Monday, March 23, 2015

A solution for Lines 93 and 94 (rewritten)

AM from Sherwood
4:30 1267 93 Tigard...
4:56 1268 93 Tigard...
5:32 1269 93 Tigard...
5:43 9401 94 Portland
5:54 9402 94 Portland
6:03 9367 94 Portland
6:07 9368 93 Tigard TC
6:10 9369 94 Portland
6:18 9403 94 Portland
6:24 9404 94 Portland
6:29 9405 94 Portland
6:35 9370 93 Tigard TC
6:36 9371 94 Portland
6:44 9406 94 Portland
6:53 9407 94 Portland
7:00 9467 94 Portland
7:06 9368 93 Tigard TC
7:08 9468 94 Portland
7:17 9469 94 Portland
7:38 9370 93 Tigard TC
7:39 9401 94 Portland
8:10 9368 94 Portland
BACKGROUND:
Line 93, Line 94, all service at Sherwood

Lines 93 and 94 serve the same stops between Sherwood and Main Street in Tigard.  Line 93 goes into Tigard Transit Center while Line 94 stays on Main.

During rush hours, Line 94 runs every 7-8 minutes in the peak direction while Line 93 runs at most half hourly in both directions.  Many Line 94 trips deadhead to/from the garage in the non-peak direction.  Capacity in this segment is not believed to be an issue.

Between rush hours, Lines 93 and 94 each run every 45 minutes in both directions, for a combined frequency of 22-23 minutes at the stops the routes both serve.

PROBLEMS:
During rush hours, Lines 93 and 94 duplicate each other in the peak direction, with Line 93 trips being only a few minutes apart from a Line 94 trip.  Furthermore, it takes additional peak buses to run this service, and they must deadhead all the way to/from Sherwood.

In addition, buses using Main Street in Tigard can get delayed by WES and freight trains at the railroad crossing and, going to Sherwood, waiting to turn left off of and back on 99W.  Having buses serve Tigard TC would further increase travel times for peak through riders compared to in the past.

Riders using timetables must consult both the Line 93 and 94 schedules to see when the next trip is, even though the routes serve the exact same stops.  A rider just looking at one may end up waiting 22 minutes longer than is necessary.  And riders at Tigard TC have to calculate whether or not the next bus will be stopping there or whether they should walk over to Commercial Street.

Overall, the compromise of having every peak Line 94 trip serve Main St but not the transit center is a detriment to both through riders who must endure longer trip times and to riders getting on and off in Downtown Tigard who can't use the major stop in the area.  Lastly, there really isn't a need to have service every 7-8 minutes on Main.

SOLUTION:
Have Line 94 serve Tigard TC and run as Line 93 south of there, putting all local Sherwood-Tigard TC service on the same line and timetable.  During rush hours, along with having some runs make a trip in the reverse direction to/from Tigard TC on the way to/from the garage, this would allow the current Line 93 service to be eliminated (specifically the first portion of blocks 9368 and 9370 and trips on 9369, 9367 and 9301 in the afternoon).

In addition, to provide faster service for through riders, have some of the peak Line 94 trips bypass Downtown Tigard entirely as they did before.  The trips could also make limited stops south of there if desired.  There is enough service that there could be trips every 15 minutes both through Tigard TC and directly to/from Sherwood.


Potentially use the savings to add Line 94 service on Saturdays or increase it to half hourly between rush hours on weekdays.  If the latter, the current Line 93 runs could be eliminated and replaced by having every other Line 12 trip extend (as Line 93) to King City, replicating former service levels.
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4 comments:

  1. kswissTuesday, March 24, 2015 9:02:00 PM

    No. Split the 12 downtown and get rid of this stupid ass 93/94 overlapping BS.

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  2. Erik H.Tuesday, March 24, 2015 9:13:00 PM

    "Instead, have some Line 94 trips serve Tigard TC and run as Line 93 south of there, including making a trip in the reverse direction on the way to/from the garage."

    So, confuse riders by saying the 94 only goes to Tigard, but the bus continues to Sherwood? But...wait...

    "In exchange, have other Line 94 trips bypass downtown Tigard entirely as before, and possibly make limited stops south of there."

    So, SOME 94s will go to Tigard TC, some 94s will go to Tigard TC, then become a 93, and some 94s will bypass Tigard TC...but then some 94s will make certain stops and other 94s won't make those same stops?

