Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Public Transit

TO:	Diane Stoddard, Interim City Manager
FROM:	Robert A. Nugent, Public Transit Administrator
CC:	Casey Toomay, Assistant City Manager Brandon McGuire, Assistant to the City Manager
DATE:	September 14, 2015
RE:	Amenities Update

On August 25, 2015 a resident of East Lawrence provided comments to City commission on a grass roots effort in her neighborhood to bring attention to bus stop amenities. As part of these comments pictures were presented of three bus stops at 11^th and Delaware, Haskell and 15^th, and Haskell at LaSalle that folding (temporary) chairs have been placed. On these chairs the words “bus bench” have been painted.

Prior to the comments to City Commission no public request had been made to transit staff regarding the lack of amenities in East Lawrence. However, there has been recent interest by City Commission in a more aggressive effort to provide transit amenities throughout our system. In preparation for a future deployment of amenities staff developed a comprehensive Amenities Policy which was later approved in July 2015 by both the Public Transit Advisory Committee and the City Commission.

Until recently staff had been reluctant to advance new installations of amenities in light an anticipated action by City Commission pertaining to the possible relocation of the system’s transit hub. A decision to relocate the transit hub would ultimately result in a complete restructuring of routes which may not ultimately serve all of our existing stops thus jeopardizing the capital and labor costs associated with new installations.

Amenities Analysis

With the recent City Commission decision to not pursue the proposed transit center location at 21^st and Stewart and with no immediate alternate locations staff began evaluation of our service area to determine which routes and corridors were underserved with amenities. The following tables used in the evaluation:

Amenities by Route
Route	# Stops	Stops with No Sidewalks	Stops Brick Sidewalks	Shelters	Benches	% Amenities (amenities/stops)	Rank
#1	23	5	2	4	2	26.09%	3
#4	28	5	2	5	1	21.43%	4
#5	27	0	0	8	0	29.63%	2
#6	35	2	0	10	1	31.43%	1
#7	40	0	0	7	1	20.00%	5
#9	42	0	0	4	0	9.52%	8
#10	36	0	0	4	2	16.67%	6
#11	47	6	0	5	1	12.77%	7
#15	23	2	0	4	2	26.09%	3
#27	18	0	0	2	0	11.11%	9
#29	27	0	0	0	0	0.00%	10

	Ridership by Route
Route	Annual (2104)	% Total	Rank
#1	75,478	6.68%	7
#4	29,356	2.60%	10
#5	78,125	6.91%	6
#6	125,019	11.06%	3
#7	78,260	6.92%	5
#9	32,016	2.83%	9
#10	86,537	7.65%	4
#11	379,057	33.52%	1
#15	24,000	2.12%	11
#27	33,874	3.00%	8
#29	188,997	16.71%	2

Since passenger boardings act as the primary basis for determining whether amenities should be provided to a specific stop, staff compared the amenities currently in place to the performance of individual routes. This comparison was used to begin narrowing down corridors that were lacking in amenities. From this analysis Route 11 and Route 29, appear to be greatly deficient in amenities. Route 10 and Route 27 also appear to be lacking in amenities but not to the extent of Routes 11 and 29. The amenities currently provided on the remaining routes meet or exceed the level justified through this performance based evaluation.

In order to begin the installation of additional amenities in these corridors it will be necessary to acquire the number of passenger that board at each stop. This is because passenger boardings are the primary factor in determining whether amenities are justified under our recently approved Amenities Policy.

Passenger Stop Data

Considering the complexity and time required to acquire passenger activity data at approximately 300 bus stops, for service that operates 14 hours a day, six days a week, outside assistance will be needed. As a result staff worked with the Lawrence Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Organization to submit a grant application for a “Comprehensive Operational Analysis” (COA) to KDOT. The grant application was approved and a Request for Proposal will be let in January 2016.

