TransForm is shaping model Bus Rapid Transit lines in the Bay Area--we want to achieve local demonstrations of world-class public transportation that's cost-effective, reliable, and convenient.
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is revolutionizing public transportation service around the world by emulating the best features of rail through its use of dedicated bus lanes, traffic signal priority, state-of-the-art buses, and proof-of-payment systems. Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is essentially light rail without the tracks - and at a fraction of the cost.
And, because BRT can serve more people in less time, it also reduces operating costs for transit agencies, allowing them to put savings into preserving affordable service.
Several Bus Rapid Transit routes are now in the works in the Bay Area, and TransForm is working to engage local communities including chambers of commerce, neighborhood associations, students, and others in shaping these routes in the East Bay and South Bay.
Read on to learn more about Bus Rapid Transit, or learn about and get involved TransForm's specific BRT work in the East Bay and South Bay.
Read TransForm's report Revolutionizing Bay Area Transit... on a Budget, which outlines our vision of BRT in the Bay Area.
Watch these video clips of successful BRT projects in cities across the globe, plus examples of cities that are planning for BRT to become and integral part of their vision for a more sustainable future.
For more information you can review our summary slides below or contact Chris Lepe (for South Bay efforts) or Joel Ramos (for East Bay and San Francisco efforts).
You can make TransForm an even stronger advocate in 2011 by donating now.
Transit in Oakland and San Leandro took a huge step towards a much better future tonight, thanks to the efforts of its visionary leadership on the AC Transit Board of Directors. With 6 of the 7 Directors present, they unanimously certified the FEIR and adopted the Downtown Oakland to San Leandro alternative for BRT!
Over three dozen speakers came out in support of the plan, and emboldened the AC Transit Board of Directors to vote the way they did. They were also able to see a video advocating for BRT proudly produced by Youth Uprising (which can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKUHj9hapaU).
This would not have happened without the broad support from youth, labor, environmental, social justice, and environmental justice groups as well as "just regular residents" who were represented by 45 supporters at the AC Transit Board of Directors meeting on April 25th, 2012..
Many thanks to the 22 groups that have signed on to the coalition letter (see below) and all the support that has been demonstrated leading up to this point. Their engagement has been paramount to moving such a progressive project forward.
The East Bay BRT project has the HIGHEST rating for a transit project in the nation, according to the FTA. It promises to deliver the most efficiency for the least amount of money spent on transit improvements. Once implemented, Oakland and San Leandro will truly have a world-class transit system. Despite the affordability, it will create over 300 local construction jobs, improve air quality, allow for the purchase of better designed, cleaner vehicles, make streets safer for pedestrians and bicyclists, while at the same time creating a truly reliable transit system that people can truly depend on to come frequently and reliably.
The approval process is not over yet, though. AC Transit must still negotiate an agreement with the cities of Oakland and San Leandro. Those City Councils will be voting on this project sometime in June. If we are ever going to break-ground on BRT, it will need to get agreements there first.
Those agreements at the City Councils will not happen without community support.
Please stay tuned and be prepared to show up and voice support again to the Oakland and San Leandro City Council in June. We'll need to demonstrate in numbers again that details which still have yet to be worked out (such as stop distances and locations, impacts on traffic and parking, and support for small businesses along the route during construction) have been sufficiently addressed (assuming they will be!) so the Council members can feel comfortable adopting the project. TransForm staff will be monitoring the project as it moves forward and will be ensuring that these issues are being addressed as best as possible.
If you would like to stay informed of these issues as they move along, please let TransForm know and we'll be sure to invite you to the next BRT Coalition meeting we'll have within the next few weeks. Either way, we will be publishing a date soon when supporters can meet again to discuss next steps.
For those that came out to the AC Transit Board meeting, the community meetings, or have signed on to the coaltion letter or individual petition cards in support of BRT -THANK YOU, and ADELANTE!
