PROJECT UPDATE: BRT education that went along with as to why their travel times were inconvenienced during construction.” Benefits of the Line Selk said the launch of the line off ers a number of benefi ts: • Reduced travel times • Improved trip reliability • Reducing ongoing operations and maintenance costs compared to the cost of other service • Increasing passenger capacity • Improving safety and security • Improving access to and from transit for pedestrians and bicyclists “We’ve heard anecdotally on social media from riders that they have noticed time shaved off of their trip. It has been really great to see that posted in real-time; people are noticing time savings,” said Selk. “Th ere are a lot of people in my own department who ride the bus every day and they’ve been saying that they’re seeing a lot of folks riding the bus,” explained Selk. “We haven’t had the vehicles out long enough to take those measurements, but I’m really excited to do that.” Along with attracting typical riders, the Vine is also attracting new riders. Selk explained that she doesn’t distinguish between choice and non-choice riders. Selk said that she feels all riders should be considered a choice-rider. “But when you are trying to attract riders who normally don’t take the bus and they don’t have to take the bus, that is a great thing,” said Selk. “BRT systems, not only in North America, but all over the world, attract riders that might have not taken the bus before. I think that a lot goes into that, everything from the design of the station, the design of the vehicle itself, the ease at which riders can ride and the transit-oriented development that goes along with the BRT lines. I think that all of 18 | Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | APRIL/MAY 2017 that adds up to attract a rider who maybe hasn’t considered taking a bus before and that is really exciting.” C-Tran Reaping the Savings “I think that the most exciting thing about BRT from C-Tran’s perspective is, I think something that we share with other transit agencies,” said Selk, “it’s the savings that you get from time and fuel savings. All of those diff erent cost savings can be dispersed throughout the rest of your system to improve operations agency wide.” Selk explained that those savings can benefi t the agency in many ways. “Th ey can go back into the system as a whole and make it more effi cient. Th e whole thing is a puzzle; it all works together. Th e Vine doesn’t work independently from our other routes, it works in conjunction with all of our fi xed routes so I think that is kind of the most exciting part about it.” www.MassTransitmag.com/12308736 Trusted For Decades Our family of companies offer a vast array of solutions for the transportation industry. For over 70 years we have provided transportation solutions to customers across the United States. 800.BUS.SALE CompleteCoach.com dƌĂŶƐŝƚ^ĂůĞƐ͘ĐŽŵ ĞƉƐƌŝǀĞ͘ĐŽŵ ^ŚƵƩůĞƵƐ>ĞĂƐŝŶŐ͘ĐŽŵ For more information, visit www.MassTransitmag.com/10065706
MassTransit_AprilMay_2017
To see the actual publication please follow the link above