This is the presentation from a webinar focused on communicating useful knowledge and context for sketch planning and other planning initiatives within transit. The topics covered included basic philosophies in transit planning, common considerations that can be anticipated when planning for and kicking off a transit project, and helpful transit planning data resources. The Transitmix team provided demonstrations throughout the presentation on how their app can help local governments and communities work together to achieve transit planning goals.

1. Developing a Prepared
Mindset:
Transit Sketch Planning
ANDY KOSINSKI
Senior Transportation
Planner/Engineer - Fehr & Peers
AMY SMITH
Geospatial Data & Technology
Specialist - Fehr & Peers
CHRIS PANGILINAN
Transportation Engineer - City and
County of San Francisco
SAM HASHEMI
2014 Code for America Fellow,
Transitmix Co-founder
CODE FOR AMERICA, @CODEFORAMERICA

2. Outline for the hour
● Competing Goals within Transit Planning
● Key Transit Planning Considerations (political, budgetary…)
● Spatial Datasets (using them to inform community goals)
● Transitmix (Demo and discussion of the multifaceted tool)
● Q & A

3. Competing Goals
● Unlimited Possibilities
● Limited Resources
● What is your goal?

4. What’s your goal?
● Maximize Ridership
Photo Credit: Michael Ocampo

5. What’s your goal?
● Maximize Coverage (Lifeline)
Photo Credit: Julian Walker

6. San Francisco
● Route 54

8. Route 54
● Proposed
adjustment
Photo Credit: Jarrett Walker & TEI, Inc.

9. Houston
● Current frequent
network
Photo Credit: Jarrett Walker & TEI, Inc.

10. Houston
● Proposed frequent
network
Photo Credit: Jarrett Walker & TEI, Inc.

11. What is your goal?
● Set ridership and coverage goals to meet the needs of your
communities
● Be clear about these as you design your network
Further reading:
Jarrett Walker. Purpose-driven public transport: creating a clear conversation about public transport
goals. Journal of Transport Geography 16 (2008) 436–442.

12. Key Transit Planning
Considerations
● Budgetary components
● Roadway engineering - Operating Costs
● Tradeoff case study

13. Transit Budgetary Components
Capital Costs Operating Costs

14. Operating Cost Breakdown
Source: APTA &
National Transit
Database, 2010

15. Operating Cost Example
Operating Cost Scenarios for 16 hours of service, 250 days per year
Infrequent service: 100 minute cycle, 20 minute headways → 5 buses needed ($2.4M/year)
Frequent service: 100 minute cycle, 5 minute headways → 20 buses needed ($9.6M/year)
Frequent, delayed service: 115 minute cycle, 5 minute headways → ($11.04M/year)
Delays cost $1.44M every year for one route!

16. Engineering to reduce operating costs

17. San Francisco Tradeoff Study
What happens if we reroute
the 54 bus due to resident
complaints?
Planning and operational
considerations

18. San Francisco Tradeoff Study

19. Spatial Data Resources
● Smart Location Database
● National Household Travel Survey
● Automatic Vehicle Location

20. EPA Smart Location Database
What it is | Nationwide database of transportation characteristics
Geography | Census Block Group
Find It | www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/smartlocationdatabase.htm

21. EPA Smart Location Database

22. EPA Smart Location Database

23. National Household Travel Survey
What it is | Data on travel and transportation patterns in the US
Geography | Various Census Geographies
Find It |
NHTS http://nhts.ornl.gov
CHTS http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/tpp/offices/otfa/national_household_travel_survey.html

24. National Household Travel Survey

25. National Household Travel Survey

26. Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL)
What it is | Vehicle locations, often collected using GPS
Geography | Time-stamped coordinates (Latitude/Longitude)
Find It | Local transit providers, NextBus XML feed

27. Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL)

28. Working with Spatial Data
● Starting at the end and knowing your goal
● Starting from the data and exploring
● Knowing your scale
● Asking questions and understanding limitations

29. Transitmix
● Modern mapping tool for planning transit
● http://transitmix.net
● @transitmix
● team@transitmix.net

31. LIVE APP
app.transitmix.net
1-MIN DEMO
vimeo.com/105403827
6-MIN OVERVIEW
youtube.com/watch?
v=enMF-bbQOp8
Demo

32. 45,000+ maps created

33. Coming Soon: Transitmix Pro
GTFS
Geospatial Layers
Title VI Analysis
Lots more!
Interested? Please reach out to us! team@transitmix.net

34. Thank You!
Q&A
ANDY KOSINSKI
Senior Transportation Planner/
Engineer - Fehr & Peers
AMY SMITH
Geospatial Data & Technology
Specialist - Fehr & Peers
CHRIS PANGILINAN
Transportation Engineer - City and
County of San Francisco
SAM HASHEMI
2014 Code for America Fellow,
Transitmix Co-founder
GARRETT JACOBS
Facilitator - CfA
@andykosinski
@wolfmapper
@cap_transport
@oksamuel
@garrjacobs