If you have a moment more, please consider sending an email expressing thanks to the Board of Directors for their leadership and vision:
Elsa Ortiz, President of the Board: eortiz@actransit.org
Jeff Davis, Vice President of the Board: jdavis@actransit.org
Joe Wallace; jwallace@actransit.org
Greg Harper: gharper@actransit.org
Mark Williams: mawilliams@actransit.org
Joel Young: jyoung@actransit.org
Chris Peeples: cpeeples@actransit.org
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In compliance with CEQA guidelines, AC Transit has worked with community stakeholders to address comments made to them about the East Bay BRT project as defined in the DRAFT Environmental Impact Report, released around this time last year.
The Final Environmental Impact Report (or FEIR) includes a project that runs from Oakland to San Leandro BART, bringing bike lanes, new stations with lower impacts to parking, more landscaped median and other changes that we feel are for the better for local stakeholders, and which reduces the total cost of the project to reflect the funding that is currently available.
AC Transit recently held seven community meetings along the route and will now take the project to the AC Transit Board of Directors and the City Councils of Oakland and San Leandro over the next several weeks, seeking their approval to continue on with the final engineering of the project.
For the past six years, TransForm has worked in Berkeley, Oakland and San Leandro to build community awareness of AC Transit's proposed East Bay Bus Rapid Transit project with the goal of supporting the cities and AC Transit in ensuring that the east bay gets a model BRT that delivers great service and meets the community's needs.
Traveling along Telegraph Avenue, International Boulevard, and East 14th Street, BRT is proposed to reduce current trip times along this corridor by 30%, and will attract over 9,000 new daily passengers. AC Transit's BRT service will also reduce operating costs while increasing ridership, enabling the transit agency to better support the rest of the system.
Some of the reasons why residents who we have spoken to support BRT are as follows:
Health Benefits
Economic Benefits
BRT Stations will be closer together than "1R" stops but spaced further apart than then "1" stops today. The BRT stations will be located where transfers to other lines happen, and where 90% of current passengers take transit from now. However, about 10% of passengers may need to walk to a different place where a new BRT station will be located nearby. On average BRT stations will be about 1/3 of a mile apart. If right between two BRT stations, one may need to walk about 1/6th of a mile, equivalant to 880 feet, which is the distance one must walk now to get to City Hall from the currently existing 1/1R bus stop on Broadway between 13th and 14th Streets (see the Google map here: http://g.co/maps/kj4ur)
Curbside BRT: Some people are calling for "Curbside BRT", which would have BRT lanes running down the side of the street, with BRT stopping at "bulbout stations". This idea was not supported by AC Transit because it has several fatal flaws;
1. Curbside BRT still gets stuck behind double parked-cars, cars making right-hand turns or parallel parking, as the Silver line does in Boston and as BRT gets stuck behind traffic in Santiago Chile, losing much of the time-saving benefits gained by level, all-door boarding.
2. Curbside BRT is less safe for passengers and pedestrians. whereas one would be required to cross the full width (at least two lanes of mixed flow traffic) of the street twice to get to any destination and back. Center running BRT, with platforms in the middle of the street require passengers to cross only one lane of mixed flow traffic at a time (at signalized crosswalks, of course) to get to the platforms or pedestrian refuges. It also becomes safter to change direction mid-route, eliminating the need to cross any streets if simply going the other direction (if one misses their stop or decides to reverse direction).
3. Curbside BRT removes the potential for platforms to serve as pedestrian refuges, as tney would in Center-Running BRT, where pedestrians, particularily people who need more time to cross the street, can pause at the BRT platform in the middle of the street and safely wait for the next signal phase before they cross the rest of the street (see graphic attached below)
4. Curbside BRT stations are proposed by some to be 1/2 mile apart (w/ less stations and local service between stations), and would require higher operating costs along the corridor to provide service. Curbside BRT stopping every 1/2 mile (and running less often) would then be more of a service for people moving through the community.
5. Curbside BRT stations would be more narrow in width, making it more difficult for more than one wheelchair at a time to pass each other on the platforms. Even though the stations would be built parallel to the sidewalk, to be level with the floor of the buses, they would be elevated from the sidewalk itself or at a sloped angle that may be difficult to negotiate for people with limited mobility.
The funding that has been earmarked for BRT is available for captial projects only. By law, it cannot be used for operations. The funding that was possibly availble for operations (CMAQ funds) has already been shifted away from the project to reduce service cuts two years ago. If AC Transit does not use this money for BRT, it will lose the great majority of it. Some of it (previous Regional Measure 2 funds) would still be available for operations and maintenance of Rapid Bus lines (like the 1R and the 72R).
