WAKE FOREST PUBLIC TRANSIT PLAN
The circulators’ level of service and quality of service provided to riders can be further improved by increasing the frequency (how many times the bus comes per hour) of the routes. A higher frequency decreases the time riders must wait to get on the bus. To increase the frequency additional vehicles will needed for each route. The recommendations in Table 4 assume two buses total – one for each loop. If the routes had an additional bus (two buses for each route), the frequency can be increased to two buses per hour, or service every 30 minutes. MICROTRANSIT The microtransit zone in southern Wake Forest would provide transit service in an area of the Town with a primarily residential land use and curvilinear street network that is not very conducive for fixed-route transit. The Southern Wake Forest Microtransit zone would allow residents to use an on-demand service to get to and from destinations within southern Wake Forest and the Wakefield neighborhood of Raleigh. Riders would be able to transfer between the microtransit service and the West Loop to connect between other destinations in the Town. The project team developed assumptions about the operating characteristics for the microtransit zone, summarized in Table 5, however, additional analysis will be needed to develop the best operational strategy for the service. Unlike the circulator service which is based on an existing service (the WFL), the southern microtransit zone would be a new service for Wake Forest. Before launching the microtransit service, the Town will need to conduct additional planning and coordination with a third party microtransit service operator to determine the best service characteristics for southern Wake Forest. Two sets of assumptions are made about the operating characteristics for the microtransit service: 1) a door-to- door service that picks up and drops off riders at any destinations within the zone, or 2) node-to-node service that only picks up and drops of riders at established nodes located within the zone. In a door-to-door service, riders can request microtransit vehicles pick them up at a specific location or address within the zone (e.g. at their home) and be transported to another specific location or address within the zone (e.g. school). Riders will not have to travel long distances to access the service. The microtransit service operator can combine trips for riders traveling to the same or nearby locations to create a shared ride – one vehicle or trip taking more than one rider to the same or nearby destinations. However, shared rides are not very common because it is not very likely that riders will be traveling to the same or nearby destination, and small 6-8 person vehicles are usually used. In a node-to-node service, riders would have to travel longer distances to access the microtransit service at locations such as existing or new bus stops or key activity centers. The node-to-node service can help streamline the operations by making trips more predictable and increasing the likelihood of shared rides. Because of the increased likelihood of shared rides, larger vehicles are assumed for the node-to-node service. The microtransit service would have similar operating hours as the WFL – standardized hours Mondays to Saturdays. Table 5: Southern Microtransit Zone Operating Characteristics Characteristic Door-to-Door Assumptions Node-to-Node Assumptions Days of Operation Monday to Saturday Monday to Saturday
6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (Monday to Saturday)
6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (Monday to Saturday)
Span of Hours
$2.00 (free for youth, seniors, people with disabilities)
Cost to Riders
Free
Stops
N/A
16 nodes
Vehicle Type
Minivan
16-seat cutaway
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