Report to/Rapport au
:
Transit Commission
Commission du transport en commun
and / et
Transportation
Committee
Comité
des transports
And
/ et
Council
/ Conseil
12
October 2011 / 12 octobre 2011
Transit Services/Services
du transport en commun
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Ref N°: ACS2011-ICS-TRA-0010 |
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SUBJECT: |
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OBJET : |
Voies
d’arrêt d’autobus – examen des processus et des opérations |
REPORT
RECOMMENDATION
That the Transit Commission recommend
that the Transportation Committee recommend that Council approve the
principles, decision tools, and consultation and approval methods described in
this report.
RECOMMANDATION
DU RAPPORT
Que la Commission du transport en commun recommande
au Comité des transports de recommander à son tour au Conseil d’approuver les
principes, les outils de décision et les méthodes de consultation et
d’approbation décrits dans le présent rapport.
BACKGROUND
Though the extensive network of Transitways and
future light rail lines are and will always be the spine of the transit
network, more than half of OC Transpo’s transit service operates on city
streets in mixed traffic. At some locations, decisions need to be made on how
to balance the interests of transit customers with the interests of other road
users.
Bus bays are indentations from the main
travelled lanes of roads built so that buses may pull out from traffic while
customers board and disembark. They have been used on major roads in Ottawa to
reduce delays to auto traffic while buses are stopped and, in some locations, built
with the intent to improve traffic safety. Bus bays cause delays for transit
customers and increase the operating cost of transit service because of the
time required for buses to re-enter traffic after having picked up and dropped
off customers. The decision of whether to install, remove, or retain a bus bay
at any individual location is largely the result of an assessment of the relative
importance of these delays, but also includes consideration of matters
particular to each location. Approximately 95 per cent of bus stops in Ottawa
are not within bus bays.
At its meeting of July 14, 2010, Council
directed staff to prepare a report on the use of bus bays and their effects on
auto traffic, transit customers, transit operations, and the needs of transit
customers with disabilities. Council also directed that no further bus bays be
removed until after the report had been presented, with the exception of a
specific list, for which contracts had already been let.
This report presents the findings of an
external review of the value of bus bays in Ottawa, including the development
of measures that will be used to make data-driven comparisons of the effects of
existing and potential bus bays on transit customers and motorists and their
passengers. The report also recommends clear, common-sense policy principles to
guide whether bus bays are built or retained, as well as a new structured
method for consultation and approval prior to the removal of any bus bays from
our transportation network. Based on the findings and with the recommendations
in this report, staff responsible for transit planning, road design, and
traffic operations will be able to make decisions and recommendations more
soundly than has been previously possible.
DISCUSSION
External
Review
Staff retained the consulting engineering
firm Genivar to review the City’s existing policies and procedures related to
bus bays, to reassess the value of bus bays in the Ottawa context and based on
the Ottawa experience, and to propose decision rules for future consideration
of bus bays. Genivar has extensive expertise in both transit and roadway
operations, and their work was conducted in cooperation with an internal
working group of transit and traffic technical specialist staff. The executive
summary of Genivar’s report is attached to this report as Document 1, and their
full report is available from the Clerk’s office on request.
Bus bays reduce but do not eliminate delays
for motorists and their passengers. When buses do not stop in the lane ahead of
an auto, there is no need for the auto to change lanes to go around the bus nor
to slow down or stop to wait for the bus to proceed. This is the primary reason
that bus bays have been built in the past. Bus bays also do slow down travel
times for transit customers. Buses take a little more time to pull into the
stop in a bus bay, and have a longer and unpredictable delay to pull out from
the stop and return into the traffic flow. Transit customers are also affected
cumulatively by a sequence of bus bays along a street.
The results of the review found that the
total time required for a bus to make a stop and to accelerate from the stop is
approximately 12 seconds at a curb-side stop and approximately 25 seconds at a
stop in a bus bay. This means that transit customers are delayed on average by
approximately 13 seconds for each stop that is in a bus bay. For autos, Genivar
found that the time required to slow down or change lanes because of a bus
stopping at a curb-side stop is approximately eight seconds and the delay for
an auto because of a bus re-entering traffic from a bus bay is approximately
four seconds. This means that motorists are delayed by approximately four seconds
for each bus stop that is not in a bus bay, if they are at that location when
the bus is serving the stop. These
delays only occur for buses when there are customers getting on or off at the
stop and for autos only when there is a bus at the stop. The delays perceived
by either transit customers or motorists may be higher than the measured
delays.