In May 2010, San Leandro and Oakland supported the study of creating dedicated BRT lanes. This gave the green light for AC Transit to move forward in looking at the impacts and benefits of a full BRT system with dedicated lanes, stations, proof-of-payment system, and other amenities that will greatly improve service along the heavily used 1/1R line.
Center-running dedicated lanes would keep BRT out of traffic, allowing for reliability that current "Rapid" buses cannot deliver, while still allowing for the creation of bike lanes, and preserving most of the parking that some merchants have expressed concerns over.
TransForm applauds Oakland and San Leandro's City Councils for their efforts to help find a way to improve the comfort, safety, frequency, reliability, and affordability of bus service.
Check out the details on the decisions made in each city:
TransForm is currently reaching out to community groups, residents, businesses and other stakeholders in an effort to ensure that their concerns about BRT are being addressed by AC Transit by time the final proposal. So far, our efforts have resulted in better parking mitigations, station location, and pedestrian infrastructure improvements.
Additionally, BRT will be the catalyst in the International Blvd. Transit-Oriented Development Plan, which creates more walkable communities along International Blvd.
Resources:
Learn more about the project during this three-minute AC Transit video and at AC Transit's BRT website.
Questions about TransForm's work to shape and win Bus Rapid Transit in the East Bay? Want to get involved? Contact Joel Ramos.
You can make TransForm an even stronger advocate in 2011 by donating now.
East Bay BRT illustrations courtesy of FMG Architects and Cambridge Systematics.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Curbside versus Center-Lane BRT | 26.57 KB |
| BRT Coalition Letter of Support | 3.27 MB |
Despite endorsements from the Sierra Club, TransForm, the Building Trades Council, UNITE-HERE Local 2850, Livable Berkeley, and others to study a Full-Build BRT alternative, Councilmembers Jesse Arreguin, Gordon Wozniak, Susan Wengraff, and Kris Worthington would only vote to study an alternative that had not yet been considered.
The alternative that was approved would be like existing 1R service service, but with bulb-outs, proof-of-payment systems, and traffic signal priority but no dedicated lanes as the build alternative.
A genuine interest on the part of Mayor Tom Bates and Councilmembers Linda Maio, Laurie Capitelli and Daryl Moore to study dedicated lanes as part of a "Full-Build" alternative could not win a fifth vote.
Councilmember Max Anderson was away on a pre-planned vacation.
This is an unfortunate turn of events for "progressive" Berkeley, which seems to have been supportive of the project up until now. The approved alternative is not expected to deliver the same amount of reliability that dedicated lanes would give, and to run BRT outside of dedicated lanes for long stretches could cause a delay in the overall system, reducing the overall capacity for higher frequencies.
It's not clear if this alernative would even be worthwhile for AC Transit to pursue, as oppossed to simply leaving Berkeley out of the future project altogether. If Oakland, upon study of the impacts of a full-build BRT system in an Final Environmental Impact Report, decides to move forward with a full-build BRT system, AC Transit could decide to have BRT "turn around" before going to Berkeley (i.e. at Broadway, the Uptown Transit Center, Macarthur BART, or at Alcatraz Ave.).
Please check back here again soon for more updates, once we learn of what this means for the overall East Bay BRT project.
For more information, contact Joel Ramos.
You can make TransForm an even stronger advocate in 2011 by donating now.
In April 2010, Oakland's City Council voted unanimously in support of BRT. The next step is moving forward with a Final Environmental Impact Statement. Over a dozen Oakland residents spoke in favor of the project. Most of the councilmembers on the committee voiced their enthusiasm for the project to be studied with dedicated lanes and stations.
TransForm would like to thank the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Urban Habitat, The Sierra Club (Northern Alameda County Chapter), UNITE-HERE Local 2850, The Alameda County Building Trades Council, the East Bay Asian Youth Center, The East Bay Bicycle Coalition, Walk-Oakland / Bike Oakland (WOBO), Oakland Community Organizations (OCO), and the Oakland Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee for joining us in supporting BRT and helping to win this important victory!
