Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Working Paper Two Route and Network Evaluation

Transcription

1 Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Working Paper Two Route and Network Evaluation Prepared for the City of Vacaville Administrative Services Department Prepared by

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3 Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Working Paper Two Route and Network Evaluation Prepared for the City of Vacaville Administrative Services Department 650 Merchant Street Vacaville, CA Prepared by 2690 Lake Forest Road, Suite C P. O. Box 5875 Tahoe City, California November 22, 2017

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5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction... 1 Chapter 2: Review of Existing Services... 3 Chapter 3: City Coach Passenger Boarding/Alighting Data Chapter 4: City Coach On Time Performance Chapter 5: City Coach Route Segment Analysis Chapter 6: City Coach Passenger Onboard Survey Chapter 7: Recommended Alternatives for Analysis Appendix A: Onboard Passenger Survey Form and Detailed Results LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 1 Summary of City Coach Services City Coach Vehicle Utilization by Time of Day Vacaville City Coach Annual Ridership by Service and Fare Category Annual Ridership by Route Ridership by Route by Month Typical Ridership Variation by Day of Week Average Daily Ridership by Route by Month Weekday vs. Saturday Typical Ridership by Fare Type by Route Vacaville City Coach FY 2016/17 Cost Model City Coach FY 2016/17 Estimated Revenues City Coach Route Performance Analysis City Coach Productivity by Route by Month City Coach Vehicle Fleet Scheduled Transfer Opportunities at Transportation Center and Transit City Coach Travel Times, Transfer Requirements, and Service Headways City Coach Bus Stop Inventory Ridership by Route by Hour Route 1 Average Daily Passenger Boarding/Alighting and Load by Stop Route 2 Average Daily Passenger Boarding/Alighting and Load by Stop Route 4 Average Daily Passenger Boarding/Alighting and Load by Stop Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page i

6 21 Route 5 Average Daily Passenger Boarding/Alighting and Load by Stop Route 6 Average Daily Passenger Boarding/Alighting and Load by Stop Route 8 Average Daily Passenger Boarding/Alighting and Load by Stop Bus Stop Daily Boarding and Alighting Activity Maximum Observed Passenger Load by Route by Hour Summary of Vacaville City Coach On Time Performance Route 1 On Time Performance Analysis Route 2 On Time Performance Analysis Route 4 On Time Performance Analysis Route 5 On Time Performance Analysis Route 6 On Time Performance Analysis Route 8 On Time Performance Analysis Vacaville City Coach Route Segment Analysis Passenger Boardings and Productivity by Run by Route Segment Transfer Patterns Between City Coach Routes Daily Passenger Trips Between Zones Comparison of Quality of Transit Service and Daily Ridership Between Zones LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE PAGE 1 Historical City Coach Annual Fixed Route Ridership Ridership by Route 5 Year History Monthly Ridership by Route Route Ridership by Day of Week City Coach Performance by Route Ridership by Route by Hour On Time Performance Summary Average Minutes Late by Route by Run Route Segment Passenger Boardings per Hour Route Segment Subsidy per Passenger Boarding Passenger Primary Trip Purpose Passengers Opinion of City Coach Service Improvements That Would Most Increase Ridership Improvements That Riders Would Most Like to see City Coach Origin/Destination Pattern Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page ii

7 Chapter 1 Introduction The City of Vacaville s City Coach program is an important service to many city residents. To ensure that the City Coach program can best serve the community in the future, the City is conducting a thorough review and reassessment of the fixed route transit program. This document is the second of several Working Papers that provide interim information on the study. This Working Paper presents a detailed review off existing City Coach services, performance, and passenger characteristics, including the results off onboard passenger surveys and data collection regarding boarding/alighting activityy and on time performance. It also identifies potential areas for future analysis that have high potential to improve the effectiveness or efficiency of the City Coach Program. Subsequent study documents will focus on the detailed analysis of service strategies. After public review, these documents will form the basiss of the draft and final plan documents. Working Paper 2: Route and Network Evaluation Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 1

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9 Review of Chapter 2 Existing Services This chapter presents a summary of existing transit services, a review of overall ridership patterns and trends, as well as the bus fleet and bus stop improvements. Existing Vacaville Transit Routes Vacaville s City Coach Transit System consists of six fixedd routes thatt operate Monday through Saturday, a paratransit service (also known as Special Services or Dial A Ride) ), and taxi scrip program. On weekdays, the system operates from 6:00 AM to 6:30 PM, with minor variations by route (described in more detail below). On Saturdays, all of the routes operate with slightly reduced service hours, from 8:000 AM to 6:000 PM, again with some variation among routes. On both weekdays and Saturdays routes operate every 30 minutes, except that Route 1 operates every hour. Routes are designed either as loops or out and back, and all routes start and end at the Transportation Center at Allison Drive and Travis Way. Several routes also serve the Downtown Transit Plaza at 200 East Monte Vista Avenue. Table 1 shows the variation in operating hours, frequency, number of vehicles in service, number of vehicle service hours and vehicle service miles for each route. It also shows the number and service hours buses thatt are sent to serve a route when passenger loads exceed the capacity of the of tripper runs that City Coach deployss on any route. Trippers are additional regular service runs. City Coach uses tripper buses on Routes 2, 5 and 8 when Vacaville schools are in session. Route 1 serves the Ulatis Cultural Center, the Library and Walmart before heading towards Nut Tree Road, Leisure Town (deviating by request from Yellowstone Drive) and Kaiser Medical Center on the east side of town. Service begins at 6:00 AM and ends service at 5:57 PM on weekdays. On Saturdays, Route 1 begins service at 8:00 AM and ends at 5:57 PM. As noted above, the frequency is every 60 minutes, and only one bus serves the route. This route provides 12 vehicle service hours on an average weekday, and 10 on an average Saturday. Average weekday service miles total just over 120; average Saturday service miles are approximately 100. Route 2 starts at the Transportation Center, thenn heads west towards the Transit Plaza along Elmira Road. It serves City Hall, then Alamoo Elementary School and Willis Jepson Middle School, stops again at the Transit Plaza, then serves Browns Valley neighborhood. On weekdays, Route 2 begins service at 6:00 AM and ends at 6:22 PM. On Saturdays, Route 2 begins servicee at 7:52 AM and ends service at 5:52 PM. Two buses provide 30 minute service frequencies. Onn weekdays, the route operates for just over 25 vehicle service hours and 333 vehicle service miles. On Saturdays, the route operates 20 vehicle service hours and just over 260 miles. Working Paper 2: Route and Network Evaluation Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 3

10 During the school year, City Coach sends out one additional bus to complete one morning and one afternoon tripper run, for a total of 1.3 vehicle service hours per day. Route 4 serves the northeast end of town, including the Solano Community College Satellite Campus, Kaiser Hospital, and the State Fund (the State Fund stop is available by calling at least 15 minutes ahead). It also serves Vacaville Premium Outlets 1 and 2. Passengers can transfer between Route 1 and Route 4 at the Kaiser Hospital stop. Route 4 operates between 6:00 AM and 6:25 PM on weekdays, and between 8:00 AM and 5:55 PM on Saturdays, with 30 minute service frequencies on all days. Only one bus is needed to provide this level of service on Route 4. Route 4 runs for 12 service hours on a weekday and 10 service hours on a Saturday, and 215 service miles on a weekday, and 175 service miles on a Saturday. Route 5 serves the neighborhoods in the south of Vacaville. Route 5 stops at Walmart, then serves the western edge of Leisure Town, takes Nut Tree Road past the Vaca Valley Hospital south to Alamo Drive, where it then travels west, passing the Three Oaks Community Center and City Hall to stop at the Transit Plaza before turning around and returning to the Transportation Center along the same route. Route 5 also serves Vaca Pena Middle School and multiple elementary schools, although many of the elementary schools appear to be better served by Route 8. On weekdays Route 5 runs from 6:15 AM to 6:45 PM, and from 8:15 AM to 6:15 PM on Saturdays, with two buses providing 30 minute service frequencies. On an average weekday Route 5 provides 25 vehicle servicehours and 20 on an average Saturday. Average weekday service miles are almost 390, and just over 300 on a Saturday. City Coach also adds one tripper run to this route, which also serves as a tripper run for Route 8. As with Route 2, this tripper only operates during the school year. Route 6 serves the more central areas of Vacaville, stopping along Harbison Drive and at Safeway/Target, then the outlet stores (including the northwest corner of Leisure Town), Nut Tree Village, and the Markham neighborhood to the north before stopping at the Transit Plaza. The bus then returns to the Transportation Center, following the same route. Operating hours are from 6:00 AM to 6:24 PM on weekdays and 7:54 AM to 5:54 PM on Saturdays, with two buses providing 30 minute frequencies. Route 6 provides 25 vehicle service hours on an average weekday, and 20 on an average Saturday, and approximately 300 weekday service miles and 240 average Saturday service miles. Route 8, like Route 5, covers the south side of Vacaville, making a loop past multiple schools throughout the city. It departs directly south from the Transportation Center along Allison Drive to Aegean Way, then serves the southeast residential areas of Vacaville, heads north towards Will C. Wood High School to serve southwesterly residential neighborhoods, as well as the Brenden Theatres and the Transit Plaza. It then heads east, passing Will C. Wood High School again, to Aegean Way to return to the Transportation Center. Route 8 begins service at 6:00 AM and ends at 6:24 PM on Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 4

