October 2000
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October 2000 |
Guided
Bus System Moving Forward for DC Suburbs
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At the International Transit Summit on October 9, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) -- known locally as "Metro" -- provided their "big picture" look at the expansion of their rail and bus systems over the next 25 years. Enhancements Clearly Needed to Meet
Growth WMATA is a major player in
Washington's transportation picture, where 18% of work trips happen on either
rail or bus lines operated by Metro. Every
weekday, they carry an average of 475,000 people on their bus system alone,
which is the 6th largest in the US.
They've seen success in efforts to increase ridership, as growth in the
last year has been over 11%. As the second most congested region in the country, area transportation planners still have a lot of work to do in coming years, just to keep people moving. With transit trips projected to increase by 49% by 2025, WMATA has set a goal of doubling ridership in the next 25 years. Plans already call for extending their existing 103 mile rail system by over 50 miles to meet that need, but they acknowledge that service enhancements are needed as well, if they are to meet that goal. A "Vision Plan"
adopted by the regional Metropolitan Planning Organization and the WMATA board
includes both improved bus service levels and expanded service areas as
components in meeting the capacity goal. A
Regional Bus Study is now underway to identify needs, and is scheduled to be
completed by late 2001. The Plan does
include a list of ITS projects; vehicle intelligence seems to be limited
to mention of "onboard bus diagnostics systems." However, the system enhancement of paramount interest to the IV community is of course the much-talked-about Dulles Bus Rapid Transit system -- which clearly stands as a key component of their future planning, though not packaged as an ITS project. BRT Still Facing Uphill Ride Looking long-term, WMATA
envisions rail service provided to the suburbs:
an extension to the large and still-growing office/retail destination of
Tyson's Corner by 2006, and to Dulles International Airport and beyond by
2010. Dulles sits within Loudon County, home to hordes of commuters who
now jam highways leading into Washington and the office towers at Tyson's
Corner. The continued growth of the red-hot technology corridor Rather than waiting the many years typically needed to raise funds and build a full-on rail system, WMATA instead plans a phased implementation of BRT in this corridor, with stations convertible to rail when funding and ridership levels come together. The current plan -- based
on a proposal assembled by a consortium headed by Washington Group
International (formerly Raytheon Engineers & Constructors) -- is for a
24 mile system with 10-13 stations. The
implementation currently being promoted calls for bus platforms, built to rail
specifications, to be located within the median of the existing Dulles Toll Road
-- in this way, the platform infrastructure is ready to go when rail is
implemented. The tolerances for
vehicle movements in such a scenario call for electronic lateral guidance and
precision docking for buses. Once thought to have a
high potential as an early flagship for intelligent vehicle system
implementation in the bus transit arena, promoters of the Dulles BRT project
have been unsuccessful in moving it forward on the fast track.
Instead, project plans are being subjected to all of the requirements of
a typical major transportation project -- WMATA reported that an environmental
impact assessment is the next step, a process which can take a year or more.
Meanwhile, preliminary engineering is underway. [Top]
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For more information ... ... see an in-depth article on planning for the Dulles BRT in the IVsource archives. [Top]
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Copyright 2000: IVsource.net and Richard Bishop Consulting (RBC). All Rights Reserved. |
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October 2000 |