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Posted Aug 30, 2011, 6:48 PM
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Ferris Wheel Hater
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 8,371
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Translink has issued an RFP titled "King George Boulevard B-Line Urban Design & Transit Priority Study"
Here are some of the details extracted from it, I'll post the link to the document at the bottom for those that want more details.
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1.0 BACKGROUND
1.1 The goal of this Request For Proposal, (RFP), is to issue a contract that will identify cost, and produce conceptual design drawings for infrastructure, transit priority measures, passenger access improvements, and passenger facilities required to provide an efficient, reliable and attractive B-Line bus service between Guildford and White Rock Centre via Surrey Central Station.
1.2 South of Fraser Area Transit Plan recommends implementation of a B-Line bus service between Guildford and White Rock Centre via Surrey Central Station. This limited stop transit service will improve travel times along the King George Boulevard – 104th Avenue – 152nd Street Corridor, build ridership to help support an eventual rapid transit line, and begin to attract more transit-oriented development around key station nodes.
1.3 B-Line Bus Service
(a) TransLink’s Frequent Transit Network (FTN) is a network of corridors along which transit comes at least every 15 minutes in both directions, throughout the day and into the evening, every day of the week. For the travelling public, the FTN provides a legible and interconnected network of convenient, reliable, easy-to-use services that are frequent enough to be schedule-free. For municipalities and the development community, the FTN provides a strong skeleton around which transit-oriented development should be focused.
(b) As illustrated in Table 1, Frequent Transit Service types are defined based on a combination of speed and local access – attributes that are primarily determined by the type of right-of-way and the station or stop spacing.
(c) Frequent local service generally operates in mixed traffic and serves stops spaced every 200-400m. On the other end of the spectrum, rapid transit consists of frequent limited stop service, with stations about 1km apart, running in an exclusive right-of-way.
(d) B-Line services running in mixed traffic fill a gap between these two ends of the Frequent Transit Service spectrum. With frequent service and limited stop spacing, B-Lines can approximate many of the benefits of rapid transit service without the high capital costs of exclusive rights-of-way.
(e) In order to optimize ridership, passenger, and urban development benefits, B-Line services should aim to approximate the permanence, speed, and design quality of rail transit to the extent possible within available resources.
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1.5 The two major work streams in this Contract are: “Transit Priority” and “Passenger Facilities and Access.” Although these streams require different skill sets, they should be undertaken in concert to ensure that proposed solutions balance the needs of the pedestrian/passenger environment with the operational needs of transit vehicles.
1.6 The Transit Priority work stream will account for 70% of Contractor effort. This work stream will identify the current and potential sources of transit delay along the proposed route, and recommend effective transit priority measures required to mitigate the sources of delay.
a) The Transit Priority work stream will be conducted in two phases. For Phase 1 of the study, Contractor shall examine the proposed B-Line corridor and investigate existing and potential delays along the corridor. Contractor shall identify strategies (e.g. queue jumper lanes, dedicated bus or HOV lanes, signal coordination or signal priority) to reduce delay and increase reliability. Pending findings and recommendations from Phase 1 of the study, Phase 2 may include a more vigorous and comprehensive traffic modelling study.
1.7 The Passenger Facilities and Access work stream will account for 30% of Contractor effort. Most transit riders perceive the access and waiting portions of the transit journey as particularly burdensome and accordingly transit demand models value these legs of the journey at 1.5-2.0 that of in-vehicle time. Passenger access and facility improvements are thus a cost-effective strategy
to make transit more competitive and attract ridership growth. The following specific measures should be included in the design of the B-Line service:
a) designing B-Line “stops” to feel like mini “stations”;
b) a strong brand identity with attractive easily-identified design and signage;
c) long and wide platforms;
d) adequate weather protection;
e) real time customer information;
f) bicycle parking (ideally secure);
g) other passenger amenities as appropriate for each site; and
h) access, safety, and security improvements to ensure that waiting and station access by foot and by bicycle are safe, comfortable, and convenient.
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1.10 Over the long-term, this B-Line service may be upgraded to some form of rapid transit (Bus Rapid Transit, Light Rail Transit, or Rail Rapid Transit), any of which will require significant road reconstruction. Accordingly, improvements recommended in this study should reflect a B-Line service that may operate anywhere from 10-20 years before rapid transit is implemented
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1.12 Study Area
a) The route, as illustrated in Figure 1, is proposed to run along the following roads (from north to south):
i. 104th Avenue from Guildford Exchange to 135th Street
ii. 135th Street from King George Boulevard to 102nd Avenue
iii. 102nd Avenue from 135th Street to King George Boulevard
iv. King George Boulevard from 104th Avenue to 152nd Street
v. 152nd Street from King George Boulevard to 16th Avenue
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1.14 The Passenger Facilities and Access study area consists of the twenty (20) proposed stations along the route shown in Figure 2 and the immediate pedestrian infrastructure within 1-2 blocks of the proposed route (shown schematically within the dashed line in Figure 2). 80% of effort in this work stream should be concentrated at the station and its immediate surroundings.