11 weekdays, and begins at 8:10 AM and ends at 6:10 AM on Saturdays, with two buses providing 30 minute headways. Like Routes 2, 5, and 6, Route 8 provides approximately 25 vehicle service hours on an average weekday and 20 on an average Saturday. Average weekday service miles are nearly 330, and 265 on a Saturday. As noted in the description for Route 5, there is one tripper run shared with Route 5. Paratransit service is also available for those people with certified disabilities as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act who are unable to use the fixed route service. Paratransit service is operated door to door over the same hours and days as the fixed route service. This service is labeled Special Services in Table 1. Special Services provide an average of 21 vehicle service hours on a weekday and 6 vehicle service hours on a Saturday and just over 260 vehicle service miles on an average weekday and 84 on an average Saturday. Special Services requires three buses on a weekday and one bus on a Saturday to operate. Vacaville s Taxi Scrip program allows qualified individuals the opportunity to use taxi services within Vacaville s City limits for half of the regular fare. To be qualified to use the Taxi Scrip program a participant must have a Solano County Paratransit ADA Eligibility Card. Taxi Scrip booklets can be purchased at Vacaville City Hall. Other Transit Services Fairfield and Suisun Transit (FAST) In addition to fixed route service throughout Fairfield and Suisun, FAST transit provides four express intercity routes. Three of these routes serve the City of Vacaville. Route 20 travels between Vacaville Transportation Center and Fairfield Transportation Center Monday through Saturday, serving Vacaville s Davis Street Park and Ride and the Solano Town Center in between. Service is hourly between 6:42 AM and 7:35 PM. Adult single ride fare is $2.75. Route 30 services are provided during morning and afternoon commute periods on weekdays, with one mid day run between Fairfield and Sacramento via Vacaville, Dixon and UC Davis. Stops include the Fairfield Transportation Center, Solano Town Center, Vacaville Transportation Center, Dixon Market Lane Park and Ride lot, the UC Davis campus, and downtown Sacramento. On Saturdays, there are three runs between 8:05 AM and 2:42 PM. Adult single ride fares are $2.75 or $5.75, depending on the length of the trip. Route 40 is a commuter service between Vacaville and the Walnut Creek BART station via Pleasant Hill BART, Benicia, and Fairfield. This service operates on weekdays only, and runs between Vacaville and Walnut Creek BART from 4:46 AM to 8:25 am in the morning (four runs) and 3:55 PM to 8:30 PM in the evening (six runs). Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 5

12 Table 1: Summary of City Coach Services Route Special Subtotal Services Total Scheduled Service Weekday Saturday Start of Service Start of Service 6:00 AM 8:00 AM 6:00 AM 7:52 AM 6:00 AM 8:00 AM 6:15 AM 8:15 AM 6:00 AM 7:54 AM 6:00 AM 8:10 AM 6:00 AM 8:00 AM End of Service End of Service 5:57 PM 5:57 PM 6:22 PM 5:52 PM 6:25 PM 5:55 PM 6:45 PM 6:15 PM 6:24 PM 5:24 PM 6:24 PM 6:10 AM 6:45 PM 6:15 PM Service Frequency Weekday (Minutes) Saturday # Buses in Weekday Operation Saturday Daily Vehicle Hours Weekday of Service 1 Saturday Daily Vehicle Miles Weekday , ,950 of Service 2 Saturday , ,427 Typical Tripper Service Daily Tripper Runs Daily Vehicle Hours # Buses in Operation Annual Days of Tripper Service Source: Vacaville City Coach. Does not operate on holidays. Note 1: Revenue Hours. Note 2: Revenue Miles. Note 3: Annual days students attend Vacaville Unified School District classes. There are two reverse commute runs between Walnut Creek BART and Vacaville in the morning and the evening. There are additional runs throughout the day between Walnut Creek BART and Fairfield that do not go all the way to Vacaville. Adult single ride fares are $2.75 or $5.75, depending on the length of the trip. City Coach Vehicle Utilization by Time of Day Table 2 shows the number of vehicles in operation throughout the day. On weekdays and Saturdays, ten vehicles are in operation for the bulk of the day. Between 1:45 PM and 2:15 PM on weekdays there is overlap between the morning and afternoon schedules for Route 5, so an eleventh bus is on the road during this window. There are also tripper runs during the early morning and mid afternoon, increasing the maximum number of buses in service at any one time on a weekday to twelve. On Saturdays, the schedule overlap does not occur, nor are there tripper runs, resulting in a maximum number of vehicles on the road at any one time of ten. City Coach also operates three Special Service (paratransit) vans on weekdays, and one on Saturdays during the scheduled start and end times of fixed route. There are exceptions throughout each day of service when the vehicles are out of service due to mandated breaks and lunches. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 6

13 TABLE 2: City Coach Vehicle Utilization by Time of Day Vehicle In Service Saturday Service Fixed Route Base Schedule Trippers Number of Fixed Route Buses # of Special Service Vans 15 Minutes Starting 1 2A 2B 4 5A am 5A pm 5B am 5B pm 6A 6B 8A 8B Weekday Base Trippers Weekday Total Sat urday Weekday 5:30 AM :45 AM :00 AM :15 AM :30 AM :45 AM :00 AM :15 AM :30 AM :45 AM :00 AM :15 AM :30 AM :45 AM :00 AM :15 AM :30 AM :45 AM :00 AM :15 AM :30 AM :45 AM :00 AM :15 AM :30 AM :45 AM :00 PM :15 PM :30 PM :45 PM :00 PM :15 PM :30 PM :45 PM :00 PM :15 PM :30 PM :45 PM :00 PM :15 PM :30 PM :45 PM :00 PM :15 PM :30 PM :45 PM :00 PM :15 PM :30 PM :45 PM :00 PM :15 PM :30 PM :45 PM :00 PM Saturday Source: City Coach Driver Run Sheets Note 1: Special service vehicle utilzation can vary by day. Data shown is for a typical day. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 7

14 Ridership Annual Ridership Table 3 and Figure 1 show ridership trends by fare category since Ridership as a whole was on an increasing trend between 2007 and 2014, growing by an average of about ten percent per year, and more than doubling between 2002 and 2014 (increasing from approximately 214,000 annual boardings in fiscal year 2002 to approximately 523,400 boardings in FY 2014). The largest increases in ridership occurred during the recession, in fiscal years 2008, 2009, 2010, and again in Ridership began to decline slightly starting in FY Between 2014 and 2017 ridership decreased by 15 percent. This trend is consistent with the general trend seen in similar transit systems around California, as well as nationwide. Special Services is a part of this overall ridership, and these numbers have also been increasing over the long term. Ridership on Special Services grew by twenty percent between fiscal years 2002 and 2017 (from 13,637 to over 16,000). Unlike the fixed routes, ridership on Special Services has not declined in recent years, but rather saw a 22 percent increase over the last ten years. One of Vacaville s performance metrics for transit is Annual Ridership Growth versus Area s Population Growth. 1 To meet the standard, ridership should grow at the same rate or greater than the area s population. Between 2000 and 2015 population grew by about 0.8 percent per year, while ridership during the same period grew approximately ten percent per year. On a year to year level, ridership changes are not as dramatically different from population changes. Between 2013 and 2014, Vacaville s population grew 0.6 percent, while ridership grew 4 percent. Between 2014 and 2015, Vacaville s population grew one percent, while ridership decreased by five percent. Annual Ridership by Fare Category Considering ridership by fare category, student ridership has increased dramatically compared to other fare categories. As shown in Table 3 and Figure 1, in fiscal year 2002, students generated 26 percent of all ridership (about half of the adult fare ridership). By 2017, the situation has reversed, with adult fares making up 30 percent of overall ridership, and students making up 47 percent of ridership. Overall student ridership increased by nearly 300 percent between 2002 and This trend is largely a consequence of the School District discontinuing general student school bus transportation in Paid transfers followed a similar trajectory as student ridership, increasing by over 300 percent between 2002 and Senior and disabled ridership more than doubled between 2002 and 2017, increasing from just over 33,600 to nearly 75,000. Between fiscal years 2014 and 2017 ridership dropped in all fare categories, as noted above. Between fiscal years 2016 and 2017, ridership in the senior/disabled fare category rose slightly, while dropping in all other fare categories. Between 2016 and 2017, free fares and free transfers dropped significantly, from over 115,600 in 2016 to under 76,000 in City of Vacaville Short Range Transit Plan, 2015, page 31. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 8

