MARTA's bus network needs an overhaul (Atlanta, Roswell: transfer, neighborhoods, live)

[cqholt]

First Impressions of the Reimagined METRO Buses | OffCite Blog
Houston's METRO overhauled their bus system, which use to be like MARTA except for terminating at transit stations, but no the system has frequent service and less bus stops.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by cqholt

First Impressions of the Reimagined METRO Buses | OffCite Blog
Houston's METRO overhauled their bus system, which use to be like MARTA except for terminating at transit stations, but no the system has frequent service and less bus stops.

They hadn't seriously overhauled it since the early 80s and even then, it was mostly based on the previous private company's bus routes.

Its something that every agency should do periodically.

[Scared to Life]

Originally Posted by cqholt

First Impressions of the Reimagined METRO Buses | OffCite Blog
Houston's METRO overhauled their bus system, which use to be like MARTA except for terminating at transit stations, but no the system has frequent service and less bus stops.

I agree that an overhaul of the MARTA Bus system is needed, a majority of the routes still follow "ancient" trolley lines and we have large buses meandering through neighborhoods they do not belong in. But Since we have the MARTA stations, major streets that tend to be only two lane roads, and no usable grid, an overhaul like this may be disastrous for MARTA, but we do need something to change.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by Scared to Life

I agree that an overhaul of the MARTA Bus system is needed, a majority of the routes still follow "ancient" trolley lines and we have large buses meandering through neighborhoods they do not belong in. But Since we have the MARTA stations, major streets that tend to be only two lane roads, and no usable grid, an overhaul like this may be disastrous for MARTA, but we do need something to change.

That's a valid concern, with the inconsistency of Atlanta's street layout. Even through just doing fantasy planning, it's hard as hell to come up with a decent coverage without relying on the spoke system of state and interstate highways. There aren't even great patterns there.

I would hope that, with the upgrades to the bus fleet being done currently, including the articulated buses, that routes will be re-evaluated.

There are a few areas where buses could be improved, with the apps and newer buses only being a start.

I want to see (in order of my preference):

1. Increased frequency with shcedules that are meant to complement each other through heavily used areas. See the Peidmont pair, with two buses on 50min schedules that show up within 5 min of each other leaving huge gaps of no service through the corridor. These could be treated like the rail lines, where you have 30 min headways on buses, that then go down to 15 min headways on overlapping sections.
   
   
2. Re-evaluated routes that act as transit corridors all on their own with high frequency, with overlapping and complementing services dipping into the neighborhoods, and feeding into the main routes.
   
   
3. Having, at least, a system of marking MARTA signs to show which bus uses them, even the ones with only one bus route.
   
4. Developing bus lanes with separation / barriers and median shelters for service along heavy use corridors such as Moreland, Tera, Buford, Roswell, Memorial, etc. with coordination with State / Municipal / County DOTs to standardize the size of the roads to allow not only smooth traffic flow, but seperate bus lanes without general traffic.
   
   
5. On those highest capacity routes, bus shelters more akin to streetcar stops with time estimate signs for next bus.
   
   
6. Testing using electric / hybrid buses by using rail stations as solar farms and having turbo chargers at the stations while the buses pause at the end of their route.

[CCATL]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

That's a valid concern, with the inconsistency of Atlanta's street layout. Even through just doing fantasy planning, it's hard as hell to come up with a decent coverage without relying on the spoke system of state and interstate highways. There aren't even great patterns there.

I would hope that, with the upgrades to the bus fleet being done currently, including the articulated buses, that routes will be re-evaluated.

There are a few areas where buses could be improved, with the apps and newer buses only being a start.

I want to see (in order of my preference):

1. Increased frequency with shcedules that are meant to complement each other through heavily used areas. See the Peidmont pair, with two buses on 50min schedules that show up within 5 min of each other leaving huge gaps of no service through the corridor. These could be treated like the rail lines, where you have 30 min headways on buses, that then go down to 15 min headways on overlapping sections.
   
   
2. Re-evaluated routes that act as transit corridors all on their own with high frequency, with overlapping and complementing services dipping into the neighborhoods, and feeding into the main routes.
   
   
3. Having, at least, a system of marking MARTA signs to show which bus uses them, even the ones with only one bus route.
   
4. Developing bus lanes with separation / barriers and median shelters for service along heavy use corridors such as Moreland, Tera, Buford, Roswell, Memorial, etc. with coordination with State / Municipal / County DOTs to standardize the size of the roads to allow not only smooth traffic flow, but seperate bus lanes without general traffic.
   
   
5. On those highest capacity routes, bus shelters more akin to streetcar stops with time estimate signs for next bus.
   
   
6. Testing using electric / hybrid buses by using rail stations as solar farms and having turbo chargers at the stations while the buses pause at the end of their route.