East Lawrence

In the interim, and to address the recent activities in East Lawrence, staff recently administered a passenger survey on Route 1, which is the primary service in East Lawrence. Along with this effort, staff acquired passenger boarding counts and performed a site analysis at the following three stops along the Route 1:

• 11^th @ Delaware
• Haskell @ 15^th
• Haskell @ LaSalle

Survey

The survey took place from September 1-10, 2015. Administered as an on-board passenger survey it was intended to gain insight into passenger travel characteristics, as well as, attitudes and opinions on issues associated with their trips.

The majority (72%) of the passengers walked to the bus stop. Over 84% of the passengers traveled less than 4 blocks. Of those surveyed, 61% rode five or more days a week. The average passenger (52%) waited less than 5 minutes at the stop.

When questioned about getting to the bus stop, 93% stated they had no issues. When asked if there was anything that would make their riding experience better only 11% stated amenities, of which 7% were for shelters and 4% for benches.

Daily Boardings

Staff collected data for passenger boardings from August 29 to September 3, 2015. This data was only collected at the three targeted locations mentioned above.

• 11^th @ Delaware - The 11^th and Delaware stop is located in a predominantly residential area. No boardings appear to be generated by those traveling to and from Hobbs Park. On average only three passengers board at this location daily.

• Haskell @ 15^th - The Haskell @ 15^th stop is located across the street from East Heights Elementary School and with a ¼ mile of East Lawrence Recreation Center. The majority of the surrounding area is residential. This stop averages 11 boardings a day.

• Haskell @ LaSalle - Edgewood Homes is located directly across the street from the stop at Haskell @ LaSalle. The area is predominantly residential in nature. This stop averages 22 passengers a day.

Site Analysis

• 11^th @ Delaware - The bus stop is located nearside on eastbound 11^th Street at the intersection at Delaware Street. There is a 21-foot ROW. Concrete sidewalk ramps exist and provide access across both 11^th and Delaware streets. The existing sidewalk is brick and approximately 3-foot wide and located approximately 18 feet from the curb. There appears to be considerable heave, sink and buckle in the sidewalk which has created deflections that are unacceptable under ADA.

• Haskell @ 15^th  - The stop is located nearside on southbound Haskell Street just north of the intersection at 15^th Street. There is a 6-foot ROW. Concrete sidewalk ramps exist at the intersection and provide access to both Haskell and 15^th streets. The existing sidewalk is concrete and approximately 4-foot wide and located 3 feet from the curb. In order to install a bench at this location an additional 1-2 feet of concrete would need to be installed to the back of the sidewalk which is outside of the ROW. An easement would be necessary in order to accommodate either a shelter or a bench at this location.

• Haskell @ LaSalle – This stop is located nearside on southbound Haskell Street just north of the intersection at LaSalle Street. There is a 17-foot ROW. Concrete sidewalk ramps exist at the intersection and provide access to both LaSalle and Haskell streets. The existing sidewalk is concrete and is approximately 8-feet wide. There is no space between the curb and the sidewalk. In order to install a bench at this location an additional 1 foot of concrete would need to be installed to the back of the sidewalk, which is within the ROW.

Recommendations

Based on the information provided from the passenger survey, passenger boarding counts, and site analysis staff is recommending the following actions on bus stops in East Lawrence:

• Based on the extremely low ridership and the complications associated with brick sidewalks and ADA, staff is recommending no immediate action be taken pertaining to amenities at 11^th and Delaware.
• Staff recommends that ROW negotiations begin between the City and the property owners at the Haskell and 15^th bus stop. If successful and amenable staff recommends placing a bench at this location.
• Due to the high level of passenger activity and the possibility of adequate ROW staff recommends the installation of a bench and the Haskell and LaSalle stop. If adequate ROW is not available ROW negotiations would be necessary between the City and the property owners.

In an effort to address more immediate concerns about amenities in areas in the rest of our service area the Public Transit Advisory Committee voted to evaluate potential high activity locations, with an emphasis on underserved routes, and install up to a total of 15 benches.

Staff has begun the analysis of stops and will be proposing additional locations to those being evaluated in East Lawrence. The cost of installation of benches is difficult to determine and will depend on the specific conditions at each individual location.