1.15 Study Time Horizon
a) For the purposes of this Study, Opening Year for the transit priority measures can be assumed to be 2014.
b) The horizon year for this Study should be 2031. Local demographic factors should be used to forecast future traffic, population, and travel patterns for this horizon year.
1.16 B-Line Service Details and Issues
a) For Opening Day, the B-Line service is planned to feature 7.5 minute frequency between Guildford Exchange and Newton Exchange (including Surrey Central Exchange), and 15 minute frequency between Newton Exchange and White Rock Centre. The service is expected to operate between 5AM and 1AM, seven days a week.
b) The level of service to be provided after Opening Day will be determined by ridership.
c) The B-Line service is expected to use conventional 60’ (articulated) buses.
d) The total one-way length of the route is approximately 22.9 kilometers.
e) The proposed B-Line route will stop at 20 stations (locations listed in APPENDIX 5- Section 1.0), with an average station spacing of 1 kilometre.
f) TransLink fully supports the City of Surrey’s efforts to transform the roads along this route from auto-oriented highways into multi-modal boulevards. Currently, pedestrian and bicycle access to most of the proposed stations is poor, with insufficient and/or poor quality sidewalks and bikeways, large blocks, infrequent pedestrian crossings, adjacent auto-oriented land uses, and high-speed, high-volume motor vehicle traffic. These issues must be addressed in order to optimize the proposed B-Line service.
g) Currently, two bus routes service the King George Boulevard – 152nd Street corridor: #321 and #394. #321 is a local service route, while #394 is an express service route. Both routes terminate at White Rock Centre and Surrey Central, the route is approximately 19.3 kilometers. Three bus routes service the 104th Avenue corridor: #320, #520 and #C74. Between Surrey Central Station to Guildford Station, the route is approximate 3.7 kilometers. The average running times on a typical weekday for #321 and #320 are 39 minutes and 11 minutes respectively, so the average traveling speed is 27.6 kilometers per hour.
h) With the proposed B-Line service, TransLink is striving to achieve improved service reliability and higher travelling speeds. It will be part of this project to identify the level of improvement that is reasonably achievable in these parameters.
i) Traffic congestion along the B-Line route is one of the major challenges in achieving schedule reliability and increase travel speed goals. Currently, there are 35 full traffic signals and 1 pedestrian signal along the proposed route.
j) Although there is limited driveway access (except for at shopping malls) and little on-street parking along much of the route, there are busy commercial areas along the corridor within the four town centers of Guildford, Surrey Central, Newton, and White Rock/Semiahmoo (illustrated in Figure 1).
k) The City of Surrey is working to transform the four town centers along the route into more transit-oriented districts featuring higher density, mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented development. TransLink supports this land use approach. However, traffic congestion in these areas is expected to increase requiring special consideration of ways to maintain transit reliability while recognizing the need for more pedestrian-oriented streetscapes.
l) The transit exchanges at the four town centers present particular challenges for transferring passengers. The fastest, safest and most legible transfer to other buses at each of these locations is for the B-Line bus to pull into the transit exchange. However, the exchanges cannot easily accommodate articulated buses and long signal cycles may cause long delays for buses entering and exiting the exchanges. However, providing an on-street transfer at these locations would create other issues. Poor urban design currently creates an inconvenient and uncomfortable transfer from on-street B-Line stops to the buses in the exchanges. Therefore, the station design should accommodate efficient transit operation, pleasant passenger environment and safe passenger access to and from the exchange.
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2.2 Improvements recommended in this study should reflect a B-Line service that may operate anywhere from 10-20 years.
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3.1 The following specific measures are to be included in the design of the B-Line service, but not limited to:
a) Transit priority measures to minimize travel times and increase service reliability;
b) Co-ordination of B-Line with local transit services in the same corridor and connecting feeders;
c) Optimized station configurations, each with the capacity for at least 1 articulated bus and 1 standard bus;
d) Three-door boarding to reduce dwell times;
e) Operational strategies (e.g. bus stop location, transit signal priority);
f) Possible off-board fare payment;
g) Station design and configuration at major transfer stations such as Guildford, Surrey Central, Newton and White Rock, which should allow safe, comfortable passenger transfers while minimizing transit vehicle delay (may include routing, stop designs and/or intersection modifications).
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Source:
http://www.translink.ca/~/media/docu...063%20rfp.ashx
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. Just try not to become the zweisystem of skytrian
I love seeing these proposals but it is starting to feel like what is the point? look how long it has taken to get the Evergreen Line off the ground, oh right, it still isnt! And then there is the Broadway extension and this.
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