15 TABLE 3: Vacaville City Coach Annual Ridership by Service and Fare Category Fiscal Year Adult Student Fixed Route Ridership Senior/ Disabled Free/ Transfer Paid Transfer Subtotal Special Services TOTAL Adult Student Senior/ Disabled 2001/02 74,509 38,560 33,632 46,613 7, ,465 13, ,102 51% 26% 23% 2002/03 84,780 55,602 36,106 57,898 12, ,862 13, ,055 48% 32% 20% 2003/04 76,538 52,244 36,027 48,805 13, ,923 14, ,522 46% 32% 22% 2004/05 59,385 54,370 34,855 44,089 5, ,196 13, ,609 40% 37% 23% 2005/06 63,436 52,419 35,070 38,910 6, ,747 14, ,282 42% 35% 23% 2006/07 71,475 51,199 35,652 37,174 13, ,956 13, ,366 45% 32% 23% 2007/08 76,995 63,112 39,475 52,041 34, ,814 14, ,688 43% 35% 22% 2008/09 78,827 74,762 51,729 59,130 38, ,461 14, ,773 38% 36% 25% 2009/10 74,876 98,047 60,012 78,306 39, ,410 14, ,722 32% 42% 26% 2010/11 79, ,147 66,233 82,357 39, ,412 14, ,624 32% 42% 26% 2011/12 88, ,096 69, ,584 34, ,050 13, ,757 30% 46% 24% 2012/13 100, ,668 80, ,007 40, ,375 13, ,554 30% 47% 24% 2013/14 105, ,573 79, ,926 44, ,203 12, ,381 30% 47% 23% 2014/15 105, ,970 81,895 95,439 42, ,578 13, ,458 30% 46% 24% 2015/16 98, ,277 72, ,619 34, ,754 16, ,023 29% 50% 21% 2016/17 96, ,183 74,678 75,648 30, ,021 16, ,361 30% 47% 23% Source: Vacaville City Coach, Ci ty Coach Performance Data Proportion of Fixed Route by Passenger Type 600,000 Figure 1: Historical City Coach Annual Fixed Route Ridership 500,000 Adult Senior/Disabled Student Free or Transfer Annual Passenger Boardings 400, , , ,000 0 Fiscal Year Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 9

16 Annual Ridership by Route Table 4 and Figure 2 show the changes in annual ridership by route over the most recent fiveyear timeframe. Ridership highs and lows have varied by route, although all routes experienced a five year low in 2016/2017, the most recent year for which data is available. Route 1 has experienced the most significant loss in ridership, with boardings steadily decreasing since 2012/2013. Route 1 was restructured into the Leisure Town connect service in January 2015 making it the deviated Route. Prior to 2015 it was a regular fixed route. Over the five year period, ridership fell 56 percent on Route 1. Ridership on Route 5 followed a similar trend, dropping for two years until 2015/2016, when boardings increased three percent over the previous year. In 2016/2017, however, boardings on Route 5 dropped nine percent from the previous year, for an overall drop of 16 percent over the five year period. Ridership on Route 4 was on an increasing trend until the most recent year, when it dropped 20 percent from the previous year. Over the five year period, however, Route 4 has only lost one percent of its ridership. Routes 2, 6, and 8 experienced ten percent, five percent, and eleven percent reductions in ridership over the five year period, respectively, with Route 8 having its highest ridership year in 2014/2015. Most other routes experienced lower ridership that year. Ridership on Special Services, in contrast to the other routes, has been steadily growing since 2012/2013, and has increased 26 percent over that time. Overall, the entire system has lost twelve percent of ridership over the last five years. Ridership by Month Table 5 and Figure 3 show fluctuations in ridership by month and route throughout Routes 2, 4, 5, 6, and 8, which serve schools, experienced a significant dip in ridership during the summer months of June and July, with July being the lowest. For Route 5, July was 82 percent of average ridership. In August ridership on these routes began to increase, peaking in September (in September ridership on Route 5 was 110 percent of average), and then falling slightly in December and January. In March, April, and May ridership rose again, but did not reach quite September levels, with the exception of Route 8, which had the same ridership in May and September of Route 4, which serves Vaca Valley and Airport Business Parks and Kaiser Permanente Medical Center also experienced a ridership dip in the summer and the winter. December and July were the lowest ridership months for Route 4, with 84 percent of average ridership in December and 85 percent of average ridership in July. April was the highest ridership month for Route 4, with ridership at 117 percent of average. Route 1, which serves Leisure Town, had its peak ridership in May, with 194 percent of average, and its lowest ridership in October, with 66 percent of average. Ridership on Special Services did not fluctuate very much over the months, although it did experience its lowest ridership levels in July, similar to most of the fixed route services. While Routes 5, 6, 8, and 2 appear in Figure 3 to have fluctuated significantly over the year, Route 1, with its lower ridership, actually showed the greatest fluctuations. Between its highest and lowest month, ridership on Route 1 fluctuated 128 percentage points. Routes with the least fluctuation between the highest and lowest ridership months included Special Services, with Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 10

17 Table 4: Annual Ridership by Route Fixed Route Special Fiscal Year Subtotal Services Total 2012/13 27,276 80,825 34, , ,416 87, ,861 12, , /14 24,960 90,674 36, , ,809 99, ,129 12, , /15 21,731 78,920 35, , , , ,817 13, , /16 16,752 81,591 41, , ,032 90, ,764 16, , /17 12,012 73,038 33, , ,316 78, ,529 16, ,869 Percent Change 2012/13 to 2013/14 8% 12% 6% 3% 4% 14% 2% 6% 2% 2013/14 to 2014/15 13% 13% 1% 7% 0% 3% 5% 14% 4% 2014/15 to 2015/16 23% 3% 17% 3% 9% 13% 1% 17% 1% 2015/16 to 2016/17 28% 10% 20% 9% 9% 13% 12% 0% 11% 2012/13 to % 10% 1% 16% 5% 11% 13% 26% 12% Source: Vacaville City Coach, Contractor Monthly Reports 180,000 Figure 2: Ridership by Route 5 Year History 160, , ,000 Annual Boardings 100,000 80,000 60,000 Route 8 Route 6 Route 5 Route 4 Route 2 Route 1 Special Services 40,000 20, / / / / /17 Fiscal Year Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 11

18 Table 5: Ridership by Route by Month Calendar Year 2016 Route Special Month Subtotal Services Total January 1,298 7,310 3,037 11,497 9,532 7,353 40,027 1,338 41,365 February 1,240 6,895 3,378 11,448 9,528 7,708 40,197 1,344 41,541 March 1,406 7,457 3,620 11,851 10,301 8,115 42,750 1,429 44,179 April 1,384 7,853 3,711 12,220 9,435 8,173 42,776 1,342 44,118 May 2,612 7,911 3,254 11,775 9,644 8,244 43,440 1,418 44,858 June 1,202 3,515 2,832 9,806 7,623 4,842 29,820 1,399 31,219 July 1,035 2,978 2,693 9,375 7,317 4,112 27,510 1,215 28,725 August 1,252 5,730 3,109 11,864 10,233 6,371 38,559 1,488 40,047 September 1,042 8,402 3,374 12,527 10,825 8,244 44,414 1,407 45,821 October 884 7,746 3,340 12,403 10,555 7,781 42,709 1,439 44,148 November 1,466 6,099 3,176 11,223 9,284 6,609 37,857 1,389 39,246 December 1,321 6,169 2,682 11,001 9,330 6,098 36,601 1,303 37,904 Percent of Average 1,345 6,505 3,184 11,416 9,467 6,971 38,888 1,376 40,264 January 96% 112% 95% 101% 101% 105% 103% 97% 103% February 92% 106% 106% 100% 101% 111% 103% 98% 103% March 105% 115% 114% 104% 109% 116% 110% 104% 110% April 103% 121% 117% 107% 100% 117% 110% 98% 110% May 194% 122% 102% 103% 102% 118% 112% 103% 111% June 89% 54% 89% 86% 81% 69% 77% 102% 78% July 77% 46% 85% 82% 77% 59% 71% 88% 71% August 93% 88% 98% 104% 108% 91% 99% 108% 99% September 77% 129% 106% 110% 114% 118% 114% 102% 114% October 66% 119% 105% 109% 111% 112% 110% 105% 110% November 109% 94% 100% 98% 98% 95% 97% 101% 97% December 98% 95% 84% 96% 99% 87% 94% 95% 94% Source: Vacaville City Coach only 20 percentage points difference between the high in August and the low in July, and Route 5, with a 28 percentage point difference. Ridership by Day of Week Ridership by day of week was evaluated during the month of May 2017, and is illustrated in Table 6 and Figure 4. During May, ridership was fairly evenly distributed across the weekdays: while ridership was highest on Monday, it was only 3 percent higher than the average of all weekdays. Ridership on Saturdays was significantly lower for all routes, including Special Services. Routes 5 and Routes 8 had the least fluctuation in ridership among weekdays, with only seven and nine percentage point differences, respectively, between the highest weekday and lowest weekday. Route 4, however, experienced significant fluctuations throughout the week, with Monday at 166 percent of average, while Tuesday through Friday was at 75 to 94 percent of average. Saturday was the lowest ridership day for all the routes. Route 1 had the highest percent of average Saturday ridership, at 66 percent, with Routes 5 and 6 next, at 45 and 50 percent of average, respectively. Routes 2, 4, 8 and Special Services all had similar percentages of average on Saturdays between 24 and 28 percent. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 12

