Tdp and bt_future_uapsa_02-09-12-compressed
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Urban Affairs and Planning Student Association at Virginia Tech presentation, Feb. 9, 2012 by Erik C.B. Olsen, 7-8 pm - Architecture Annex Room 7 (basement level).
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Tdp and bt_future_uapsa_02-09-12-compressed
- 1. Transit in Blacksburg and beyond Erik Olsen For the Urban Affairs and Planning Student Association at Virginia Tech Feb. 9, 2012, 7-8 pm - Architecture Annex Room 7
- 9. … into this
- 12. Highlights from Chapter 4 Transit Service and Facility Needs Assessment
- 14. 3 Routes in 1983 Hethwood- Windsor Hills Carriage Hill- N. Main St. Toms Creek Loop
- 15. 14 Routes in 2012
- 21. Transit & the community
- 23. What is the bottom line? Show me the signature!
Editor's Notes
- I share this picture with you to start off to give you a quick glimpse into transportation planning here in Blacksburg with Transit. Who do you see? You might recognize a the mayor of Blacksburg or Christiansburg. Our BT Director, Becky Martin is there. They tall guy is a former Hokie offensive tackle, who is now our Town Manager; Christiansburg’s new Town Manager too. And there are County reps here including Chief Brown - and these old folks in the front? They are our newest customers from Warm Hearth. What you see here represents a snap shot of over a decades worth of requests and planning fueled by a small state grant.
- So today I want to start out by giving you a sketch of where we are going.
- So what is transit to you? Well is buses and the the people who maintain them, and the people who work in Finance, Customer Service, numerous Operations staff, including over 150 bus operators. And of course the students and faculty from VT that make up about 90-95% of ridership. And the other 5-10% of citizens in Blacksburg and Christiansburg. Right now we are projecting a 2% increase over last year to about 3.4 million passenger trips. That is over passenger trips each day. Shown here is Aaron Maertins, a senior in urban affairs and planning and a part-time bus operator, passengers and one of our 9 hybrid-electric buses, and 1 of our most popular bus stops.
- Transit is about connecting people to their destinations. BT services Blacksburg and Christiansburg, and we also connect to other services including the Smart Way between Bburg and Roanoke and its newest Smartway Connector to Lynchburg to catch Amtrak. Megabus with express trips to Washington DC and Knoxville, TN also share a BT stop. Shown here is the Smart Way commuter bus, the Falling Branch/Exit 118 bus stop in Christiansburg before the holidays, a map showing the route between Roanoke and Lynchburg for the new SmartWay Connector to get to Amtrak. And then a megabus pick up at Falling Branch.
- People ask lots of questions, that are not even related to planning, but it still something to know just in case. Why can’t you shut down a bus at a stop? Because there are about a bazillion computers that have to then shut down and restart! And you may have heard that BT recently won at $1.85M grant with Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, to explore new technology to generate live, passenger-demand information – this would help BT to better tailor the supply of bus service and generate a clearer picture of how many people need rides and where. Here we see our dispatch center, where they can track all buses and communicate with operators and field supervisors, a photo of the bank of computers that sits to the left of the bus operator in the bus, and an illustration of our bus driving simulator used for training.
- BT’s server room – wow! On each bus is what’s called a Mentor Ranger, which is a mobile data computer running Windows CE. It is part of a Streets CAD/AVL system which tells where the buses are, along with the fare data. It is part of the larger system that includes the BBX (short for black box) which is the GPS receiver/communications hub on the buses, the data network which gets the data collected on the buses back to BT. These 3 servers then handle all the data.
- And then we finally get to transit planning. We can talk all day about this, but it is applying some of what you are learning about now in school. Doing studies & surveys, attending citizen meetings, holding focus groups, writing final recommendation reports, and using GIS data to plot data and make maps. And yes, getting good press coverage is good transportation planning as well. Pictures are from press we received foor our 2009 Christiansburg Bus survey, a map showing the flow of most commuters – either within Cburg or from Cburg to Bburg, a map of our original proposal of new routes in Christiansburg near the NRV Mall and downtown, and a photo from press about the old Blacksburg Middle School property, and the potential plans for that plot of land.
- Some of planning is taking an idea and sketching it out. It can take weeks or months or even years until you see the results.
- But eventually you can turn your efforts into a plan that others can understand. That’s really just the first step. Then you put that plan into action.
- So then we get back to what transit is and transit planning. Part of it is about expanding & improving bus service. Land Use planning may use a Comprehensive Plan. In Transit we use something similar called a Transit Development Plan or TDP. So let’s talk about that for a while.
- The TDP is a long term look at BT over the next 1-6 years and beyond. A consultant worked with our staff and with various partners including VT, Montgomery County, Blacksburg & Christiansburg leaders to help identify what BT needs. The result was a document we can use each year to help us to refine and expand our service.