To add to your list, I think they should have some small circulator buses in certain neighborhoods as well that feed into train stations. For example, a route in Grant Park with a small bus could go through parts of the neighborhood, around the park and to the restaurants up Cherokee, Boulevard, and Memorial, terminating at the King Memorial station. It could also connect to the future streetcar stops near Zoo Atlanta and on the Beltline in GP. I think this would promote use of the larger system, in addition to helping people get to places that aren't quite as far as the larger buses go. 3-4 mile circular routes could operate on high frequency, and help to create more last mile connectivity.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by CCATL

To add to your list, I think they should have some small circulator buses in certain neighborhoods as well that feed into train stations. For example, a route in Grant Park with a small bus could go through parts of the neighborhood, around the park and to the restaurants up Cherokee, Boulevard, and Memorial, terminating at the King Memorial station. It could also connect to the future streetcar stops near Zoo Atlanta and on the Beltline in GP. I think this would promote use of the larger system, in addition to helping people get to places that aren't quite as far as the larger buses go. 3-4 mile circular routes could operate on high frequency, and help to create more last mile connectivity.

Mhmm. That's kinda what I was hinting at. If you have high-frequency backbones (say, every 15min) along major corridors, then you could layer circulators on top of them, as well as more direct runs from neighborhoods into nearby stations/ connections.

There is an issue of killing ridership by forcing transfers, though. I wouldn't mind seeing a doubling up of routes that share a corridor, but fan out. So, say you have a station that has an arterial that leads to another station / Park-n-ride.

One route would just follow the arterial between the stations, with stops all along. Another could run from the station into neighborhoods, ending back at the original station, with a stop intersecting the arterial service about half way through. Another could start at the station and run to a cross-roads node, and then back to the station on a larger-city street. Etc.

Really, I think there is an issue of rambling, non complementing bus routes that tend to radiate as opposed to connect.

[magnetar]

Originally Posted by cqholt

frequent service and less bus stops.

I thought MARTA was studying something like this in the comprehensive operations analysis thing. It was supposed to be complete earlier this year but I don't remember hearing much about it. Did anything come of it?

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by CCATL

To add to your list, I think they should have some small circulator buses in certain neighborhoods as well that feed into train stations. For example, a route in Grant Park with a small bus could go through parts of the neighborhood, around the park and to the restaurants up Cherokee, Boulevard, and Memorial, terminating at the King Memorial station. It could also connect to the future streetcar stops near Zoo Atlanta and on the Beltline in GP. I think this would promote use of the larger system, in addition to helping people get to places that aren't quite as far as the larger buses go. 3-4 mile circular routes could operate on high frequency, and help to create more last mile connectivity.

local circulator buses is a great idea and a way to get riders from neighborhoods to the station and leaving their car at home.

[CCATL]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

Mhmm. That's kinda what I was hinting at. If you have high-frequency backbones (say, every 15min) along major corridors, then you could layer circulators on top of them, as well as more direct runs from neighborhoods into nearby stations/ connections.

There is an issue of killing ridership by forcing transfers, though. I wouldn't mind seeing a doubling up of routes that share a corridor, but fan out. So, say you have a station that has an arterial that leads to another station / Park-n-ride.

One route would just follow the arterial between the stations, with stops all along. Another could run from the station into neighborhoods, ending back at the original station, with a stop intersecting the arterial service about half way through. Another could start at the station and run to a cross-roads node, and then back to the station on a larger-city street. Etc.

Really, I think there is an issue of rambling, non complementing bus routes that tend to radiate as opposed to connect.

I didn't think of that. While it might be true, I think people just have to accept that transfers are the reality in a good public transportation system. As long as you're waiting no more than 5 minutes for the transfer, it isn't that bad. When I lived in NYC, I had to transfer trains 3 times to get to work. In such a large system, you have to expect to transfer somewhere to get to your destination, but it wasn't that bad because there was such high frequency during rush hour. If we get that high frequency here, transferring isn't so bad. I've noticed that at 5 Points - now that trains are every 5 minutes during rush hour, when I take MARTA to work it has cut a noticeable amount of time off my commute. While it may only be a few minutes, perception of time is huge.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by CCATL

I didn't think of that. While it might be true, I think people just have to accept that transfers are the reality in a good public transportation system. As long as you're waiting no more than 5 minutes for the transfer, it isn't that bad. When I lived in NYC, I had to transfer trains 3 times to get to work. In such a large system, you have to expect to transfer somewhere to get to your destination, but it wasn't that bad because there was such high frequency during rush hour. If we get that high frequency here, transferring isn't so bad. I've noticed that at 5 Points - now that trains are every 5 minutes during rush hour, when I take MARTA to work it has cut a noticeable amount of time off my commute. While it may only be a few minutes, perception of time is huge.

Huge difference in waiting for a transfer at 5 points once headways dropped from 15 to 10 minutes. No longer were people running to transfer because they knew another train would arrive in 5-10 minutes.