19 14,000 Figure 3: Monthly Ridership by Route Monthly Boardings 12,000 10,000 8,000 6,000 Route 8 Route 6 Route 5 Route 4 Route 2 Route 1 Special Services 4,000 2,000 0 Month Table 6: Typical Ridership Variation by Day of Week May, 2017 Route Special Subtotal Services Total Monday , ,889 Tuesday , ,813 Wednesday , ,818 Thursday , ,825 Friday , ,800 Saturday Percentage of Average Weekday Ridership Monday 102% 103% 166% 99% 92% 99% 103% 101% 103% Tuesday 81% 106% 81% 101% 98% 96% 98% 108% 99% Wednesday 109% 85% 84% 103% 107% 105% 99% 99% 99% Thursday 104% 104% 94% 96% 102% 100% 100% 100% 100% Friday 104% 102% 75% 101% 100% 101% 99% 92% 98% Saturday 66% 26% 28% 45% 50% 24% 38% 28% 37% Source: Vacaville City Coach Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 13

20 Figure 4: Route Ridership by Day of Week 600 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Boardings Route Number The ratio of Saturday ridership to weekday ridership was also compared across all months, for all routes, as shown in Table 7. On some routes, the ratio of Saturday to weekday ridership stayed fairly steady throughout the year, but on some routes it changed significantly, depending on the month. Summing ridership on all routes, the summer months had the highest ratio of Saturday to weekday ridership, between 51 and 55 percent, reflecting the times that school was not in session, followed by February, at 50 percent. November has the lowest Saturday to weekday ridership at 36 percent. Saturday to weekday ridership ratios did not fluctuate very much throughout the year on Routes 4, 5 and 8. The ratio of Saturday to weekday ridership stayed between 27 and 39 percent throughout the year on Route 4, between 45 and 64 percent on Route 5, and between 25 and 57 percent on Route 8. Routes with more fluctuation of Saturday to weekday ridership throughout the year include Routes 1, 2 and 6. For example, in July, the ratio of Saturday ridership to weekday ridership on Route 2 was 78 percent. August and June were also high at 46 and 52 percent, respectively. For all other months, Saturday ridership fluctuated between 23 and 36 percent of weekday ridership, reflecting high weekday ridership when school is in session. Route 6 showed a similar pattern. However, Route 1 showed Saturdays in December having the highest ratio to weekday ridership, at 76 percent. Other months with high ratios of Saturday to weekday ridership on Route 1 were January through June, and also August, with Saturday ridership fluctuating between 60 and 69 percent of weekday ridership, indicating that there is less commute and student ridership on Route 1. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 14

21 Table 7: Average Daily Ridership by Route by Month Weekday vs. Saturday Fiscal Year 2016/17 Route Subtotal Average Weekday Ridership July August September October November December January February March April May June Average Saturday Ridership July August September October November December January February March April May June Ratio of Saturday to Weekday Ridership July 47% 78% 28% 61% 50% 57% 55% August 68% 46% 27% 60% 55% 40% 51% September 52% 23% 31% 60% 47% 34% 42% October 49% 25% 39% 60% 47% 29% 43% November 31% 30% 31% 45% 38% 29% 36% December 76% 31% 39% 50% 49% 36% 44% January 64% 32% 29% 55% 58% 34% 46% February 68% 36% 31% 64% 60% 36% 50% March 60% 23% 29% 49% 57% 30% 41% April 68% 28% 33% 54% 52% 35% 44% May 69% 27% 35% 47% 52% 25% 40% June 62% 52% 28% 56% 72% 39% 54% Source: Contractor Monthly Reports 2016/17 Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 15

22 Ridership by Fare Type by Route City Coach has a variable fare structure for different types of riders, including adults, seniors, disabled, and youth. There are also a variety of pass types available. The fare structure is shown in the top row of Table 8. Single ride fares are $1.50 for the general public, $1.25 for students (youth aged 6 18), and $0.75 for seniors (age 65 and above)/disabled. Children under 5 with a fare paying adult are free. Because of the different ridership characteristics of each route, the fares collected vary by route, and overall fares may not be proportional to overall ridership. Table 8 shows the overall ridership by fare type by route for the month of May 2017, and the associated fares collected for each fare type. Overall, the largest group is student pass holders, with over 12,000 boardings making up approximately 30 percent of total ridership. Next largest is students purchasing single rides, at around eleven percent of total rides. Senior and disabled pass holders as well as adult singleride fares are both at around ten percent of total rides. Day passes make up a relatively small number of overall rides, at 1.5 percent for both adult and senior day pass rides. About eight percent of rides overall were Day Pass Free. By route, the proportion of different fare types reflects the geographic coverage of the route. On Route 1, which serves Leisure Town, senior and disabled pass holders make up the largest percentage of riders, at 33 percent of total rides. These riders generated approximately $200 in fares in May of 2017, around 40 percent of total fares for that route. Other ridership groups of moderate proportion were adult single ride fare (seven percent), senior/disabled single ride fare (eleven percent), adult pass holders (twelve percent), transfers (ten percent), and persons boarding for free such as children (eleven percent). Overall, seniors made up 48 percent of boarding s on Route 1. Student fares made up very little of the ridership, with less than 3 percent. Ridership on Routes 2 and 8 are heavily oriented towards students. Route 2 serves Willis Jepson Middle School and Vacaville High School, as well as three elementary schools. Route 8 serves Vaca Pena Middle School, Will C. Wood High, and Buckingham Charter High and numerous elementary schools. Both Route 2 and Route 8 serve the downtown where most of the social services are located. On Route 2, student pass holders made up 52 percent of ridership, and student single ride fares made up 14 percent of ridership, totaling 66 percent of overall ridership. On Route 8, student pass holders made up 39 percent of ridership, and student single ride fares made up 11 percent, for a total of 50 percent student ridership on this route. Adult pass holders were the next largest ridership groups on these routes, at 6 percent for Route 2 and 8 percent for Route 8. Seniors and disabled riders were 8 percent of the total for Route 2 and 12 percent of the total on Route 8. Transfers were relatively low on these routes, at 3 percent for Route 2 and 6 percent for Route 8. The proportion of fare revenue collected from students was quite high on both of these routes 76 percent on Route 2 and 63 percent on Route 8. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 16

23 TABLE 8: Typical Ridership by Fare Type by Route May, 2017 TRSF/ FIELD DAY Route PASS ADULT E & D STUD. TRSF CHILD DAY Sr DAY TRIP PASS $ 1.50 $ 0.75 $ 1.25 $ 0.15 FREE ADULT E & D STUD. $3.25 $2.00 SUMMER $ 0.25 FREE TOTAL LIFTS , , , , , , ,106 1,427 1, ,103 11, , , , , , Subtotal 3,618 1,705 4,440 2,064 3,236 3,611 3,870 12, ,138 39,087 1,308 Special Svcs 1,387 Total 40,474 Percent by Fare type 1 7.4% 11.4% 1.0% 9.7% 11.0% 11.8% 33.4% 1.9% 0.6% 3.0% 0.0% 0.0% 8.8% 100.0% 42.7% 2 3.3% 1.5% 14.0% 3.4% 6.7% 6.1% 6.7% 52.2% 1.0% 0.9% 0.0% 0.2% 4.0% 100.0% 0.8% % 3.4% 4.8% 13.8% 10.3% 14.1% 9.7% 20.6% 0.7% 0.7% 0.0% 0.0% 9.0% 100.0% 3.0% % 6.1% 13.2% 4.6% 7.1% 10.0% 12.9% 17.9% 2.0% 1.6% 0.0% 0.0% 10.0% 100.0% 4.5% % 5.4% 10.0% 4.2% 9.5% 10.4% 7.4% 27.9% 2.0% 1.9% 0.0% 1.6% 9.6% 100.0% 2.4% 8 5.3% 2.9% 11.1% 6.0% 9.0% 7.8% 9.3% 39.1% 0.8% 1.3% 0.0% 0.7% 6.8% 100.0% 0.9% Total 9.3% 4.4% 11.4% 5.3% 8.3% 9.2% 9.9% 30.8% 1.5% 1.5% 0.0% 0.5% 8.0% 100.0% 3.3% Total Fare Revenues 1 $98 $75 $11 $13 $0 $72 $204 $12 $3 $18 $0 $0 $0 $506 2 $372 $89 $1,330 $39 $0 $325 $359 $2,780 $51 $47 $0 $3 $0 $5,394 4 $503 $65 $154 $54 $0 $255 $175 $372 $13 $12 $0 $0 $0 $1,601 5 $2,435 $504 $1,833 $77 $0 $773 $997 $1,382 $157 $124 $0 $0 $0 $8,281 6 $1,437 $386 $1,204 $61 $0 $700 $494 $1,875 $134 $130 $0 $38 $0 $6,460 8 $584 $160 $1,019 $66 $0 $398 $476 $2,001 $42 $67 $0 $12 $0 $4,824 Subtotal $5,427 $1,279 $5,550 $310 $0 $2,524 $2,705 $8,421 $400 $398 $0 $54 $0 $27,067 Special Svcs $2,710 Total $35,023 Source: Vacaville City Coach Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 17

