[Durham INC] Bull City Connector

Tue Jun 7 18:10:51 EDT 2011

Being on the "Partners" Committee for Chapel Hill Transit (with reps  
from UNC and Carrboro) had given me a fairly good education in what  
slows buses down, along with asking lots of questions of staff. It  
didn't prepare me, when on the TTA board, for the sort of challenges  
which bus drivers on regional-length routes face in "mixed  
traffic" (buses, trucks, cars, those pesky pedestrians crossing  
streets but not taking the bus...) . Anyone taking the bus from the  
middle of Durham to the middle of Chapel Hill needs to account for the  
fact that the bus route is a continuous loop between two points about  
12 miles apart, with something like 25 stoplights. 5 minutes is barely  
late for a regional route. The problem that Pat and I have with CH  
Transit is drivers who sit at the east end of the route in our Durham  
County neighborhood for 5 minutes after the schedule says they're  
supposed to leave.

Based on the stats I saw today at TTA -- which also showed stats from  
previous years -- that agency is probably most on-time transit  
operator in NC.  The reputation they have for performance is what  
makes Kevin believe that their involvement in DATA would translate to  
better performance there. With the amount of study that TTA staff have  
envisioned for DATA over the next year, I'd expect better on-time  
performance after a while.  Comparing Raleigh's R-route (with which  
I'm familiar through Raleigh Council colleagues on the TTA board) to  
the BCC may not be accurate, as the BCC route is plenty complicated.  
Any traffic movement involving a university campus can be complicated,  
based on experience with the 19 bus routes that cross the UNC campus  
daily.

As stated much earlier today, concerns about the BCC, a DATA service,  
need to go to Durham officials. Mike W can confirm the City Manager's  
commitment ot excellence in all aspects of DATA, especially its first  
"free" service.

Ed

On Jun 7, 2011, at 5:28 PM, chloe palenchar wrote:

> >TTA has a remarkably high on-time rate for its own buses
> As I said earlier, I'm no longer a frequent rider. But, I did catch  
> a bus to chapel hill a couple weeks ago and the bus was 5 minutes  
> late. It was pre-rush hour, so traffic shouldn't have been a problem.
>
> >Generally this means that stops are too close together, to put it  
> simply.
> Raleigh's R line has 20 stops on a 3.3 loop. Durham has 20 stops on  
> a 5 mile run. Knowing how little my fellow american's like to walk,  
> I would be doubtful that removing many stops is going to be the  
> right answer.
>
> And who knows, maybe Durham is just being too ambitious in its  
> goals. Raleigh had 150,000 passengers after 10 months: http://targetednews.com/pr_disp.php?pr_id=2510819 
>  :)
>
> -chloe
>
> From: ed.harrison at mindspring.com
> To: tomc at nc.rr.com
> Date: Tue, 7 Jun 2011 16:18:58 -0400
> CC: inc-list at durhaminc.org; gronberg at heraldsun.com; inc-list-bounces at rtpnet.org
> Subject: Re: [Durham INC] Bull City Connector
>
> Generally this means that stops are too close together, to put it  
> simply.
>
> TTA staff were clearly instructed this morning to analyze the issues  
> with the BCC.
>
> Ed
>
> On Jun 7, 2011, at 3:41 PM, Tom Clark wrote:
>
> And how is it that ridership is down--i.e.the bus doesn't stop much-- 
> but the problem is too many stops?
>
> Is this the Laffer curve of transportation?   ; )
>
> TC
>
> On Tue, Jun 7, 2011 at 3:31 PM, Ken Gasch <Ken at kengasch.com> wrote:
> Is the solution to simply reduce the number of stops from 4 and hour  
> down to 3 an hour? If buses would then be on time, I would be happy.
>
> The stop closest to our home is Dillard. Now, when going west to  
> places as far away as 9th Street, we simply have to take a car. My  
> wife and kids love riding the bus. However, I insist on the car as I  
> can't take waiting for the bus, late in the evening, when young kids  
> are tired and cranky.
>
> Ken Gasch
> REALTOR, Seagroves Realty
> Contractor, TurnLight Partners, Ltd.
> C: 919.475.8866
> F: 866.229.4267
> www.KenGasch.com
> Follow my latest restoration at http://wheelerhouse.blogspot.com/
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jun 7, 2011 at 2:56 PM, Ed Harrison <ed.harrison at mindspring.com 
> > wrote:
> I conveyed the comments from Ken G. and Kevin D. directly to TTA  
> this morning at the monthly
> meeting on Operations.  We were discussing an item that showed TTA  
> has a remarkably high on-time rate for its own buses, as Kevin
> appears to imply.
>
> The short answer from TTA Exec. Director David King is that the Bull  
> City Connector "has too many stops."
> Also, that the 15-minute headways are ambitious. He also noted that  
> the City Manager intends for
> the BCC to be "a premier service," and that Duke has the same  
> interest, as a major funder.
>
> Ed
>
>
>
> On Jun 7, 2011, at 9:42 AM, Mike Woodard wrote:
>
> I've forwarded all these comments to DATA and TTA management.
>
> Mike Woodard
> City Council
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ed Harrison <ed.harrison at mindspring.com>
> Sender: inc-list-bounces at rtpnet.org
> Date: Tue, 7 Jun 2011 09:01:37
> To: Kevin Davis<ksdavis at gmail.com>
> Cc: inc listserv<inc-list at durhaminc.org>; <gronberg at heraldsun.com>
> Subject: Re: [Durham INC] Bull City Connector
>
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>
> -- 
> Tom Clark
> 919-274-7463
> tomcie at gmail.com
>
>
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