the bus schedule to developing a new bus route) and may last from weeks to years.

Cost

The cost of local bus service is determined by:

• Capital investment (the cost to purchase assets). Capital investment varies according to size of the fleet and the scale of construction.
• Operational expenses (the cost to operate, maintain, administrate, and plan the service). Nationally, operational expenses have increased by 36 percent over the past 10 years. Vehicle operations and maintenance account for 73 percent of operational expenses. Bus service typically accounts for about half of an agency’s operations expenses.

Data Needs

Planning and policy development for local bus service require substantial amounts of data—data on demographics, land use, travel origin/destination, and ridership. In the evaluation phase, dispatch data, financial data, and customer feedback are also needed.

Professional judgment and experience also play an important role in the decision-making process.