24 Routes 4, 5, and 6 had a more even distribution of rider fare types, although student ridership was still the largest proportion. Route 4 serves Vaca Valley Business Park and skirts Golden Hills Industrial Park. It also serves Kaiser Medical Center. Students (both pass holders and single ride fares) made up 25 percent of ridership on this route, followed by adult pass holders (14 percent), then adult single ride fares (13 percent). Elderly and disabled made up 13 percent of total ridership. On Route 6, which serves downtown and the high school, students were 28 percent of total ridership. Route 5, which makes a wide loop through the south of town including stops at both transit centers had the least variation among ridership groups, with a relatively small proportion of student pass holder ridership (18 percent). Adult ridership was similar on all three of these routes between 20 and 27 percent (both single ride fares and pass holders). Senior and disabled ridership varied a bit more, from a low of 8 percent on Route 4 to 13 percent on Route 5 to 19 percent on Route 6. Overall, fare revenue collected from students (pass holder and single ride fares) was 50 percent of the total fare revenue for the system in May of Passengers Using Lift Table 8 also documents the number of persons boarding using the wheelchair lift by route in May 2017, which is overall fairly high. Note that the lift is deployed for any passenger needing to use it (regardless of whether they are also using a wheelchair or not). Interestingly, rides that required use of the wheelchair lift made up 43 percent of rides on Route 1. The next highest was Route 5, with 4.5 percent of rides requiring wheelchair lifts followed by 3.0 percent on Route 4, 2.4 percent on Route 6, 0.9 percent on Route 8 and 0.8 percent on Route 2. Deploying the lift can significantly impact on time performance, particularly if multiple deployments occur along a single run. Operating Cost Model Expenses related to the operations of City Coach for FY are presented in Table 9. This table includes operating costs for fixed route, demand response, and taxi scrip services, as well as the cost of purchased transportation from First Transit. To evaluate performance of City Coach at the route level, a cost model for FY was developed. As shown in the table, each expense item in the FY budget is allocated to that quantity on which it is most dependent. Maintenance costs, for example, are allocated to vehicle service miles. This provides a more accurate estimate of costs than a simple total cost per vehicle hour factor, which does not vary with the differing miles per hour between routes. City Coach has two cost model equations, one for fixed route and one for demand response. Fixed Route Operating Cost = $27.00 x revenue vehicle hours + $0.40 x revenue vehicle miles + $878,864 x ratio of route revenue vehicle hours to total revenue vehicle hours 3 3 Includes Special Services (Demand Response) Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 18

25 Demand Response Operating Cost = $32.05 x revenue vehicle hours + $1.00 x revenue vehicle miles + $878,864 x ratio of route revenue vehicle hours to total revenue vehicle hours 4 TABLE 9: Vacaville City Coach FY 2016/17 Cost Model Cost Variable TOTAL Fixed Route Demand Response Taxi Scrip Excluding Purchased Transportation Management Labor Fixed $93,894 $79,976 $7,072 $6,846 Management Fringe Benefits Fixed $71,896 $55,494 $8,660 $7,742 Vehicle Maintenance Services (1) Vehicle Miles $75,409 $49,524 $25,885 $0 Other Services Fixed $157,248 $123,480 $33,768 $0 Fuel and Lubricants Vehicle Miles $194,157 $152,943 $41,214 $0 Other Materials and Supplies Fixed $14,029 $13,914 $0 $115 Utilities, Other Fixed $24,486 $23,336 $1,150 $0 Casualty and Liability Vehicle Hours $150,468 $106,834 $43,634 $0 Interest Expense Fixed $606 $606 $0 $0 Leases and Rentals Fixed $4,947 $4,947 $0 $0 Other Fixed $7,193 $7,061 $132 $0 Total $794,333 $618,115 $161,515 $14,703 Subtotal by Cost Allocation Variable Vehicle Hours $150,468 $106,834 $43,634 $0 Vehicle Miles $269,566 $202,467 $67,099 $0 Fixed $374,299 $308,814 $50,782 $14,703 Annual Service Quantities Revenue Vehicle Hours 37,148 5,500 Revenue Vehicle Miles $504,644 $67,100 Unit Costs Excluding Purchased Transportation Revenue Vehicle Hours $2.88 $7.93 Revenue Vehicle Miles $0.40 $1.00 Purchased Transportation 2016/17 First Transit Rates Variable Revenue Vehicle Hours $24.12 $24.12 Fixed $504,565 Total Cost Equation Revenue Vehicle Hours $27.00 $32.05 Revenue Vehicle Miles $0.40 $1.00 Fixed $878,864 Source: Vacaville City Coach, MTC Claim Application, Document F(a), Operating Expenses and Revenues, FY , referencing FY , adjusted. Note 1: Reflects offsetting revenues from IRS Alternative Fuels rebates. These equations can also be used to estimate the cost of any changes in service, such as the operation of additional routes or changes in service span. It will be used as part of this study to evaluate the cost impacts of service alternatives. It should be noted that the cost model does not include depreciation or capital items (such as vehicle purchases) made during the fiscal year. 4 Includes Fixed Route Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 19

26 Estimated Revenues Table 10 shows the estimated revenues for the City Coach system for fiscal year Fares, including taxi scrip and Special Services make up 20 percent of total revenues. Federal Transit Administration Section 5307 funds provide 39 percent of revenues, and Transportation Development Act funds provide the remaining 41 percent. TABLE 10: City Coach FY 2016/17 Estimated Revenues Fares Fixed Route $336,437 14% Special Services $32,174 1% Taxi Scrip $109,290 5% FTA Section 5307 Urbanized Area Formula Grants $928,605 39% Tranportation Development Act $958,003 41% Other $789 0% TOTAL $2,365, % Source: FY Application Workbook Operator Contract The City of Vacaville has a five year base contract with First Transit, Inc. to operate the fixed route and paratransit service, with options for three auditioned single year term for a potential eight year long contract. The contract term is for the period of August 1, 2016 July 31, As shown in Table 9, for fiscal year 2017 Vacaville paid First Transit $24.12 per revenue vehiclehour and $504,565 in fixed costs. In each year of the contract both the cost per vehicle hour and fixed costs change. In most years the costs increase but between 2017 and 2018 the cost per hour decreases by one percent. Between 2017 and 2019 the changes in cost vary from negative one percent to seven percent per year, but starting in 2021 both the cost per vehiclehour and the fixed costs increase by three percent. The City of Vacaville provides the vehicles used in operation of the transit service. The City of Vacaville is responsible for maintenance of these vehicles and other equipment used to operate the service. Performance Analysis by Route The cost model was used to estimate costs for each route. Comparing the costs to route statistics such as vehicle revenue hours, vehicle revenue miles, and overall ridership results in performance data that illustrates how routes are performing in comparison to each other and to established performance metrics. Route statistics and performance outcomes are shown in Table 11. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 20

27 TABLE 11: City Coach Route Performance Analysis Fiscal Year Input Data Route Total Miles Revenue Miles Total Hours Revenue Hours Variable Annual Operating Cost Allocated Fixed (1) Total Allocated Passengers Fare Revenues Marginal Annual Operating Subsidy Total Allocated 1 36,429 35,865 3,631 3,584 $111,132 $73,534 $184,666 12,012 $5,520 $105,612 $179, ,785 98,655 7,566 7,407 $239,535 $151,984 $391,518 73,038 $34,458 $205,077 $357, ,197 64,917 3,773 3,721 $126,492 $76,349 $202,842 33,677 $17,094 $109,398 $185, , ,562 7,833 7,578 $250,941 $155,497 $406, ,198 $85,983 $164,958 $320, ,736 90,077 7,551 7,391 $235,673 $151,664 $387, ,316 $63,192 $172,480 $324, ,220 98,964 7,515 7,378 $238,892 $151,401 $390,292 78,288 $38,956 $199,936 $351,337 Subtotal: Fixed Route 521, ,040 37,869 37,059 $1,202,664 $760,429 $1,963, ,529 $245,203 $957,461 $1,717,890 Special Services 81,225 72,454 6,381 5,772 $257,461 $118,435 $375,896 16,340 $53,332 $204,128 $322,563 TOTAL 603, ,494 44,249 42,831 $1,460,125 $878,864 $2,338, ,869 $298,536 $1,161,589 $2,040,453 Performance Analysis Passengers Cost per Passenger Subsidy per Passenger Farebox Recovery per Vehicle Total Total Total Route Hour Marginal Allocated Marginal Allocated Marginal Allocated $9.25 $15.37 $8.79 $ % 3% $3.28 $5.36 $2.81 $ % 9% $3.76 $6.02 $3.25 $ % 8% $1.94 $3.15 $1.28 $ % 21% $2.16 $3.54 $1.58 $ % 16% $3.05 $4.99 $2.55 $ % 10% Subtotal: Fixed 11.8 $2.76 $4.51 $2.20 $3.94 Route 20% 12% Special Services 2.8 $15.76 $23.00 $12.49 $ % 14% TOTAL 10.6 $3.23 $5.18 $2.57 $ % 13% Source: Contractor Monthly Reports Note 1: Allocated on proportion of revenue hours. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 21

