Information about the number of passengers that use El Metro can be used to measure the public’s response to the service and h

This chapter describes a set of service improvements designed to provide public transportation service to East Lafayette and South Lafayette. They were developed through a collaborative process that included CityBus staff and input from area businesses and the public. Several field trips completed for the study provided additional information used in the design process. The purpose of the fieldwork was to look at land use patterns, development sites, and other factors that affect route design and transit operations.

The proposed improvements include modifications to existing routes and new routes. One of the primary design objectives was to provide cost-effective public transportation that would have a minimal impact on annual operating costs. Another key goal was to provide connections to major activity centers that are direct and easy to understand. The proposed improvements will give some residents and businesses a new transportation alternative. For existing customers, the CityBus service area will be expanded and access to new and planned activity centers will be provided.

The success of the proposed improvements will partly depend on how growth is managed in these developing areas. If new residential areas and retail centers are designed to make it easier for buses to circulate and stop at customer-friendly locations, CityBus will be able to provide more efficient and cost effective improvements in the future.

East Lafayette Service Improvements

Area Description

The primary land uses in East Lafayette include residential, institutional, and medical facilities. The Clarian-Arnett Medical Center, currently under construction, and the already completed Arnett Surgery Center are major, new activity centers. In addition to everyday work trips, this site will probably generate a large number of patient and visitor trips. According to hospital representatives interviewed for the study, CityBus will be able to access the property. A bus stop will probably be located along the internal circulation road near the main entrance.

Another development that contributed to the interest in East Lafayette transit improvements is the new community center being constructed by Faith Baptist Church. This center will offer a variety of programs that will be open to residents from throughout the community. Prior to this study, the church approached CityBus and requested they consider extending transit service to the new center.

CityBus already offers outstanding connections between routes and travel destinations throughout Lafayette and West Lafayette through timed-transfer schedules that meet at the Downtown Transfer Center. It is strongly believed that any new transit routes or other improvements should take full advantage of the existing route network and transfer center to help minimize operating and capital costs.

Proposed Improvements

This section presents a set of alternatives designed to serve East Lafayette. All of them involve modifying the existing Route 7 SR 26 East, which operates between the Downtown Transfer Center and Meijer store located at the intersection of SR 26 East and CR 500 East.

East Lafayette – Alternative One (Sub-Option A)

Alternative One (Sub-Option A) extends Route 7 to the new Clarian-Arnett Medical Center and the community center at Faith Baptist Church. The proposed alignment also serves the single-family housing areas east of CR 500E. A map of the proposed alignment is provided on the following page. The sub-options described below involve different service frequencies, and do not affect the alignment.

Alternative One – Sub-Option A

Key Operating Characteristics

Round Trip Mileage	21.2 miles
Average Speed (based on current route)	15.0 mph
Estimated Round Trip Run Time	85 minutes
Layover/Driver Recovery	5 minutes
Total Estimated Run Time Per Trip	90 minutes
Weekday Hours of Operation	6:15 AM – 7:40 PM
Weekday Frequency	30 minutes
Weekday Vehicle Requirement	3
Saturday Hours of Operation	6:45 AM – 6:40 PM
Saturday Frequency	30 minutes
Saturday Vehicle Requirement	3
Sunday Hours of Operation	8:45 AM – 5:40 PM
Sunday Frequency	90 minutes
Sunday Vehicle Requirement	1

The weekday frequency of service (30 minutes) is maintained, but the Saturday frequency improves from 60 minutes to every 30 minutes. Under this sub-option, it is necessary to set the Sunday frequency at 90 minutes to minimize the vehicle requirements and costs. The hours of operation also stay about the same. The number of buses required under this option increases to three on weekdays and Saturdays. One vehicle is required on Sunday.

The projected revenue hours and miles of service for Sub-Option A are compared to existing levels in the following table.

	Weekday		Saturday		Sunday
	Existing	Proposed	Existing	Proposed	Existing	Proposed
Revenue Hours	26.33	37.5	10.0	33.0	10.0	9.0
Revenue Miles	353.5	530.0	172.7	466.4	143.9	127.2

East Lafayette – Alternative One (Sub-Option B)

Alternative One – Sub-Option B is based on the same modified Route 7 alignment. Under this option, however, the weekday service frequency will be 30 minutes while the Saturday and Sunday frequency will be 90 minutes. Based on these specific frequencies, the weekday vehicle requirement is three vehicles while one vehicle is needed to operate the Saturday and Sunday service.

The hours of operation remain the same. Operating characteristics and the projected revenue hours and miles of service are detailed in the following tables.