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) could dramatically improve bus service for the 20,000 current daily riders on AC Transit’s 1/1R routes, giving better access to 1/3 of all the housing and 1/2 of all the jobs in Oakland. BRT (with dedicated lanes, state-of-the-art buses, and other key features) is an affordable way to make bus service much faster and more reliable.
This May, we will need your support when the Oakland City Council votes one last time to adopt the final project as proposed by AC Transit. Until then, TransForm will continue to do outreach to the community, helping AC Transit and the City of Oakland to identify solutions to the impacts anticipated on parking, traffic, and bus stop consolidation. We're confident we will find a way to make transit faster, more reliable, and more frequent, while helping the communities along the corridor to become safer for bicyclsts, pedestrians, transit riders, and car drivers alike.
To see a short, 3 minute video-simulation of how this would look in Oakland, go to our BRT page.
Learn more about the proposal for BRT in Oakland studied in a Final Environmental Impact Report.
If you would like to learn more about TransForm's role in advocating for Bus Rapid Transit in the East Bay, contact Joel Ramos.
You can make TransForm an even stronger advocate in 2011 by donating now.
Thanks to public input on the draft environmental document and comments made during recent community meetings, the City of San Leandro has refined AC Transit's BRT plan to run BRT to San Leandro BART, create new traffic signals, and to even implement "queue jump lanes" that would reduce the delays to BRT caused by traffic at intersections.
Speakers were about evenly divided at the last City Council meeting were BRT was discussed, which resulted in the council voting in favor of the newly revised proposal. While Councilmember Bill Stephens was the only one to conclude that he was not "for" dedicated lanes (with or without a study), most of the councilmembers all agreed that it would be a better idea to at least study them first, before making a decision in the Fall. Councilmember Jim Prola stated that he had recieved dozens of letters about the project, and even read one from a San Leandro resident that had previously oppossed the project, but was now in favor.
For questions about BRT in the East Bay, contact TransForm staff Joel Ramos.
Sign up to receive e-updates and be aware of the next steps needed to win BRT in San Leandro!
You can make TransForm an even stronger advocate in 2011 by donating now.
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is revolutionizing bus service around the world with its dedicated lanes, state-of-the-art buses, and frequent service.
Now, Bus Rapid Transit is coming to Santa Clara County, with over 30 miles of BRT projects planned along the Valley's most heavily utilized transit corridors.
TransForm is engaging community leaders and other stakeholders to ensure that BRT in the Valley is truly world-class; however some cities are wavering in their commitment to exclusive bus lanes for BRT. That's why we need you to email your elected officials if you live in Santa Clara County.
Our goal is that BRT in Santa Clara County serve as a model for other projects around the nation by providing high quality public transit service while meeting community needs and improving safety for all users, including bicyclists and pedestrians.
For more information and to get involved, contact Chris Lepe.
For more information and to get involved, contact Chris Lepe.
The Alum Rock corridor Bus Rapid Transit project (VTA line 522) will bring improved transit service to the most heavily utilized bus line in Santa Clara County and connect important destinations such as the Mexican Heritage Plaza, Five Wounds Church, Roosevelt Park and Community Center, San Jose State University, San Jose City Hall, and the Diridon Caltrain Station. TransForm is working with community leaders to ensure the Alum Rock BRT project reflects neighborhood preferences and to advocate for a design that meets the needs of all users, including bicyclists and pedestrians. For example:
With service expected to begin by early 2014, the Alum Rock Corridor BRT project will be the first BRT line in the San Francisco Bay Area. The planning, engineering, design, and construction of the Alum Rock corridor project will cost approximately $129 million, with an additional $17.2 million for 15 new BRT vehicles. Funding for the project will come from Santa Clara County’s Measure A sales tax and Prop 1B state funds.
For more information and to get involved, contact Chris Lepe.
The El Camino corridor Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project will introduce rapid transit service between HP Pavilion in Downtown San Jose to the Palo Alto Intermodal Center along The Alameda and El Camino Real. The corridor is currently served by bus lines 22 and 522 which together carry one fifth of the bus riders in Santa Clara County. The El Camino corridor BRT project will serve important destinations such as Santa Clara and Stanford Universities, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale’s government offices, downtown Mountain View and Palo Alto, and Stanford Shopping Center.