- I’ll review what we are working on now in Blacksburg and within the region – some brief highlights from chapter 4 of the TDP.
- We will look in-detail at revamping all routes. We started with a core of 3 routes in 1983 and each year we have added to it here and there. The idea will be to have an outside consultant look at our service afresh and look at how we can revamp it to be more efficient. --At the same time, we will continue to make improvements based on available funding to improve frequencies. --Over all routes and for example, for the CRC route, since the Corporate Research Center is expanding and becoming more popular, especially during break service. --We are looking at the Two Town Trolley and possibly expanding its hours. --Developing a way to better connect Blacksburg neighborhoods has been a constant request, so we hope to look at this as well, and someday we hope to have an easily recognizable, downtown trolley, similar to what you see in Roanoke or Williamsburg or most tourist destinations.
- Planning for BT started in about 1974 from what I can tell. So it took almost 10 years for it to become a reality. In fact the man who did the original study, Bob Stuart who was a professor in this program, still lives in Blacksburg. I believe he is 93 years old. I’m sure he would be happy to meet with any of you. If anyone is interested let me know and I can get you in touch with him.
- Now we have 14 bus routes and we continue to expand.
- --The commuter service from Christiansburg to Blacksburg is doing very well with 1 bus. We are continuing to monitor this route and have started plans to added a 2 nd bus once we fill the bus to capacity on a regular basis. --In November 2011 we started the Warm Hearth Tuesday Route with a small senior grant; this connects the Warm Hearth retirement village with the LewisGale Hospital Montgomery. The ridership is very low, but we do have a core of regular riders. Next steps include more trainings for Warm Hearth and a name-the-route contest to be launched soon. --The idea of a Merrimac/Hightop neighborhood service to serve the County has been a long time coming, but is dependent on the success of the Tuesday Route. --We are working with the New River Community College to add a connector route to the Dublin Campus. --We are also working with Virginia Tech to add commuter routes from outlying areas.
- The BT-VT Multimodal Transfer Facility will be on campus. The location is confirmed to be in the Derring Lot. This will affect routing in a major way, but is not scheduled to occur for another 3-5 years. In the future a NRV Mall transit center will be developed. The exact size, location, and timing is unknown. The park & ride at the Falling Branch, Exit 118 needs further improvements to support BT, Megabus, and Smart Way services there. A downtown Blacksburg transit “mini-hub” has also been identified as a need in the future. And we are continuing to work on a bus stop improvement program with upgraded and new bus shelters and other amenities.
- This is from a Montgomery County publication about improvements to the bus stop at Falling Branch. As you can see, it is always good to request electronic and paper copies of such events so you can have them for presentations like this. They are also useful in your portfolio of success stories when you go on job interviews, and for use in grant applications for additional funding.
- The BT-VT Multimodal Transfer Facility will be on campus. The location is confirmed to be in the Derring Lot. This will affect routing in a major way, but is not scheduled to occur for another 3-5 years. In the future a NRV Mall transit center will be developed. The exact size, location, and timing is unknown. The park & ride at the Falling Branch, Exit 118 needs further improvements to support BT, Megabus, and Smart Way services there. A downtown Blacksburg transit “mini-hub” has also been identified as a need in the future. And we are continuing to work on a bus stop improvement program with upgraded and new bus shelters and other amenities.
- Finally, we have some additional needs including: A comprehensive operational analysis is a follow-up to the TDP and is an in-depth evaluation of route performance – this is done every 5 years. Our maintenance division has recently added some new mechanics and the TDP recommended adding a total of 4. BT4U is where we take our real-time GPS data that we collect and make it available and usable by our customers. This is still continuing and expanding. This is related to our need for improved fleet communications and constant WiFi needs by both customers and operations staff.
- So this is where I ask a few questions of you. -How do think transit affects the community? -Who does it affect? -What is the big deal? -What skills are needed to be a planner? -What stories will you create?
- Each of these photos has a story behind it. We at BT work to make sure our community is better by making transit better. And that goes for the 90-95% Virginia Tech students, faculty, and staff, as well as citizens outside of Virginia Tech living in Blacksburg and Christiansburg.
- So now we are back to the TDP. One of the bottom line’s is getting the plan approved. This is not as easy at it sounds. It involves meetings, summaries, edits, etc. and then approval from the Mayor in this case thorough a formal motion during a Town Council meeting. A similar process will take place for any planning document in almost any area – weather it be a lane use or comprehensive plan, a plan for sustainability, a bicycle & pedestrian plan, a plan for sewer systems, or a GIS plan.
- OK, that has been a quick overview of some TDP highlights. We have made the chapter available for your further review, and I can take any questions right now.
- So we opened with this photo – remember? Transportation and Transit Planning involves a lot of moving parts – and again, that is the same with any type of planning.