Rapid

For better or worse, the Transit Committee (including Directors Brown, Dalton, Dixon, Green, Nguyen, Pulido, and Winterbottom) voted November 12, 2009 to kill the Bravo! rapid bus project. OCTA's plans for improving countywide transit have been politically unpopular, and my impression has been that the general public and politicians have never been enamored with the concept of true bus rapid transit. This unfortunately means that OCTA's transit riders are saddled with the same long travel times that plague OCTA's crippled transportation system. Will Kempton's excuse for killing the project: "current restructuring of the bus system and financial pressures."

Instead, OCTA staff will shelve Bravo into its 2010 Long-Range Transportation Plan. And, as a replacement, it will pour the money into traffic signal synchronization along Harbor Blvd, Westminster Blvd, and Bristol St/State College Blvd. The final Board vote comes this Monday during the Board of Directors meeting.

The Bravo! bus rapid transit — a replacement for their light rail program — was supposed to have launched in 2007 and faced continuous delays in its implementation. I can't help but feel envious watching Los Angeles continuously improving their public transit experience — they just opened the new Gold Line light rail extension, they'll be launching the Silver Line bus rapid transit later this year, and they've got several more light rail lines planned.

More gory details after the break. read more→

OCTA asks, "How would you improve central O.C's Future Transportation System? Have your say right now here" in a posting last week to the Santa Ana Community Development Resource Network.

Take the two minute survey and share your "transportation tips." If you think transit is the way of the future, register your opinion with a click of the mouse. Or maybe you think it's better to increase and improve connections to Metrolink? Or perhaps you believe its best to enhance our streets and/or expand or extend freeways. Whether you think some of these, all of these, or none of these, are good ideas, click your mouse on http://www.surveymonkey.com /s.aspx? sm=PvOkciehFgboK QRKyM8saw_3d_3d now and have your say today!"

Fernando Chavarria
Orange County Transportation Authority External Affairs Division
(714) 560-5306 fchavarria@octa.net

Some of the survey's proposals make sense — including bus rapid transit with dedicated lanes, and traffic signal synchronization — while others are pretty crazy (or creative, depending on how you look at it). On the left, OCTA proposes to run an expressway at the bottom of the Santa Ana River, during the dry season. And below, OCTA is proposing running a freeway in a tunnel underneath the river.

What do you think? Should we promote healthier transit alternatives, or keep on building freeways in Orange County? Vote now. read more→

Unfortunately, almost all of OCTA's publicly-released material isn't accessible (as in, hundreds of pages of documents through a black-and-white scanner into a hastily-assembled un-searchable PDF). So, I present to you OCR'd text from this document given to the Transit Committee on June 11, 2009.

The good news: the project will happen one way or another, or else OCTA will lose lots of federal funding. (word from the grapevine)

The bad news: again, it doesn't seem OCTA's very enthusiastic about the project. There's barely any public outreach. They keep cutting back on elements of bus rapid transit so much that it can no longer be called "bus rapid transit." OCTA sends flashy 4-color brochures to millions of homes about the Obama stimulus, versus zero marketing effort for the Bravo! limited-bus project. And the limited-stop buses may cannibalize local bus service if OCTA doesn't get CMAQ funding.

Obviously, if you're not into gory policy details, a lot of this is yawn-inducing. But it's fascinating to learn where the money (or, lack of money) for the Bravo! limited-stop bus project is coming from.

Here's the OCR'd text: read more→

Serena Maria Daniels published a report on the Bravo! project in the Orange County Register that says traditional "rapid transit" features will likely be cut from Bravo, essentially downgrading Bravo! to a series of limited-stop bus lines.

Some interesting tidbits from the article:

The transportation authority approved a $133 million budget for the project in November in 2005. Since then, the budget has dwindled to about $20 million, resulting in cuts in some express line features and plans to use existing buses instead of new ones for the Bravo! line.

"We're trying to save as much as possible," said Gordon Robinson, Bravo! project manager.

...

Robinson said the authority will not cut service from existing routes to make way for the Bravo! lines.

To help cut costs on the rapid bus line, Robinson said some of the gadgets common among other transit agencies' express lines will be put off at least during the beginning, including real-time alert signs at bus stops letting passengers know when buses will arrive and traffic-signal-synchronization devices that make lights turn green faster.

In the meantime, the authority plans to synchronize street lights along Harbor, 17th Street/Westminster, and Bristol, State College. Synchronization involves setting traffic lights along an artery so that they turn green together, allowing vehicles to travel unimpeded.

The Bravo! limited-stop lines plan to begin service in June 2010, September 2010, and December 2010 for the Harbor, Westminster-17th, and Bristol-State College lines, respectively. December 2010 is the last date OCTA can implement the service in order to comply with air quality requirements. read more→

Only two members of the public were present (I one of them). I asked the board to consider UC Irvine as a stop with the Bristol-Irvine Rapid Bus (what will be route 557). I don't think I articulated it particularly well, but I brought up my fears that: read more→

At today's OCTA rapid bus public hearing, it was clear that OCTA's board is not in sync with what's really going on. read more→

An update on OCTA's Bravo system on Harbor Blvd: OCTA is having a Rapid Bus public hearing set for Mon, Dec 8, 2008 9:00am at their headquarters. Their description (with my own emphases added)? "Route 543 will operate primarily on Harbor Blvd between the cities of Fullerton and Newport Beach on weekdays only between approximately 5 a.m. and 8 p.m. The purpose of the BRT [sic] service is to provide a rapid transit option to Orange County commuters and visitors as well as satisfying congestion mitigation commitments and regional air quality conformity requirements by the end of 2010 in the South Coast Air Basin. The BRT service will supplement the existing local service in order to maximize operational efficiency and passenger convenience. The BRT service is proposed to be implemented with the June 2009 service change effective June 14, 2009.

It's about time!

I picked up the route map and hearing notice off a 57 bus and scanned it. Take a look at the route.
read more→

One of the great things about rapid buses is that with introduction of rapid bus service, most transit agencies push a fresher, more hip transit marketing effort. Take Metro. I'm a big fan of their style, and it's not undeserved: their work has won them a 10-page exposé in Communication Arts magazine's Interactive Annual 12. read more→

Bravo! has a bright future ahead of it. OCTA's already talking about adding 6 additional rapid bus lines and 3 or 4 bus rapid transit or light rail lines to northwestern Orange County. Both OCTA and Los Angeles's Metro want to improve transportation between Los Angeles County and Orange County. read more→

A notable omission to Bravo! is the lack of a connection to John Wayne Airport. The closest it gets is Von Karman/Michelson, which is a pretty far walk from the airport. Its current route serves a lot of office complexes, but this would mostly be an area more appropriately served by commuter lines.

Another odd addition I've noticed is that Irvine Metrolink/Amtrak Station has a rapid bus connection. I've never seen stations so far away get this much attention, especially since the station was built primarily for commuters taking Metrolink. Irvine was built for cars and is nowhere near a walkable, sustainable community. Bus service within Irvine is notoriously infrequent (Irvine buses such as route 175 come every SEVENTY minutes). So having this suburban rapid bus connection makes no sense. It only seems to work if the Bravo Green Line operates primarily short trips.

Plus, I can't help but mention that we UC Irvine students are ready for more rapid transit options, but we're unfortunately stuck with the anemic ASUCI Shuttle system and a handful of commuter and community OCTA routes (read: infrequent service). Riders on line 79, which descends from Tustin through UC Irvine, must travel in standing-room only crowds in the mornings, but the bus comes every half hour to every hour. I wish UC Irvine had more green options. read more→