Alternative One – Sub-Option B

Key Operating Characteristics

Round Trip Mileage	21.2 miles
Average Speed (based on current route)	15.0 mph
Estimated Round Trip Run Time	85 minutes
Layover/Driver Recovery	5 minutes
Total Estimated Run Time Per Trip	90 minutes
Weekday Hours of Operation	6:15 AM – 7:40 PM
Weekday Frequency	30 minutes
Weekday Vehicle Requirement	3
Saturday Hours of Operation	6:45 AM – 6:40 PM
Saturday Frequency	90 minutes
Saturday Vehicle Requirement	1
Sunday Hours of Operation	8:45 AM – 7:10 PM
Sunday Frequency	90 minutes
Sunday Vehicle Requirement	1

	Weekday		Saturday		Sunday
	Existing	Proposed	Existing	Proposed	Existing	Proposed
Revenue Hours	26.33	37.5	10.0	12.0	10.0	10.5
Revenue Miles	353.5	530.0	172.7	169.6	143.9	148.4

East Lafayette – Alternative Two (Sub-Option A)

Similar to Alternative One, this variation extends Route 7 to the Clarian-Arnett Medical Center, but it does not serve the Faith Baptist Church community center and the single-family neighborhoods east of CR 500E. It also eliminates two existing segments of Route 7 that serve areas north of SR 26E (Union Street) and south of SR 26E (Kossuth Street). The proposed Route 7 alignment for Alternative Two is presented on the following page.

The key operating characteristics for this alternative follow:

Round Trip Mileage (proposed)	12.6 miles
Average Speed (based on current route)	15.0 mph
Estimated Round Trip Run Time	51 minutes
Layover/Driver Recovery	9 minutes
Total Estimated Run Time Per Trip	60 minutes
Weekday Hours of Operation	6:15 AM – 7:40 PM
Weekday Frequency	30 minutes
Weekday Vehicle Requirement	2
Saturday Hours of Operation	6:45 AM – 6:40 PM
Saturday Frequency	30 minutes
Saturday Vehicle Requirement	2
Sunday Hours of Operation	8:45 AM – 6:40 PM
Sunday Frequency	60 minutes
Sunday Vehicle Requirement	1

The weekday frequency of service is the same (30 minutes), and the Saturday frequency improves from 60 minutes to every 30 minutes. Under Sub-Option A, the number of buses required to operate weekday service stays the same (i.e. two), but the Saturday requirement increases from one to two due to the improved frequency of service.

Based on these characteristics, the projected revenue hours and miles of service are compared to the existing levels in the following table. As the table shows, weekday hours and miles stay about the same, but they increase significantly on Saturday and Sunday.

	Weekday		Saturday		Sunday
	Existing	Proposed	Existing	Proposed	Existing	Proposed
Revenue Hours	26.33	26.0	10.0	33.0	10.0	10.0
Revenue Miles	353.5	327.6	172.7	289.8	143.9	126.0

East Lafayette – Alternative Two (Sub-Option B)

Sub-Option B utilizes the same Alternative Two route alignment. Under this option, the weekday service frequency is 30 minutes, but the Saturday and Sunday frequency is 60 minutes as shown below.

Round Trip Mileage (proposed)	12.6 miles
Average Speed (based on current route)	15.0 mph
Estimated Round Trip Run Time	51 minutes
Layover/Driver Recovery	9 minutes
Total Estimated Run Time Per Trip	60 minutes
Weekday Hours of Operation	6:15 AM – 7:40 PM
Weekday Frequency	30 minutes
Weekday Vehicle Requirement	2
Saturday Hours of Operation	6:45 AM – 6:40 PM
Saturday Frequency	30 minutes
Saturday Vehicle Requirement	2
Sunday Hours of Operation	8:45 AM – 6:40 PM
Sunday Frequency	60 minutes
Sunday Vehicle Requirement	1

Based on the operating characteristics of Sub-Option B, the existing and projected revenue hours and miles of service are compared in the following table.

	Weekday		Saturday		Sunday
	Existing	Proposed	Existing	Proposed	Existing	Proposed
Revenue Hours	26.33	26.0	10.0	12.0	10.0	10.0
Revenue Miles	353.5	327.6	172.7	151.2	143.9	126.0

Estimated Cost

To estimate the incremental operating cost of providing the proposed services in this study, a two-variable cost model was developed. The model is based on 2005 CityBus expenses, which were assigned according to industry standards to either vehicle hours or vehicle miles. This approach provides two unit cost factors, cost per vehicle hour and per vehicle mile, which can be used with the projected hours and miles of service to project operating costs.

The difference between current and proposed hours and miles of service are multiplied by the unit cost factors to calculate the added daily cost. The weekday number is then multiplied by 255, and the Saturday and Sunday costs are multiplied by 52 to arrive at the added annual operating costs.

The estimated annual increases in operating cost for each alternative and sub-option are shown in the following tables.

Ridership

The number of passengers that will use new or improved transit routes is not easily measured. Increasing the amount of transit service is one of the most successful ways to increase ridership, but research shows that external factors have an even greater impact on ridership. Examples of these factors include population changes, regional economic conditions, and other public policy decisions.

