Fixed-Guideway Transit for the Las Vegas Region

Fixed-Guideway Transit for the Las Vegas Region© 2009 by The Mission Group 1

Fixed-Guideway Transit for the Las Vegas Region

Alan Hoffman [email protected]

11 June 2009

Getting from Here to There

Presentation to the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada

THE MISSION GROUP1250 SIXTH AVENUE • SUITE 214 • SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA 92101

TEL (619) 232-1776 • FAX (619) 374-2785 • WWW.MISSIONGROUPONLINE.COM


Sustainable Development


What Kind of Network Would Get Us There?


Connectivity: The Double Challenge

Connect as many places that matter in as few years as

possible

Place access where it needs to be, not “near” where it

needs to be

Shape regional growth and solve regional problems

The system really becomes useful and convenient

GOAL: GOAL:


Transit & Land Use: Weak Strategy

If transit systems are unable to provide superior connectivity among a core set of points, they are unlikely to shape

the future growth of that region.

If you haven’t made transit a convenient means of travel among key regional centers

and destinations…

Don’t expect transit to shape urban growth, as the

auto will remain the defining transportation mode.


Transit & Land Use: Strong Strategy

Cities that develop strategies to connect their component parts as quickly as possible create truly useful transit

systems—and markets tend to respond to such usefulness.

If you figure out a way to hook your principle centers together

as directly, rapidly, and frequently as possible…

…then transit can begin to shape urban growth, given the usefulness of that system to

its region.




Is All Rail Light Rail?


Light Rail


Heavy Rail


Commuter Rail


High Speed Rail


Streetcar


Health Line BRT – Cleveland



LRT/Heavy Rail & Most BRT

Dense Corridors

Extensive Feeders

Relatively Short Trips

Special Events

Well-Located Stations

Especially Effective: Challenges:

Redevelopment Zones

LRT/Heavy Rail & Most BRTLRT/Heavy Rail & Most BRTLRT/Heavy Rail & Most BRTLRT/Heavy Rail & Most BRT

Transit-Dependents

Available Right-of-Way

Operating Subsidies

Serving Dispersed Zones

Serving the Periphery

Costs of “Getting Closer”

Getting Residents to Ride

Attracting Choice Riders


Commuter Rail

Long-Distance Commutes

Trades Off Frequency for Speed

Often Require Distribution Networks


StreetcarStreetcar

Supports Linear (Not Nodal) Development

Excellent for Local Distribution & Short Trips

Often Confused with Light Rail


The Great Strategic Choice:

Force or Attract


Calgary: The Highest Ridership

Light Rail System in the U.S./Canada

Calgary: The Highest Ridership

Light Rail System in the U.S./Canada






Transit Adjacent Development


Poor integration with surrounding land uses Poor integration with surrounding land uses

Requires Extensive Feeder System

Requires Extensive Feeder System

Some Transit-Adjacent, but Little True

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD)

Some Transit-Adjacent, but Little True

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD)

Little Impact Outside the Downtown: Challenge to Planners

Little Impact Outside the Downtown: Challenge to Planners

Calgary: Forcing Ridership


How Do You Attract Someone to Transit?


Findings from Market Research

“… quickly and don’t make me wait…”

NEXT VEHICLE: < 10 minutes

“Get me from point A to point B…”

A B

“…and I want to feel good about it.”

1/6 will never use

transit

1/6 prefer transit

2/3 will use transit if and when it

meets their needs:

Network Structure

(Connectivity)

System Performance

(Time)

Customer Experience

ATLANTA

SAN DIEGO


Building Effective Transit

How Do We Connect the

Region?

How Do We Connect the

Region?

How Can We Make Transit Faster than

Driving?

How Can We Make Transit Faster than

Driving?

How Do We Reduce Wait

Time?

How Do We Reduce Wait

Time?

How Can We Ensure People Will Respond

to It?

How Can We Ensure People Will Respond

to It?

If transit can be not merely convenient or useful, but indispensable, it can add to quality of life—and create real value.

“… quickly and don’t make me wait…”

��

��

“Get me from point A to point B…”

A B

“…and I want to feel good about it.”

Network Structure

(Connectivity)

System Performance

(Time)

Customer Experience


Los Angeles: A Cautionary Tale





To get to LAX from Panorama City via

Rapid Transit:

1. Local Bus2. Metro Orange

Line BRT3. Metro Red Line

Heavy Rail4. Metro Blue Line

Light Rail5. Metro Green Line

Light Rail6. Shuttle Bus

Stopping at all stops!