As part
of the review, data was collected and analyzed from bus stops across Ottawa
representing a variety of geometric, transit, and traffic conditions. The analysis
concluded that providing curb-side bus stops results in net positive
benefits under common traffic and ridership conditions when considering the
total person-delay to all users of the road. Their analysis
of the busy Montreal Road corridor, for example, indicated that the time saved
by transit customers was greater than the time added for auto users when bus
bays were removed. The
analysis also showed that similar results would
be achieved if bus bays were removed from a section of Baseline Road. These
results could be different on roadways with lower transit
ridership or with
higher auto traffic volumes.
The time that is required for a bus to
re-enter traffic from a bus bay varies according to auto traffic levels, the distance
from and timing of the traffic signal preceding the location, and motorists’
compliance with the existing yield-to-bus legislation. When this variable delay
can be avoided, for instance by the absence of a bus bay, the reliability of
transit service can be higher and the operating cost of transit service can be
lower. Research indicates that enforcement of yield-to-bus legislation is rare
and that yield-to-bus legislation has not proven to be a complete solution to
eliminating delays for buses re-entering traffic. Using research that had already been conducted
on collision data and circumstances in Ottawa, the study found that there was
no difference for road safety depending on whether bus stops were or were not
located in a bus bay.
Bus bays also have other effects
unrelated to travel delay. The presence of a bus bay increases the amount of
space within the right-of-way that is consumed by the paved lanes of a road and
reduces the amount of space available for other purposes. Where there is no bus
bay, more space can be made available for pedestrians and transit customers to
walk and to stand, and to provide boulevards, landscaping, benches, and
shelters. The additional space can be valuable for pedestrians and transit
customers who use wheelchairs and scooters, as they can have more room to
manoeuvre on the sidewalk and as they get on and off buses. The presence of a
bus bay also increases the amount of road space that needs to be cleared of
snow during winter maintenance and reduces the amount of space within the
right-of-way that is available for snow storage. In both of these ways, winter
maintenance costs are higher with the presence of bus bays than without.
In addition to the above, the study
looked at two further issues. The first is
whether the circumstances and the analysis are different between bus stops in
bus bays and those in acceleration lanes. The study found that a standard bus
bay is not long enough to serve as an acceleration lane, and motorists who turn
right where there is a bus bay in place, generally cross through the bay
quickly as they merge into a gap in traffic. Where an acceleration lane should
be provided and built to the applicable standards, a decision can be made on a
case-by-case basis as to where the bus stop should best be provided at that
intersection. The second issue is what guidance was available on how to decide
whether bus bays should be preferred on two-lane roads, where there is less
ability for autos to pass stopped buses. In this case, the study recognizes
that every case is different and recommends that each case be assessed based on
its own characteristics.
Overall,
the study found that Ottawa’s experience with bus bays is consistent with other
cities, though delay figures are lower here for both buses and autos. Curb-side stops have been the normal design
for most new and reconstructed roads in recent years
without any significant issues arising. The study concludes that the current
transit-friendly approach to road design remains appropriate for the Ottawa context to optimize the efficiency of the transportation network and to meet other objectives such as urban design policies.
Decision
Tools
There are several points in the life of
a road when the purpose and value of bus bays should be assessed. When new
roads are being designed and built, what is the best way to achieve mobility
and safety for all modes, and should bus bays be constructed? When roads are
being widened or reconstructed and there are bus bays in place, should they be
retained or removed? And, when transit priority measures are being considered,
should existing bus bays be retained or removed, and should bus stop locations
be changed?
To make
these decisions staff have developed several assessment techniques and design
guidelines:
·
A
bus bay will be considered for installation for road capacity if the average
time spent by a bus at the stop during peak periods is 30 seconds or more, or
if the queue of autos behind the stopped bus would cause a recurring failure of
traffic to clear the previous signalised intersection. This can include
locations where buses stop at the end of a route to wait for their next
scheduled departure time.
·
A
bus bay will not normally be installed if the delay to transit customers would
exceed the time savings for auto users, if it would prevent the provision of
adequate waiting space for customers or the installation of a bus shelter at
the bus stop, if there would be impacts on adjacent properties, or if
construction costs would be high.