Some of the methodologies used in the transit industry to estimate ridership include trend analysis, productivity of analogous services, service elasticity models, and census tract analysis. For this project, the 2006 average passengers per hour productivity of analogous CityBus routes are used.

Initially, it is assumed the new routes will generate about one-half the number of passengers per hour carried by the analogous routes. This assumption is used because most new or improved transit routes require a certain period (1-2 years) to build a stable ridership base. During this time, management may have to make further adjustments to the service design and schedule. The extent of the marketing effort for the new service can also affect the development of ridership. For example, the Ready2Go route operated by CityBus took approximately two years to reach its current level of ridership.

The number of new passengers the E. Lafayette service alternatives might possibly generate during the first 1-2 years of operation is shown in the following table.

South Lafayette Service Improvements

Area Description

Similar to East Lafayette, residential and commercial development in South Lafayette is growing rapidly. Residential developments include apartments and condominiums along CR 350 S. and a large, single-family neighborhood called Benjamin Crossing. The latter is still expanding and now extends south of CR 450 South. Although a variety of stand-alone retail and office developments have been built along CR 350 S. between Concord Road and S. 18^th Street, the new Wal«mart and surrounding retail center at the intersection of CR 350 South and Concord Road was a key reason the service improvement plan was undertaken.

The Purdue University home location data described in Chapter Two shows that a significant number of employees and students reside in South Lafayette. Based on this data, the multi-family housing units along S. 9^th Street south of Brady and the single-family developments south of CR 350 S were considered very important in the development of potential new transit services. Because the South Lafayette study area does not have any public transportation service, it was determined that connections to Purdue University, downtown Lafayette, and Tippecanoe Mall were needed.

Proposed Improvements

Three new services are recommended to provide public transportation service to South Lafayette and expand the CityBus system. They include a Purdue express route, South Lafayette community route, and a new local route that operates between downtown Lafayette and the new Wal«mart.

The purpose of the express route is to provide service from South Lafayette to Purdue University during peak travel times. The proposed route will offer Purdue faculty, staff, and students a new public transportation alternative and help reduce the number of auto trips. This service also has the potential to help reduce campus, parking demand. Depending on the public’s response to this route, it could easily be converted to all-day service. Many faculty and students do not have conventional 8-5 work schedules, and that could indicate a market for non-traditional express service. A map that illustrates the proposed alignment is shown later in the chapter.

The second proposed route is designed to provide intra-local service within South Lafayette. This route would connect residential developments, Wal«mart, Ivy Tech, Tippecanoe Mall and other activity centers creating a viable alternative for shopping, work and school trips. Community-based routes are attractive because they eliminate the need to travel downtown and transfer to other routes to reach destinations in your own neighborhood. Shorter travel times address one of the major reasons potential users say they do not use transit. The proposed alignment is presented later in the chapter.

The final improvement recommended for South Lafayette addresses the need for a connection between South Lafayette and the existing system. Currently, Route 6B Jefferson Square operates between the downtown transit center and the residential area located near the intersection of Brady Lane and S. 9^th Street. South of Kossuth Street, this route is a large one-way loop. Loop alignments result in longer travel times for some passengers. To address this issue and offer service to the South Lafayette study area, a new route is proposed that operates between downtown and the new Wal«mart on CR 350 South.

The proposed South 18^th Street route will replace the existing Route 6B. The proposed alignment covers the most productive segments of 6B and maintains service to other areas served by this route because they are within the transit industry standard of a reasonable walking distance (1/4 mile on either side of alignment). A map that shows the proposed alignment is provided.

The key operating characteristics for the three new routes follow:

	Purdue Express	Community Route	S. 18^th St.
Round Trip Mileage	10.0 miles	13.1 miles	12.1 miles
Estimated Speed	20.0 mph	15.0 mph	13.0 mph
Round Trip Run Time	58minutes	53 minutes	56 minutes
Layover/Driver Recovery	2 minutes	7 minutes	4 minutes
Total Run Time	60 minutes	60 minutes	60 minutes
Weekday Hours of Operation	6:30 AM-9:30 AM 3:30 PM-6:30 PM	7:00 AM-8:00 PM	6:15 AM-6:45 PM
Weekday Frequency	30 minutes	60 minutes	30 minutes
Weekday Vehicle Requirement	2 AM; 2 PM	1	2
Saturday Hours of Operation	na	7:00 AM-7:00 PM	7:15 AM – 6:10 PM
Saturday Frequency	na	60 minutes	30 minutes
Saturday Vehicle Requirement	na	1	2
Sunday Hours of Operation	na	na	na
Sunday Frequency	na	na	na
Sunday Vehicle Requirement	na	na	na

The estimated miles and hours of service for each route are shown in the following table. These estimates are based on provisional schedules designed only to estimate the hours and miles of service. Detailed schedules, which must be prepared by CityBus staff before the service is implemented, may result in minor changes in these numbers.