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3.0 DATA SOURCES, AVAILABILITY, AND RISKS

3.1 Data Sources

The transit system data test plan will use three main data sources available from Metro Transit and MVTA. The first data source is ridership data for bus routes in the I-35W and Cedar Avenue corridors. The second data source is park-and-ride lot counts and license plate surveys conducted by Metro Transit and MVTA. The third data source is bus travel time data and on-time performance data collected through the Metro Transit AVL system and the MVTA AVL system and on-board surveyors.

In addition to these data sources, basic information on transit service characteristics will be documented pre- and post-deployment. Examples of these characteristics include the routes in the corridors, the number of bus trips per route, headways by time-of-day and direction, and the types of buses assigned to the routes. Battelle team members will work with Metro Transit and MVTA personnel to record this information pre- and post-deployment.

Metro Transit and MVTA Bus Ridership Data. Both Metro Transit and MVTA collect ridership data on a regular basis. Metro Transit uses both APCs and fare collection data to determine ridership. Approximately one-third of Metro Transit's bus fleet is equipped with APCs. Depending on the analytic purpose, Metro Transit uses a combination of data from fareboxes, smart card readers and APCs. These data sources can be compared and/or combined for a complete ridership dataset. They can also be integrated with schedule and AVL system data for additional performance analyses. MVTA uses farebox revenues and manual driver counts to calculate ridership.

Pre- and post-deployment ridership data will be collected from both Metro Transit and MVTA for those routes affected by the UPA projects. Only post-deployment ridership data will be available for new routes and services. Point-to-point ridership data by route and run will be obtained for bus services operating from the new and expanded park-and-ride lots along I-35W and Cedar Avenues. Ridership on other routes influenced by the UPA projects will also be obtained and analyzed. In addition, overall ridership on Metro Transit and MVTA express routes and routes in the control corridor will be monitored to provide a trend line.

Table 3-1 provides an example of the total daily ridership for Metro Transit Route 552, which operates three express trips from Bloomington to downtown Minneapolis in the morning and three express trips in the afternoon. Table 3-2 provides an example of ridership by trip on MVTA Route 464, which operates express service form Burnsville to downtown Minneapolis. Ridership per trip for existing and new services will be monitored and analyzed for the national evaluation. Data may also be aggregated to a daily, weekly, and monthly basis as appropriate.

Park-and-Ride Lot Utilization. Metro Transit and MVTA conduct counts of vehicles parked at park-and-ride lots on an annual basis. For new park-and-ride lots, vehicles counts are typically conducted after the first week and after three months of operations. In special cases, such as after the I-35W bridge collapse, counts may be conducted on a monthly basis. Table 3-3 presents data on use of the five existing park-and-ride lots in the I-35W corridor that are expected to be impacted by the UPA projects. The table presents the counts for 2006, 2007, and 2008 to provide an example of the available data. Counts are also available for 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005. The counts from all the years have been entered into a spreadsheet for use in the Minnesota UPA National Evaluation.

Table 3-1. Daily Riders –Metro Transit Route 552
Date Total Daily Riders
10/9/2006 149
10/10/2006 167
10/11/2006 159
10/12/2006 158
10/13/2006 128
2006 Average 152
10/8/2007 131
10/9/2007 173
10/10/2007 156
10/11/2007 188
10/12/2007 136
2007 Average 157
10/6/2008 202
10/7/2008 186
10/8/2008 185
10/9/2008 175
10/10/2008 136
2008 Average 181
Source: Metro Transit

Table 3-2. Riders Per Trip – MVTA Route 464
Date 7:16 a.m. Trip Northbound 5:04 p.m. Trip Southbound
4/20/2009 11 23
4/21/2009 13 27
4/22/2009 8 22
4/23/2009 11 20
4/24/2009 9 13
Source: MVTA