It’s Not the Mode, It’s the Network


Build It…But Do They Ride?

A dozen of the county's most powerful civic leaders— including the mayor of Los Angeles, L.A. City Council members and county supervisors—touted the latest and glitziest new development in Hollywood: the planned W Hotel and apartments at the storied corner of Hollywood and Vine.

This project, they pledged at the groundbreaking earlier this year, would restore a sagging neighborhood while also minimizing traffic—an important promise in increasingly gridlocked Hollywood.

“People could live here and never use their cars,” declared MTA Chief Executive Roger Snoble at the February event.

It’s a vision expressed frequently by local government officials, who see building large mixed-use developments next to mass transit lines as a key solution for not just the region's traffic congestion but also its spread-out geography and reputation for being unfriendly to pedestrians.

In Los Angeles alone, billions of public and private dollars have been lavished on transit-oriented projects such as Hollywood & Vine, with more than 20,000 residential units approved within a

Near the rails but still on the roadResearch casts doubt on the region's strategy of pushing transit-oriented residential projects to get people out of cars.

quarter mile of transit stations between 2001 and 2005.But there is little research to back up the rosy predictions.

Among the few academic studies of the subject, one that looked at buildings in the Los Angeles area showed that transit-based development successfully weaned relatively few residents from their cars. It also found that, over time, no more people in the buildings studied were taking transit 10 years after a project opened than when it was first built.

June 30, 2007


San Diego: Household Density

Existing Light Rail (Trolley)

Planned

Households per Acre


Mission Valley

¼ mile radius of Station

Major non-retail employment

Actual land area within 5-minute walk of station

Mission Valley, because of its shape, appears to be a linear corridor, and hence well-servicable by light rail.

Mission Valley, because of its shape, appears to be a linear corridor, and hence well-servicable by light rail.

In fact, Mission Valley is much thicker than a tradi- tional transit corridor. All but a small share of non- retail employment is within a 1/4 mile radius of a station, let alone 1/6 mile.

In fact, Mission Valley is much thicker than a tradi- tional transit corridor. All but a small share of non- retail employment is within a 1/4 mile radius of a station, let alone 1/6 mile.


½ Mile½ Mile

¼ Mile Radius ¼ Mile Radius


How Much Time Do You Have?

Source for times: Best case light rail trip from www.sdcommute.com

1:55

6 M

ILES


“Choice Riders” on the Trolley

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0% 1995 2003

% of Trolley Riders Who “Had an Auto Available” for Their Trip


It’s About the Network


Connecting Enough Places (both Origins & Destinations)

Connecting Enough Places (both Origins & Destinations)

Station Location Station

LocationTravel Time for

Longer Trips Travel Time for

Longer Trips

45

Fixed-Guideway TransitJune 2009

Rapid Transit Long- Range Strategy Program

46


Characterizing the Transit Challenge

“The Box” Residential density

“The Core” Most employment

“Beyond the Box” Lower housing density

but 2/3 of residents

47



“The Box” Higher residential

densities but only 1/3 of region’s residents

2005 Population Density2005 Population Density2005 Employment Density2005 Employment Density2005 Population Density2005 Population Density

48


2005 Employment Density2005 Employment Density2005 Employment Density2005 Employment Density Characterizing the Transit Challenge


“The Core” 45% of regional

employment

49




“The Core” Most employment

Grid Transit “makes sense”

“Beyond the Box” Lower housing density

Frontdoor

vs. Backdoor

How to “collect”

people?

50


2 mile radius

LAS VEGAS REGIONAL EXPRESS TRANSIT SYSTEM

StationStop

The ACExpress

Network is the region’s rapid express system. It connects specially-located stations (mostly Beyond the Box) with the key stations in the Core.

ACExpress

stations will be designed to appeal to both auto-access and transit-

access markets. They are located so that most residents of the urbanized areas Beyond the Box are within two miles of a station.