The extent to which BRT is effective, to a large degree rests on how much of the project has its own exclusive lanes so that buses can bypass traffic. Exclusive bus lanes will become even more critical in the future as our population is expected to grow considerably over the coming decades. Cities along the corridor will have an opportunity to decide whether to incorporate exclusive bus lanes, bike lanes, and pedestrian improvements within their boundaries in 2012. A more complete-street will help pave the way for the vision of The Grand Boulevard Initiative, help reduce traffic, decrease our dependence on foreign oil, help curb climate change, and reduce household transportation costs.
TransForm has formed the El Camino For All Coalition with South Bay organizations, community groups, and community leaders to ensure that the proposed El Camino BRT project meets local community needs while improving conditions for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users.
Planning, engineering, design, and construction for the El Camino Corridor Bus Rapid Transit Project is expected to cost $216 million. BRT service along the corridor is planned to start in 2016, and funding is expected to come from a combination of Santa Clara County’s Measure A sales tax, Prop 1B state funds, and a portion of funds designated for the Palo Alto Intermodal Center.
Sunnyvale City Council Meeting – Council vote on BRT
When: 5/22/12, 7pm
Where: Sunnyvale City Hall, West Conference Room, 456 W. Olive Ave
Palo Alto Transportation Commission – Informational Item
When: 5/30/12, 6pm
Where: Palo Alto City Hall, 250 Hamilton Ave
VTA Board of Directors Meeting – Information Item
When: 6/7/12, 5:30pm
Where: County Government Center, 70 West Hedding, San Jose, CA
Mountain View City Council Meeting – Council vote on BRT
When: 7/10/12, 6:30pm
Where: Mountain View City Hall, 500 Castro St, Mountain View, CA
Please contact Chris Lepe, TransForm's Community Planner in Silicon Valley, if you can attend one of these meetings or with any questions.
For more information and to get involved, contact Chris Lepe.
The Stevens Creek corridor Bus Rapid Transit project (523) will travel along the current bus line 23 route from east San Jose and downtown San Jose to De Anza College in Cupertino along San Carlos Street and Stevens Creek Boulevard.
The 523 will bring rapid transit service to an area that is only served by local bus service yet carries one out of every ten bus riders in Santa Clara County. The Stevens Creek Rapid will serve important destinations such as Valley Fair and Cupertino Square malls, Santana Row, De Anza College, and the City of Cupertino’s government offices.
Rapid Transit service on Stevens Creek Blvd and San Carlos St will occur in three phases. VTA plans to introduce the 323 limited stop bus in October 2012, followed by the first phase of BRT in 2014 which will likely contain a combination of limited stop service, headway based schedules, and signal priority similar to what already exists on El Camino Real. The final phase of the BRT project which will include transit stations with ample shelter and seating, real time bus arrival information, level-boarding platforms, ticket vending machines, and other amenities, plus bus only lanes and pedestrian improvements is planned for completion in 2017. Construction of the Stevens Creek Rapid is estimated to cost between $145 million to $232 million, depending on whether a single reversible lane or a viaduct is built near Valley Fair Mall. The majority of the funding for the project is expected to come from Santa Clara County’s Measure A sales tax and Prop 1B state funds.
Download the Executive Summary
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is a set of improvements that allow buses to achieve the speed, reliability, and convenience of rail but at a much lower cost. One of the first BRT projects in the Bay Area is being planned along the Alum Rock corridor in San Jose.
In the spring of 2010, TransForm surveyed 217 merchants along the corridor about the proposed BRT service. TransForm strongly believes that merchants are critical stakeholders to involve in the planning of BRT because they have a deep understanding of the communities in which they do business, and the way that the project is designed will directly impact their businesses. TransForm’s survey examined perceived parking availability, desired corridor improvements, perspectives regarding bicycle and pedestrian safety and the proposed BRT project, preferences related to BRT station design, and other topics. The following are the key survey findings and TransForm’s recommendations to the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and the City of San Jose.