Table 3-3. Park-and-Ride Lot Use in the I-35W Corridor
Lot 2008
Capacity
2008
Use
2007
Capacity
2007
Use
2006
Capacity
2006
Use
I-35W North
95th Ave N. & I-35W 1,011 953 1,011 982 903 872
Rosedale Transit Center 375 345 375 372 300 541
County Road H & I-35W 211 143 211 149 211 139
I-35W South
South Bloomington Transit Center 195 122 82 83 80 81
Burnsville Transit Station 1,376 1,305 1,376 1,387 1,300 1,304
Knox Avenue/Best Buy 525 52 525 150 500 97
Heart of the City 370 99 370 77 370 100
Source: Metro Transit

In addition, Metro Transit and MVTA conduct license plate surveys of vehicles parked at park-and-ride lots every other year on the even year. The locations corresponding to the address on record for the license plates of vehicles at the lots are mapped to illustrate the park-and-ride lot travel shed. Figure 3-1 illustrates the locations of the address of record for vehicles parked at the I-35W and County Road H Park-and-Ride Lot and Rosedale Transit Center. Metro Transit and MVTA compare the results to previous years to identify possible changes in the use of park-and-ride lots by bus riders. This information is especially important with the opening of new lots, as existing park-and-ride lot users may change to more convenient locations. Metro Transit and MVTA completed license plate surveys of park-and-ride lots in 2008. The next regularly scheduled survey will be in 2010.

For the new and expanded UPA park-and-ride lots, it is recommended that Metro Transit and MVTA conduct counts after the first week, after the first month, at three months, at six months, and at one year. Since the bus service operated from these lots is oriented toward peak-period commute trips, only one weekday midday count is needed. Based on the existing schedule, license plate surveys will be conducted in 2010. This schedule fits with all the UPA park-and-ride lots, except the Cedar Avenue park-and-ride lot, which will be completed by October 2010. Rather than wait until 2012, it is recommended that a license plate survey be conducted at the Cedar Avenue park-and-ride lot in 2011. The vehicles parked at existing lots with no additions in parking spaces or major changes in bus service are recommended to be counted for one day after one month, three months, and six months to identify any changes related to the UPA projects and then annually. In addition, overall utilization of Metro Transit and MVTA park-and-ride lots will be examined to provide a trend line from 1999.

A map of a portion on I-35W is populated by points that indicate the origins of park and ride users who use two specific Park and Ride facilities in the transit taxing district.

Figure 3-1. Map of Park-and-Ride Users at I-35W/County Road H and Rosedale Transit Center

Bus Travel Time and Bus On-Time Performance Data. The HOT lanes, PDSL, MARQ2 lanes, Transit Advantage project, and Cedar Avenue lane guidance system focus on increasing travel speeds for buses, reducing bus travel times, and improving bus trip-time reliability. Data to assess these changes will be obtained through the Metro Transit AVL system, which provides continuous travel time data, and from the new AVL system and manually for MVTA buses using on-board and/or point-checks with time resolution of seconds rather than minutes.

End-to-end travel times, as well as travel times for specific route segments are needed to assess impacts on the UPA projects on bus travel times. The data collection protocol will document the travel-time savings from the individual projects and the cumulative effort of multiple projects in the I-35W corridor. Archived data will be collected to establish a pre-project deployment travel time baseline for buses operating in the I-35W and Cedar Avenue corridors, as well as on the single bus lanes in downtown Minneapolis. Post-deployment data will be collected on an ongoing basis.

Metro Transit uses the AVL system to monitor the on-time performance or schedule adherence for buses. Metro Transit considers a bus on time if it is less than five minutes late and no more than one minute early. The on-time performance of Metro Transit routes influenced by the UPA projects will be documented pre- and post-deployment of the specific project elements.

Table 3-4 presents an example of on-time performance data for Metro Transit Route 552. Data from 2006, 2007, and 2008 are presented. The time points are I-35W and Diamond Lake Road, where the buses enter and exit the freeway, the on-line station at I-35W and Lake Street, 4th Avenue and 11th Street and 3rd Avenue and 12th Street, where buses enter and exit the freeway downtown, and 8th Avenue/7th Avenue and 2nd Street, which is the downtown node. The scheduled time, the actual arrival time, and the actual departure time is recorded, and the dwell time and adherence at each time point is calculated and presented in the table in fractions of a minute. Late buses show positive time, early buses show negative time. Since Route 552 is an express route, northbound buses into downtown Minneapolis are allowed to run early after the Diamond Lake time point.