·
When a road is being reconstructed, existing
bus bays can be evaluated to determine whether it is appropriate to retain the
bays for operational or safety reasons. A former bus bay where there is no
longer a bus stop does not
cause delay for either transit service or traffic flow
and can be evaluated based on other criteria.
·
An
existing bus bay will be considered for removal if by doing so the time saving
for transit customers would exceed the delay caused for auto users. When bus
bays are being considered for removal, the cost to do so will be compared to
other transit priority measures that are being considered across the City to
ensure that the budget allocated is used to provide the greatest benefit for
transit customers.
·
Bus
stops will generally be avoided at locations where there is restricted
visibility. If a bus stop is required in a difficult location, a bus bay may be
one of the possible approaches to assure satisfactory road safety. Bus bays
will be considered on high-speed roads if analysis indicates a net benefit to
safety.
·
A
bus bay will be built or retained if there is a benefit for transit operations
or for transit customers.
·
Questions
about the placement of bus stops within acceleration lanes or right-turn lanes
will be assessed on the characteristics of that particular location.
All assessments and conclusions will be
based on sound data on transit and road operations and will be made in
conformity with policy decisions of Council, for example: the City’s Term of
Council Priorities and the Transportation Master Plan.
On a technical level, more detailed analysis, design,
and consultation will be performed for proposed bus bay removals that are
incorporated into rehabilitation projects. These procedures will provide the
basis for consensus among staff from affected departments that is in line with
procedures already in place for major design projects. Primary emphasis will be
placed on Transit Priority and Intensive Transit Corridors designated in the
TMP, but opportunities to coordinate with other construction projects will also
be pursued to minimize costs and improve transit service on non-designated
corridors.
Infrastructure Services Department staff are
collaborating with staff from other departments to develop comprehensive road
design guidelines that consolidate the many different policies, procedures,
practices, experience, and preferences used in the planning and design of road
components. This will serve as a central resource to preserve corporate
knowledge and ensure that design philosophy is consistent with the City’s best
practices and the policy directions of Council. The decision tools and design
parameters for bus bays will be incorporated into this work.
Project
Consultation and Approval
Staff recommend the following
consultation and approval methods:
For new road construction or major
reconstruction, such as road widening, all elements of the road design will be
considered together, and the bus bay decision tools outlined above will be applied
as required. As part of the project, consultation is carried out with
neighbours, road users, transit customers, and Councillors, and the normal
approval processes apply, depending on the nature of the project.
For instance, where the removal of bus
bays is being proposed by staff as part of the City’s transit priority
programme, and is not covered by other existing approval processes, the
rationale for the removals will be presented to the Councillor(s) for the area,
along with a description of the effects for transit customers and motorists.
The input of the Councillors will become part of the evaluation. In some
locations, the Councillors may determine that consultation should include
discussion with adjacent landowners and community groups, and staff will
participate in that discussion. The proposed removals will be reviewed further
if consultation with the Councillors reveals significant issues that have not
been adequately addressed by the initial evaluations.
CONSULTATION
Transit
Priority Unit staff made presentations to and solicited input from the
Pedestrian and Transit Advisory Committee, the Roads and Cycling Advisory
Committee, and the Accessibility Advisory Committee in November and December
2010. There were discussions of the issues raised in this report at all three
committees but formal positions on the issues have not been received from these
committees.
Materials will be developed and made available through
ottawa.ca and octranspo.com to outline the City’s transit priority programme,
upcoming projects, and the rationale for them.
LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
There are no legal impediments in implementing the recommendations in this report.
RISK MANAGEMENT
There are no risk management issues with this
report.
TECHNOLOGY IIMPLICATIONS
N/A
CITY STRATEGIC PLAN
The
recommendations contained herein directly support the following objectives of
the City Strategic Plan:
Transportation
Objective 1: Improve the City’s
transportation network to afford ease of mobility, keep pace with growth,
reduce congestion and work towards modal split targets.
Transit
Objective 1:
Achieve a 30 per cent modal split by 2031.
Sustainable,
Healthy and Active City
Objective 6: Require walking, transit
and cycling oriented communities and employment centres.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
Future capital project budget authority requests will need to consider any costs for additions or removal of bus bays as a result of applying the guidelines approved in this report.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
Document
1 Operational Impacts and Policy
Implications of Bus Bays in the City of Ottawa - Executive Summary (previously distributed and held on file with
the City Clerk’s Office)
DISPOSITION
Upon approval of this report, staff will use the decision tools and follow the consultation and approval methods described in this report.