28 Route 5 is the busiest of the City s routes, with the highest vehicle revenue miles (just over 115,500 per year), the highest vehicle revenue hours (almost 7,600 in fiscal year ) and the highest passenger load (at just over 129,000 passengers). Because of high fare revenues on this route, it had a lower operating subsidy than three other routes. Routes 1 and 4 had the lowest vehicle revenue hours, at approximately 3,600 and 3,700, respectively. Route 4, however, had significantly more vehicle revenue miles, approximately 65,000 compared to Route 1 s 36,000 miles. Routes 1 and 4 had the lowest overall cost and lowest operating subsidy of all the routes, while Route 1 had the lowest passenger loads of all the routes (at just over 12,000 annual passengers). Routes 2, 6, and 8 had similar route statistics among the three routes, with 90,000 to 100,000 revenue miles each, and approximately 7,400 revenue hours each. Routes 2, 5, 6, and 8 all had annual operating costs near the $400,000 mark, while Routes 1 and 4 were both near $200,000. Of the six routes, Route 2 had the highest marginal operating subsidy, at just over $205,000, with Route 8 close behind at nearly $200,000. Special Services operated almost 72,500 revenue miles and 5,800 revenue hours for a total cost of nearly $376,000. Several performance indicators measure City Coach s efficiency and effectiveness, as shown in the lower portion of Table 11 and in Figure 5: Passengers per vehicle hour indicates how many passengers are riding a route per revenue hour of service provided. This measure is also referred to as the productivity of a transit route. Route 5 had the highest passengers per hour at 17.0, followed by Route 6, at Routes 2, 4 and 8 had similar passengers per hour levels, between 9.1 and Route 1 had the lowest passengers per hour for fixed route at 3.4. The passengers per vehicle hour for the entire fixed route system was 11.8, very close to Vacaville s performance standards of 12 passengers per vehicle hour. The figure for Special Services was 2.8, slightly better than the standard of Two cost efficiency measures, marginal operating cost per passenger and marginal operating subsidy per passenger illustrate different aspects of performance. Marginal operating cost per passenger considers the cost of a route compared to ridership. Marginal operating subsidy also compares the cost of a route to ridership, but it subtracts the fare revenues received from total cost. Marginal operating cost, as compared to total allocated costs does not include fixed costs in the equation. Thus, marginal cost represents only the additional cost of running a route, assuming that fixed operating costs remain the same regardless of how many routes are operating and at what level of service. For City Coach in fiscal year 2017, Route 5 had the lowest marginal operating cost per passenger and lowest marginal operating subsidy per passenger, $1.94 and $1.28, respectively. Special Services had the highest, at $15.76 and $12.49, respectively. Of the fixed route services, Route 1 performed the worst on cost and subsidy per passenger, with a marginal cost of $9.25 per passenger and a marginal subsidy of $8.79 per passenger Vacaville Short Range Transit Plan, page 23. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 22

29 Passengers per Revenue Vehicle Hour FIGURE 5: City Coach Performance by Route 3.4 Passengers per Revenue Vehicle Hour Total Fixed Rts 2.8 Special Marginal Operating Cost per Passenger $18.00 $16.00 $14.00 $12.00 $10.00 $8.00 $6.00 $4.00 $2.00 $0.00 $9.25 Marginal Operating Cost per Passenger $3.28 $3.76 $1.94 $2.16 $3.05 $ Total Fixed Rts $15.76 Special Marginal Operating Subsidy per Passenger Marginal Operating Subsidy per Passenger $14.00 $12.00 $10.00 $8.00 $6.00 $4.00 $2.00 $0.00 $8.79 $2.81 $3.25 $1.28 $1.58 $2.55 $ Total Fixed Rts $12.49 Special Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 23

30 Routes 2, 4, and 8 all had similar marginal costs per passenger (between $3.00 and $4.00) and marginal subsidies (between $2.55 and $3.25). The overall operating cost per passenger for fixed route was $2.76, better than the performance standard of $5.00 per passenger. The standard for Dial a Ride is $32.00 per passenger, which easily met by the Special Services cost of $15.76 per passenger. Two other performance measures related to cost are total allocated cost per passenger, and total allocated subsidy per passenger. Like the marginal cost measure, they compare cost of service to overall ridership levels. Unlike the marginal cost measures, however, allocated costs distribute fixed costs among the routes (based on the proportion of revenue vehicle hours operated on each route). The differences in allocated cost per passenger and allocated subsidy per passenger by route directly corresponded to the differences by route in marginal costs and subsidy, with Route 5 being the lowest at $3.15 total allocated cost per passenger and $2.48 allocated subsidy, and Special Services being the highest, at $23.00 and $ Finally, Vacaville sets a standard of a 20 percent farebox recovery rate for fixed route services, and a 10 percent recovery rate for Dial A Ride, including taxi scrip. Systemwide, the marginal farebox recovery rate is 20 percent for fixed route, and 21 percent for Special Services. Route 5 has the highest marginal farebox recovery rate at 34 percent, and Route 1 has the lowest, at 5 percent. Routes 5 and 6 along with the Special Services meet the current performance standard on a marginal basis, while the remainder of the fixed routes do not. Productivity by Route by Month Because students make up such a large portion of City Coach s ridership, the performance of many of City Coach s routes varies over the year, with large drops in productivity during the summer, when school is out of session. Table 12 shows the monthly productivity of the routes for calendar year Productivity for the most part mirrors overall ridership trends by month. Of all the routes, Routes 2 and 8 showed the most notable drop of this kind. During the summer months of June and July, passenger boardings per revenue hour on Route 2 was slightly less than half of what it was during the other months, dropping from an average of 11.5 boardings per hour to an average of 5.3. Changes in productivity on Route 8 were slightly less dramatic, dropping from an average of 12.8 passenger boardings per hour in the winter, spring and fall, to 7.4 during June and July. During the month of August and also the winter months of November and December (when students have quite a few vacation days), the average boardings per hour fell to 10.4 on Route 8. Routes 4 and 5 showed the least change during the summer, with summer boardings per hour at 87 and 84 percent of average, respectively. Productivity on Route 6 dropped to 79 percent of average during July. Route 1 did not show the same school year pattern, experiencing the lowest productivity in the month of October, and the highest in the month of May. Special Services does not show a particular pattern, with boardings per hour ranging between 2.6 and 3.1 throughout the year. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 24

31 Table 12: City Coach Productivity by Route by Month Calendar Year 2016 Passenger Boardings per Revenue Vehicle Hour Route Month Subtotal Special Services January February March April May June July August September October November December City Coach Fleet City Coach has 25 vehicles in its fleet. The fixed route fleet vehicles are all relatively new (model year 2009 or newer). All vehicles are equipped with at least two wheelchair positions and racks for two bicycles. The primary vehicles in the fleet are New Flyers, operating on compressed natural gas, with seating for 30 passengers. The other two types of vehicles in the fleet are 8 passenger ARBOC Spirit shuttles and Chevrolet 4500 shuttles, all gas powered. There are 7 shuttles and 18 full sized buses. The fleet is listed in Table 13. Driver Shifts As of June 2017, Vacaville s service contractor employed 28 drivers, with 4 open shifts, for a total of 32 driver shifts. Twenty seven shifts work between 24 and 40 hours per week. The remaining shifts work between 15 and 24 hours. One shift is hours when school is in session, and hours when school is not in session. Shift legs are between two and six hours long. When drivers have shift legs over five hours long, they often have a scheduled, paid 30 minute meal period during the leg, but not always. By California law drivers may not work for more than five hours without a meal period of at least 30 minutes, except when a shift leg of no more than six hours will complete the day s work and the meal period is waived by mutual consent of the employer and the employee. Some of the shift legs shorter than five hours also include scheduled 30 minute breaks. Drivers are also Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 25

32 TABLE 13: City Coach Vehicle Fleet ID Number Make Year Model Fuel Seating Capacity Wheelchair Positions Bike Capacity Length (Feet) Replacement Year 921 New Flyer 2009 C35LF CNG New Flyer 2009 C35LF CNG New Flyer 2009 C35LF CNG New Flyer 2009 C35LF CNG New Flyer 2009 C35LF CNG New Flyer 2009 C35LF CNG New Flyer 2009 C35LF CNG New Flyer 2009 C35LF CNG New Flyer 2009 C35LF CNG New Flyer 2009 C35LF CNG New Flyer 2010 C35LFR CNG New Flyer 2010 C35LFR CNG New Flyer 2010 C35LFR CNG New Flyer 2010 C35LFR CNG New Flyer 2010 C35LFR CNG New Flyer 2013 Xcelsior CNG New Flyer 2013 Xcelsior CNG New Flyer 2013 Xcelsior CNG Starcraft 2008 AllStar Type II Gas Starcraft 2008 AllStar Type II Gas ARBOC 2014 Spirit Gas ARBOC 2014 Spirit Gas ARBOC 2014 Spirit Gas Chevrolet Gas Chevrolet Gas authorized and required to take a 10 minute paid break in the middle of every four hour work period. Unpaid lunch breaks are 45 minutes to two hours long. There are also several positions that have a mix of short shift legs (45 minutes to just over two hours) and short, unpaid breaks (generally 5 to 30 minutes). These drivers are providing lunch and break relief throughout the day to other drivers, and are also driving tripper routes. Route Interlining Interlining is the practice of operating individual buses on more than one route (typically alternating between routes). This strategy can improve on time reliability (by pairing a route that sometimes runs behind schedule with one that has a relatively slack schedule) and can be a convenience for passengers if there is a strong pattern of transfers between two routes. City Coach interlines two routes, Routes 2 and 8, Monday through Saturday. On weekdays, interlining begins after the second morning run on each route. On Saturdays, the two routes are interlined for the entire length of service. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 26