Table 3-4. Travel Time Data for Metro Transit Route 552
A sample spreadsheet is shown with a layout for collection of time data for area streets.
Source: Metro Transit

MVTA collects travel time data using on-board and/or point checks with time resolution of seconds rather than minutes. Table 3-5 presents travel time data for MVTA Route 464 collected with the new AVL system. The time the bus departed the Heart of the City park-and-ride lot in Burnsville is listed, along with the arrival time at 3rd Avenue and Washington in downtown Minneapolis. The total running time each day and the average running time for the five days are calculated.

Table 3-5. Travel Time Data for MVTA Route 464
A table structure provides data for northbound and southbound bus routes that includes running time each day for five days, average running time, and number of riders.
Source: MVTA

A few routes, including 250 and 260/261, were rerouted after the collapse of the I-35W Bridge. For these routes, historical travel time and on-time performance data from before the bridge collapse will be used, rather than the time period at which buses were operating on the detour routes. In addition, Metro Transit buses from the South Garage on pull-out, pull-in, and deadhead trips will be monitored for changes in travel times due to the UPA projects.

Published Schedule Data. The final information source for the transit test plan is the published schedules for the routes affected by the UPA projects. The published schedule information represents what riders actually see as a result of the UPA projects. The published schedules for the bus routes identified previously in the I-35W and the Cedar Avenue corridors will be documented pre- and post-deployment of the UPA projects to assess changes in bus running times that translate into actual changes in the printed schedules. In addition, the schedules of other buses that will operate on the MARQ2 lanes will be recorded pre- and post-deployment.

Figure 3-2 illustrates the printed schedule for Metro Transit Route 288, which operates from Forest Lake to downtown Minneapolis on I-35W.

Transit Service Characteristics. Basic information on transit services in the corridor will be documented pre- and post-deployment of the UPA projects. Examples of this information include the routes, number of bus trips per route by time-of-day and direction, revenue hours/miles, cost per passenger mile, boarding per revenue mile, and service capacity in the I-35W corridor. Bus assignments will also be documented to monitor the use of alternative fuel buses on routes in the I-35 corridor for the environmental analysis.

An excerpt of the bus schedule for departure times between 4:55 a.m. and 7:55 a.m. shows scheduled stops at six locations from Forest Lake to downtown Minneapolis.

Figure 3-2. Schedule for Metro Transit Route 288 Southbound

3.2 Data Availability

As Table 3-6 illustrates, pre- and post-deployment data is available for all of the transit system data sources. Obviously, pre-deployment data are not available for new park-and-ride lots and new transit routes. Also, as noted previously, historical data will be used on a few routes impacted by the I-35W Bridge collapse. The examples in Section 3.1 provide an indication of the available data from each source.

Table 3-6. Transit System Test Plan Data Sources and Availability
Data Source Pre-Deployment Data Post-Deployment Data
Metro Transit Ridership Data Yes Yes
>MVTA Ridership Data Yes Yes
Metro Transit Park-and-Ride Lot Utilization and License Plate Surveys Yes (existing lots) Yes
Bus Travel Time and On-Time Data Yes Yes
Published Schedule Data Yes Yes
Transit Service Characteristics Yes Yes

3.3 Potential Risks

There do not appear to be any significant risks associated with obtaining the transit ridership, bus trip time and on-time performance, park-and-ride lot count and survey data, and general transit service characteristic information. These data are collected on a regular basis by Metro Transit and MVTA. Examples of data from the various sources have been reviewed by members of the Battelle team and presented in this test plan. The risk that transit and park-and-ride lot data will not be available is low. Thus, no special efforts to address the low risk are recommended.