51


LAS VEGAS REGIONAL EXPRESS TRANSIT SYSTEM

52


��

53


Rapid Transit Connectors

��

54


Streetcar Opportunities

Approximate Streetcar

Opportunity Zone

55


Freeway-Based

Arterial Treatments

Intense Treatments, including possibly grade separation

Idealized Infrastructure

56


Idealized Transit Infrastructure Projects

(Grade Separations)

57


Idealized Transit Infrastructure Projects

(Grade Separations)

Staging

The advantage of transit- supportive grade separations is that, properly done, they can be staged and produce immediate benefit for not just one route or direction but multiple routes traveling in multiple directions, like this example at Sahara and Las Vegas Boulevard.


Brisbane: Quickways

“Brisbane is now at the leading edge in urban mass transit… the new busway… will attract international attention for the level of quality and customer focus that [has been] incorporated.”

— Hans Rat, Secretary General International Public Transport Association (IUTP)


Anatomy of a QuickwayAnatomy of a Quickway

Full Grade Separation

from Autos & Pedestrians

Full Grade Separation

from Autos & Pedestrians

Passing Lanes

at Stations

Passing Lanes

at Stations

Full-on “Rapid

Transit” Stations

Full-on “Rapid

Transit” Stations

High- Speed Road

Geometries

High- Speed Road

Geometries

Access is restricted to

trained drivers only

Access is restricted to

trained drivers only

Stations are directly tied

to supportive land uses

Stations are directly tied

to supportive land uses


What Makes Quickways Different?

TimeTimeTime Operating Costs (Subsidy)

Operating Costs (Subsidy)

Ridership (Revenues)

Ridership (Revenues)

Quickways systematically and continuously reduce transit travel time so as to better manage operating costs and attract large numbers of new riders.















Brisbane relies on significant use of tunnels to produce a Quickway infrastructure that is fast and direct, reducing bus operating costs and attracting more riders due to time savings.

Brisbane relies on significant use of tunnels to produce a Quickway infrastructure that is fast and direct, reducing bus operating costs and attracting more riders due to time savings.

© 2005 by The Mission Group


Brisbane rejected the use of freeway medians or roadways for its core Quickways to speed

access and better locate stations.

Brisbane rejected the use of freeway medians or roadways for its core Quickways to speed

access and better locate stations.



Comparison: Peak Ridership

6-Lane Freeway Southeast Busway (2-lane)

SD Trolley

7,800 18,000 2,700

at the Busiest Spot during the Busiest Hour in the Peak Direction


140%

120%

Brisbane: Ridership Growth

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%2003 2008

+ 50%

2008 Ridership:

Rail: 60 million

Busway: 50 million


Brisbane vs Las Vegas

Tunnel

Surface

Bridge



TOD Planning in Brisbane:Complete urban redesign of districts surrounding rapid transit stations focused on transit and pedestrian connectivity and scalable projects. Major arterials are re-routed and a shopping mall potentially cut in half!

Option “A” Option “B”


Regionally Effective Transit:

Save People Time


Einstein discovers that time is actually money.


Standard “Light Rail Lite” BRT

Quickway Network Structure• Fewer Transfers—More “one seat” rides.• Fewer Stops—Combination of expresses and

“split” arterial services, driven by demand.• Faster Trips—Often faster than driving.• Shorter Waits—Higher ridership drives demand.

• Many trips involve transfers• Stops at every station on route• Stations need to be far apart to gain running time,

but that often means that many areas along the corridors are not within an easy walk of a station.

• Passenger loads are often unbalanced, resulting in crowded sections.

85


Transit Travel Times to Flamingo & The Strip (June 2008)

TODAYGOAL

1:13

64%0:26

0:30

67%0:10

0:39

59%0:16

0:46

63%0:17

1:30

69%0:28

0:46

65%0:16

0:46

61%0:18

1:06

86%0:09

TIME SAVINGS

0:46

65%0:16

Arrive by 3:45 pm for 4:00 pm shift

1:25

67%0:28

86


Transit Travel Times to Downtown (June 2008)

TODAYGOALTIME

SAVINGS

Arrive by 3:45 pm for 4:00 pm shift

0:44

61%0:17

1:19

75%0:20

1:10

64%0:25

0:40

50%0:20

0:50

60%0:20

0:20

65%0:07

1:11

75%0:18

0:38

74%0:10

0:35

46%0:19

1:13

64%0:26

0:30

67%0:10

0:39

59%0:16

0:46

63%0:17

1:30

69%0:28

0:46

65%0:16

0:46

61%0:18

1:06

86%0:09

0:46

65%0:16

1:25

67%0:28

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Fixed-Guideway Transit for the Las Vegas Region

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