33 Transfer Opportunities at the Transportation Center and Transit Plaza The current City Coach route schedule is designed around key transfer opportunities at the Transportation Center and the Transit Plaza. Table 14 shows when the buses on the individual routes are at the two transfer points over the course of each hour, indicating visually when transfers can be conveniently made between the various routes. At the Transportation Center, key transfer times occur at the top and the bottom of each hour, when buses on Routes 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8 are all on site and passengers can thus directly transfer from one bus to another. Route 5 is offset from the other routes by roughly 15 minutes, indicating that a 15 minute wait at the Transportation Center is required for any transfer in both directions to and from Route 5. Direct transfers are scheduled at the Transit Plaza between Route 2 (in the westbound direction) and Route 8. This provides convenient service from the southern portions of Vacaville served by Route 8 and the western portion of Vacaville served by Route 2, though there is a long wait at the Transit Plaza in the opposite direction. There is also a very short wait between Route 2 in the eastbound direction and Route 6. Route 5 passengers have relatively short waits (less than 10 minutes) when transferring to the other three routes in one direction, but long waits in the opposite direction. Existing Travel Times and Transfer Requirements The existing schedule was analyzed to identify the minimum in vehicle travel time needed to complete trips between various zones in the transit service area 6. Table 15 presents these travel times, as well as the need to transfer between buses (indicated by a T ) as well as the frequency of service (indicated by shading). As shown, many of the individual trips require 30 to 60 minutes to complete, with the longest travel time needed for a trip between the westernmost portion of the service area on Route 2 (such as Alamo Drive/Buck Avenue) and the easternmost portion on Route 1 (such as Yellowstone Drive/Sequoia Drive) at 68 minutes. Note that many trips require differing lengths of time in one direction versus the other, and some trips (particularly to and from southern Vacaville, and between downtown and the outlets area) are shorter to complete on differing routes in the opposite directions. Bus Stop Inventory Table 16 shows an inventory of City Coach s bus stops, including which stops have shelters. City Coach maintains 211 bus stops. Of these stops, 40 have shelters. Routes 5 and 1 have the most shelters, 16 and 11, respectively. The other routes each have between two and eight shelters. Only a small proportion of the bus stops (7 to 12) are depicted for each route on the printed schedule and in the mobile app. 6 The specific zones are depicted in Figure 15, below. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 27

34 TABLE 14: Scheduled Transfer Opportunities at Transportation Center and Transit Minutes Past the Hour Transportation Center Transit Plaza :00 1 dep 2 dep 4 dep 6 dep 8 dep :01 :02 :03 :04 :05 :06 :07 :08 :09 :10 2 WB 8 arr/dep :11 :12 :13 5 arr :14 2 arr :15 5 dep 5 arr/dep :16 :17 :18 :19 6 arr :20 :21 :22 2 EB :23 6 arr/dep :24 8 arr :25 4 arr :26 :27 :28 :29 :30 2 dep 4 dep 6 dep 8 dep :31 :32 :33 :34 :35 :36 :37 :38 :39 :40 2 WB 8 arr/dep :41 :42 :43 5 arr :44 2 arr :45 5 dep 5 arr/dep :46 :47 :48 6 arr :49 :50 :51 :52 2 EB :53 :54 8 arr 6 arr/dep :55 4 arr :56 :57 1 arr :58 :59 Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 28

35 TABLE 15: City Coach Travel Times, Transfer Requirements, and Service Headways ZONE FROM Travel Time in Minutes T = Transfer Required Browns Valley Central Downtown East Markham Outlets Southeast Southwest VV Parkway West Browns Valley Central 30 Minute Frequency ZONE TO Downtown East Markham Outlets 60 Minute Frequency Southeast Southwest Vaca Vly Pkwy T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T West Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 29

36 TABLE 16: City Coach Bus Stop Inventory Stop # Stop Location On Street At Street Route Shelter Stop # Stop Location On Street At Street Route Shelter Stop # Stop Location On Street At Street Route Shelter 100 Ulatis Cultural Center Ulatis 1 X 235 Wrentham Rollingwood Trower Park Markham Av Ulatis/UCC Ulatis Wrentham Amberwood Markham Av. Wesley Ulatis Burton Dr Nugget Market Brown valley Lucky's Markham Av Burton Dr Ulatis Solano College North Village PkwVaca Valley 4 X 613 Mason St Williams 6, Country Garden Apts Burton Dr 1 X 401 Genentech New Horizons Vaca Valley 4 X 614 Sutter Mason St Burton Dr Helen Power State Fund Grasslands 4 X 615 Little Ceasar's Markham Av. 6 X 106 Merdian Professional Center Burton Dr 1, 5, Kaiser Quality Dr Vaca Valley 4 X 616 Markham Av. Rocky Hill Rd Burton Dr Nut Tree 1, 5, Chrysler Dealership Orange Dr 1, Markham Av. Meadows Dr Nut Tree Nut Tree 1, DMV Orange Dr Meadows Dr. Rocky Hill Rd Yellowstone Nut Tree Senior Manor Lawrence Dr Orange Dr 4 X 619 Rocky Hill Rd Novato Yellowstone Ponderosa Motel 6 Lawrence Dr Orange Dr Rocky Hill Rd Manzanita Dr Yellowstone McKinley Applebees Nut Tree Pkwy Markham Elementary Markham Av. Alpine St Yellowstone Teton Burlington Harbison Dr 4, 5, 6 X 622 Markham Elementary Brown St. Markham Av Yellowstone Glacier Safeway/Target Harbison Dr. 5, 6 X 623 Brown St Yellowstone Rushmore Baskin Robbins Helen Power Dr. 5, School Bus Yard Brown St 6 X 115 Yellowstone Sequoia Wal-Mart Helen Power Dr. 5, 6 X 625 School Corp. Yard Brown St Leisure Town Maple Nut Tree Rd. Yellowstone Primera Iglesia Brown St Leisure Town Poplar 1 X Nut Tree Nut Tree Rd. Ulatis Dr Juanita Meat Market Brown St Extended Stay America Orange Dr 1, Nut Tree Rd. Summerfield 5 X 628 Mexico Meat Market Monte Vista Av Gilley Wy Leisure Town Nut Tree Rd. Elmira American Tires Monte Vista Merril Gardens Yellowstone Nut Tree Rd. Vaca Pena El Pollo Loco Monte Vista Av. Browns Valley Yellowstone Bryce St. Josephs Nut Tree Rd. Marshall Outlets Nut Tree Rd Yellowstone Carlsbad Cc Nut Tree Rd. Bel Air Dr Ice Cream Shop E Monte Vista Yellowstone Glacier 1 X 510 Raleys Nut Tree Rd. Alamo Dr. 5 X 800 Meadow wood Apts. Aegean Way Yellowstone Isle Royale Raleys Alamo Dr. Nut Tree Rd Creekside Mobile Park Aegean Way Yellowstone Lassen 1 X 512 Creekside Gardens Alamo Dr. Bel Air Dr Creekside Village Aegean Way Yellowstone Lassen Sycamores Alamo Dr. Tulare Carl's Jr. Peabody Rd. Elmira Rd Yellowstone McKinley y 1 X 514 Lucky's Alamo Dr. Peabody Rd Starbucks Peabody Rd. Hume Wy Yellowstone Olympic Mountain Mikes Alamo Dr. Peabody Rd Sandpiper Village Apts. Peabody Rd. Marshall Rd Yellowstone Olympic 1 X 516 Alamo Dr. Rosewood Beelard Peabody Yellowstone Rainer 1 X 517 St. Anne Apts Alamo Dr. Mariposa 5 X 807 Beelard Tulare Yellowstone Nut Tree Ct Alamo Alamo Dr. Alamo Ln Beelard Park Beelard Outlets Burton Dr 1, 5, First Baptist Church Alamo Dr. Davis St Hidden Creek Apts. Marshall Rd Sams Club Burton Dr 1, 5, 6 X 520 Alamo Dr. Whitehall Nelson Park Marshall Rd. Nut Tree Wal-Mart Burton Dr 1 X 521 Alamo Dr Canal Walkway Marshall Rd Saratoga Apts Burton Dr 1 X 522 Apartments Alamo Dr. Marshall 5 X 812 Meadowlands Park Vanden Rd. 8 X 136 Burton Dr Ulatis Wal-Mart Alamo Dr. Butcher Rd Vanden Rd. Harvest River Oaks Apts. Elimra Rd Allison Dr. 2, Tony's Merchant Alamo Dr Car Wash Alamo Dr. Nut Tree Metro Store Elimira Rd Shasta Dr Ace Hardware Merchant Elm Nut Tree Nut Tree Rd Les Schwab Mason Depot Merchant Stevenson Cambridge Elementary Nut Tree Rd. Neidham Mason Elizabeth 2, McBride Senior Center Dobbins St. 5, 8 X 817 Youngsdale Dr. Nut Tree Rd Merchant St Cernon 2, Starbucks Alamo Dr. Butcher Rd Youngsdale Dr. Ruby Dr City Hall Merchant 2, 5 X 529 Three Oaks Alamo Dr. Marshall 5 X 819 Youngsdale Dr. Marna Valero Merchant St Orchard 2, Alamo Dr. Beythe Youngsdale Dr. Morning Glory Big Lots Alamo Dr Alamo Dr. Alamo Ct Morning Glory Larkspur Church of Latter Day Alamo Dr AM PM Alamo Dr Peabody Rd. California Dr Alamo Creek Park Alamo Dr Buck Ave Alamo Dr. Mariposa Taco Bell Peabody Rd. Alamo Dr Recycle Center Orchard Anita Firehouse Alamo Dr Lucky's Peabody Rd Housing Authority Buck Ave Eldridge Rosegarden Apts. Alamo Dr. Peabody Rd. 5 X 825 Peabody Rd. Beelard Vacaville Museum Buck Ave Walgreens Alamo Dr. Peabody Rd cent store Peabody Rd Prime Time Nutrition Monte Vista Ave Alamo Dr. Marna 5 X 827 Will C. Wood Marshall Rd Juanita Market Brown St 2, River Run Apts. Alamo Dr. Farmington Marshall Rd. Bowline Dr La Primera Iglesia Brown St 2, Alamo Alamo Dr Marshall Rd. Alonzo Ct Trailer Park Brown St 2, Autumn Leaves Nut Tree Rd. 5 X 830 Marshall Rd. Davis Brown St Bennett Hill Rd 2, Nut Tree Rd. Woodridge Win Co Foods Davis 8 X 218 VUSD lot Brown St 2, Nut Tree Rd. Bel Air Dr Brenden Theaters Davis 8 X 219 Markham Elementary Brown St Markham St 2, Walnut Glen Nut Tree Rd. Marshall Davis St Stevenson Brown St Woodcrest Vaca Pena Nut Tree Rd Park and Ride Davis St 8 X 221 Browns Valley Shannon In Shape Nut Tree Rd. Elmira 5 X 835 Davis Self Storage Davis St Tipperary Browns Valley Vaca Valley Hospital Nut Tree Rd Davis St Marshall Rd Browns Valley Wexford Nut Tree Nut Tree Rd. 5 X 837 Marshall Rd. Davis Tipperary Waterford Hometown Buffet Helen Power Dr. 5, Padan Park Marshall Rd Tipperary Roscommon Premium Outlets Nut Tree Rd Marshall Rd. Bowline Dr Ridgview Park Tipperary Bantry Dr Amici's Pizza Monte Vista Av Will C. Wood Marshall Rd Tipperary Browns Valley Best Buy Monte Vista Av. 6 X 841 Shell Station Peabody Rd Millenium/In Shape Browns Valley 2 X 604 Taco Bell Monte Vista Av Elmira Rd Shasta Glen Eagle Browns Valley Goodwill Monte Vista Av Allison Dr Allison Elmira Rd Glen Eagle Bald Eagle Human Services Monte Vista Av. Brown St 6 X Jepson Elder St Glen Eagle Grey Hawk Rocky Hill Rd. Lomita 6 Food Fair Orchard Wrenthan Graylyn Ct Rocky Hill Rd. Novato Browns Valley Elementary Wrentham Harwinton Ct Meadows Dr. Rocky Hill Rd. 6 Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 3

