Buses Cost MARTA More Per Passenger Trip than Rail (Atlanta: 2015, to rent)

[jsvh]

Some interesting food for thought:

According to MARTA's KPIs:

The 2015 Fiscal Year-to-Date (months of July through October) Cost per Rail Passenger Trip of $2.25 is lower than the forecasted $2.56 by $0.31, or 12.1%. This favorable variance is due to rail ridership exceeding the forecast by 1.9 million unlinked boardings and net under-runs in budgeted expenses.

The 2015 Fiscal Year-to-Date (months of July through October) Cost per Bus Passenger Trip of $2.80 is lower than the forecasted $3.12 by $0.32, or 10.3%. This favorable variance is due to bus ridership exceeding the forecast by 1.2 million unlinked boardings and net under-runs in budgeted expenses.

To me the biggest shock here is that rail is cheaper than buses per passenger trip.

I think most expect it to be strongly the other way around. But I suspect there are a couple reasons why this is the case. First of all, they are talking "unlinked" passenger trips. Which means if one person takes a bus to rail to another bus in one trip that will count as two bus trips and one rail trip. But I think a bigger reason is that rail gets the "better" / higher capacity / denser routes while MARTA buses are often left to winding through infrequent, indirect, low density neighborhood streets with only a few people on board. Still, interesting to keep in mind that buses are not always cheaper.

The other big take away here IMO, is that an unlinked rail trip costs MARTA less than the MARTA fare of $2.50.

Of course that is an unlinked trip so if someone goes bus -> rail -> bus they just paid $2.50 for three unlinked trips. And this also probably does not include general and administrative expenses like administrative salaries, interest costs, rent on MARTA's HQ, etc. But regardless, it is pretty clear that even today an unsubsidized private MARTA rail system with lean overhead could probably still thrive with distance-based fares that average little more than the current cost of a MARTA fare.

Thoughts?

Hopefully MARTA's "Comprehensive Operation Analysis" will clean up MARTA's bus routes and get them performing more direct and frequent service that will boost ridership and bring down per passenger-trip costs.

[jsvh]

Wow:

MARTA > News And Events > MARTA Highlights > KPIs

The 2015 Fiscal Year-to-Date (months of July through October) Cost per Mobility Passenger Trip of $37.45 is lower than the forecasted $39.30 by $1.85, or 4.7%. This favorable variance is due to net under-runs in budgeted expenses.

$37.45 per trip?!

[cwkimbro]

Yep, that is typical. It is that small bus only for ADA eligible passengers that can't get around well otherwise.

It is curb to curb service on a limited basis by reservation, not a daily commuting thing. Their cost is $4.00, so there is a $33.45/ride subsidy on average.

The good side is this service isn't common, so we are talking about few trips, comparatively.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

Yep, that is typical. It is that small bus only for ADA eligible passengers that can't get around well otherwise.

It is curb to curb service on a limited basis by reservation, not a daily commuting thing. Their cost is $4.00, so there is a $33.45/ride subsidy on average.

The good side is this service isn't common, so we are talking about few trips, comparatively.

Yeah. I knew mobility buses were high. Just not that high. Be cheaper to get each passenger an Uber black car (limo).

Still more interesting to me how the regular buses are more expensive than rail. Wonder how common that is.

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by jsvh

Yeah. I knew mobility buses were high. Just not that high. Be cheaper to get each passenger an Uber clack car (limo).

Still more interesting to me how the regular buses are more expensive than rail. Wonder how common that is.

Maybe. Trying to privatize operations is always an option.

The thing is the vehicle needs to be ADA compliant/convenient, since that is 100% their customer base. 99.9% of uber cars won't work. We'd also have to have a system in place to make sure vehicle inventory stays high enough.

I know we had to rent a ride from an ADA van for my aging great aunt who is sadly not doing well and the rates were considerably higher... closer to $100/ride.

For regular buses... It is pretty common, particularly on the operations side. The big thing is it is staffing. Close to 70% of operations costs is staff. The amount of staff required to operate a train/rider is far less than a bus.

With bus routes with higher ridership per operational hour the cost/passenger is lower and for routes with low ridership the cost is a bit higher. This is data I wish MARTA released and this is probably why they don't.

Now the tough thing is about slightly less than half of rail riders only exist because of the bus system, so the rail system completely without buses at all wouldn't be too efficient on its own. This is also why the system subsidizes parking for daily riders. That cost is often lower than other alternative access to the more efficient part of the system.

LRT is often nice when grade-separated. It gets some efficiency gains over HRT when you don't have enough ridership demand. That is why it has been favored by so many system start-ups and by the FTA in recent history.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

Now the tough thing is about slightly less than half of rail riders only exist because of the bus system, so the rail system completely without buses at all wouldn't be too efficient on its own. This is also why the system subsidizes parking for daily riders. That cost is often lower than other alternative access to the more efficient part of the system.

Given that profitable private bus lines are already operating in Atlanta for less than a MARTA fare, I don't think we will ever have zero bus coverage. I also think MARTA would benefit more from charging for parking a lot more then it would lose from the riders that would not pay for parking.

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by jsvh

Given that profitable private bus lines are already operating in Atlanta for less than a MARTA fare, I don't think we will ever have zero bus coverage. I also think MARTA would benefit more from charging for parking a lot more then it would lose from the riders that would not pay for parking.

That would end up in a net-loss of efficiency. It also wouldn't meet the operational goals of MARTA trying to provide services to all the citizens that pay for it, but the cost of operational service to them is prohibitively expensive.

[Cameron H]

Maybe I don't get it, but there are a lot of bus routes running all over the city. There are four rail lines. Why would you expect the cost per passenger to be lower for buses? Isn't this just basic economy of scale?

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by Cameron H

Maybe I don't get it, but there are a lot of bus routes running all over the city. There are four rail lines. Why would you expect the cost per passenger to be lower for buses? Isn't this just basic economy of scale?

Yep!

Although some people over-estimate the physical operating and maintenance costs of the trains vs buses, beyond paying for staffing....so economies of scale still prevails.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by jsvh

Some interesting food for thought:

According to MARTA's KPIs:





To me the biggest shock here is that rail is cheaper than buses per passenger trip.

I think most expect it to be strongly the other way around. But I suspect there are a couple reasons why this is the case. First of all, they are talking "unlinked" passenger trips. Which means if one person takes a bus to rail to another bus in one trip that will count as two bus trips and one rail trip. But I think a bigger reason is that rail gets the "better" / higher capacity / denser routes while MARTA buses are often left to winding through infrequent, indirect, low density neighborhood streets with only a few people on board. Still, interesting to keep in mind that buses are not always cheaper.

The other big take away here IMO, is that an unlinked rail trip costs MARTA less than the MARTA fare of $2.50.

Of course that is an unlinked trip so if someone goes bus -> rail -> bus they just paid $2.50 for three unlinked trips. And this also probably does not include general and administrative expenses like administrative salaries, interest costs, rent on MARTA's HQ, etc. But regardless, it is pretty clear that even today an unsubsidized private MARTA rail system with lean overhead could probably still thrive with distance-based fares that average little more than the current cost of a MARTA fare.

Thoughts?

Hopefully MARTA's "Comprehensive Operation Analysis" will clean up MARTA's bus routes and get them performing more direct and frequent service that will boost ridership and bring down per passenger-trip costs.

I betting they don't include capital costs. That changes it dramatically.