    Jason...please...you have a total lack of understanding of how TriMet clusterfucked service in Tigard. The issue previously was service reliability - namely, inbound 12S trips were arriving severely late, causing outbound 12B trips to be...well...let's just say there wasn't much sense in the schedule. The 94 was of little use to many because it skipped too many stops. The 95 was nice if you lived south of Tigard because it was a true express north of Tigard, but TriMet did a great job of killing it off.

    Meanwhile, TriMet shut off the signal pre-emption on Barbur so buses had no hope of getting back on schedule; TriMet put too much emphasis on the "Free Downtown Parking Lot" at Barbur Transit Center (thus forcing Tigard/south commuters to deal with crush load buses), and then to add salt to the wound stuck the oldest, most decrepit buses to the route.

    Meanwhile, trying to convince us they couldn't buy articulated buses, because apparently the only company that made artics was in the former Soviet Bloc, they sucked, but they were good enough for the Streetcar.

    You get exactly one point correct - the schedule forces 93s and 94s to run back to back south of Tigard which admittedly is a huge waste of resources, running two nearly empty buses back to back to Sherwood, then forcing them to deadhead back to Portland (costing money but not making money).

    Here's a better solution:

    1. End the damned interline between Barbur and Sandy. Heck, TriMet admitted it worked for Powell/Broadway.

    2. Initiate a "Rapid Bus" or limited bus north of King City - call it "12" (local service, making all stops" and "12L" (limited service, basically making all the 94 stops north of Tigard)

    3. Initiate an "Sherwood Express" route - 94X or 95X - it would be a true express and make NO stops north of the 74th Avenue Park & Ride. Not even Barbur TC (since it would be served by the 12L).

    4. Then institute a new Tigard-Sherwood bus, let's say route 13, that would provide the off-peak service south of King City. However it would be timed to transfer to and from the 12L.

    5. Reinstall the traffic signal priority for all traffic signals on Barbur/99W.

    6. Install queue-jumper lanes - specifically at Barbur & Bertha (both northbound & southbound), Barbur/99W at I-5, and most other signals in Tigard.

    7. At 99W and either Hall or Main, install a signal that would allow buses to safely and legally make the left turn onto Main from the right lane, without having to cross three lanes of traffic.

    8. Retime the signal at the south (west) end of Main to allow better throughput off of Main.

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  3. Al MTuesday, March 24, 2015 10:06:00 PM

    Split the 12 in two! Amen !

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jason McHuffWednesday, March 25, 2015 2:00:00 AM

    No. Split the 12 downtown

    Where exactly, without having the Sandy and Barbur routes duplicating each other?

    So, confuse riders by saying the 94 only goes to Tigard, but the bus continues to Sherwood?

    Just like with the Line 12 trips today that become/start as Line 21 or 93, the buses would say "to Tigard TC, continuing to Sherwood/Portland". Or, use "to Sherwood/Portland via Tigard TC". See e.g. http://gtfs.transitq.com/TriMet/trip/5307209

    So, SOME 94s will go to Tigard TC

    There would be two patterns:
    1) Base trips that make all local stops south of and at Tigard TC as Line 93 and north of there run as Line 94 making just the Line 94 stops.
    2) Extra peak trips that stay out of Downtown Tigard and, if desired, make limited stops south of there.

    The 94 was of little use to many because it skipped too many stops.

    South or north of Downtown Tigard?

    The 95 was nice if you lived south of Tigard because it was a true express north of Tigard

    I believe there was at most a 5 minute differential between Barbur and I-5. Using I-5 is subject to traffic and, moreover, skips the Barbur TC stop which is heavily used. Line 94 only makes two more stops north of Tigard than Line 95 did.

    TriMet shut off the signal pre-emption on Barbur

    What evidence do you have of that?

    but they were good enough for the Streetcar

    Foreign relations are much different now than they were in the 80s/90s. And I'm not against articulated buses, especially on express routes and for MAX disruptions.

    Here's a better solution

    Those are interesting ideas and may have merit, but they cost money vs. having some buses bypass Downtown Tigard as before (and having the others serve Tigard TC and become Line 93). In addition, the Southwest Corridor plan should address the issues long term.

    TriMet admitted it worked for Powell/Broadway

    TriMet was able to separate the Powell route because the Broadway half was hitched to Line 17 after the north portion of that route was eliminated. Could the Sandy route be linked to, say, Lines 54/56?

    ReplyDelete