37 Chapter 3 City Coach Passenger Boarding/Alighting Data LSC staff and contract staff under LSC direction rode Cityy Coach buses on various days over a two week period between September 16 and October 7, Data was collected regarding the number of passengers onboard at the beginning of the run, as well as the number boarding and alighting at each stop over the course of the run. Data was collected for a total of 356 runs on weekdays, as well as 85 runs on Saturdays. This dataa was analyzed to generate the information presented below. Ridership by Route by Run The total ridership by run was calculated for each route.. The observed totals of all sampled runs for each route were factored to yield the average weekday ridership during the school year by run, as shown in Table 17. Table 17 and Figure 6 also summarize the data by hour. This data reflects the significant peaks in passenger activity on Routes 2,, 5, 6 and 8, associated with school bell times. The following runs had particularly high average boarding s: Route 8 7:00 AM run 70.5 passengers Route 6 6:30 AM run 53.9 passengers Route 5 6:30 AM run 48.8 passengers Route 2 3:00 PM run 45.7 passengers Route 8 3:00 PM run 45.5 passengers Route 2 2:00 PM run 40.9 passengers Route 6 7:00 AM run 37.8 passengers Route 6 2:00 PM run 35.2 passengers At the other extremee ridership of less than 5 passengerss per run was observed during the following periods: All Route 1 runs prior to 10:00 AM, and after 3:00 PM All Route 4 runs prior to 7:30 AM, at 9:30 AM, between 11:00 AM and 12:00 PM, and after 5:00 PM. The last runs of the day on Routes 5 and 8. In comparison with the other routes, ridership during the midday period on Routes 5 and 8 was relatively robust, with all hours between 9 AM and 1 PM generatingg 30 or more passenger boardings. Working Paper 2: Route and Network Evaluation Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 31

38 TABLE 17: Average Weekday Ridership by Route by Run During School Year Half Hourly Start Time Route (1) 6 8 Total 6:00 AM :30 AM :00 AM :30 AM :00 AM :30 AM :00 AM :30 AM :00 AM :30 AM :00 AM :30 AM :00 PM :30 PM :00 PM :30 PM :00 PM :30 PM :00 PM :30 PM :00 PM :30 PM :00 PM :30 PM :00 PM 0.0 Total Weekday Avg. Saturday Total by Hour 6:00 AM :00 AM :00 AM :00 AM :00 AM :00 AM :00 PM :00 PM :00 PM :00 PM :00 PM :00 PM :00 PM 0.0 Note 1: Route 5 run start times are 15 minutes later than the half hourly start time. Source: Onboard counts conducted 9/26/17 through 10/5/17. Total of 356 runs Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 32

39 Figure 6: Ridership by Route by Hour Weekday During School Year Hourly Ridership by Route :00 AM 7:00 AM 8:00 AM 9:00 AM 10:00 AM11:00 AM12:00 PM 1:00 PM 2:00 PM 3:00 PM 4:00 PM 5:00 PM Daily Ridership Activity by Stop The average weekday passenger activity (boarding and alighting) at each stop is shown in Tables 18 through 23 for each of the six fixed routes. A review of these table yield the following highlights: Route 1 s busiest stop is the Transportation Center, followed by Kaiser Hospital and Wal Mart. Of note, there were no observed passengers boarding or alighting on the four stops between Meridian Professional Center and Yellowstone/Nut Tree. The busiest stop on Route 2 is the Transit Plaza (also used by Vacaville HS students), with a total of passenger boarding s and alightings over the two times per run that this stop is served, followed by the Transportation Center with Another popular stop is Food Fair, with 58.2 passengers. Relatively low ridership is generated by the stops along Elmira Road and Mason Street, and portions of the Browns Valley area. Busy stops on Route 4 consist of the Transportation Center, Kaiser, and Solano Community College. Relatively low ridership is generated on the stops along Orange Drive between Laurence Drive and Nut Tree Parkway. The on call stop at State Fund generates only 3.6 passenger trips per day. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 33

40 TABLE 18: Route 1 Average Daily Passenger Boarding/Alighting and Load by Stop Weekdays During School Year Passengers Load After Stop Stop On Off Total Average Maximum Transportation Center (departure) Ulatis Cultural Center Corner of Ulatis and UCC Ulatis & Burton Dr Burton Dr & Ulatis Country Garden Apts Burton Dr & Helen Power Meridian Professional Center Burton Dr & Nut Tree Nut Tree Yellowstone & Nut Tree Yellowstone & Ponderosa Yellowstone & McKinley Yellowstone & Teton Yellowstone & Glacier Yellowstone & Rushmore Yellowstone & Sequoia Leisure Town Rd / Maple Leisure Town Rd / Poplar Leisure Town / Orange Dr Kaiser Hospital Self Storage / Leisure Town Orange Dr Leisure Town Rd & Gilley Rd Brookdale Sr. Living Yellowstone & Bryce Yellowstone & Carlsbad Cc Yellowstone & Glacier Yellowstone & Isle Royale Yellowstone & Lassen Yellowstone & Lassen Yellowstone & McKinley Yellowstone & McKinley Olympic Yellowstone & Olympic Yellowstone & Rainer Yellowstone & Nut Tree Ct Outlets Sams Club Wal Mart Saratoga Apts Burton Dr & Ulatis Ulatis Cultural Center Transportation Center (arrival) Source: Counts conducted in October 2017, adjusted to average weekday during school year. Total of 27 runs. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 34

41 TABLE 19: Route 2 Average Daily Passenger Boarding/Alighting and Load by Stop Weekdays During School Year Passengers Load After Stop Stop On Off Total Average Maximum Transportation Center (departure) River Oaks Apts. / Elmira & Allison Metro Store / Elmira & Shasta Les Schwab / Mason & Dept Mason & Elizabeth Transit Plaza Merchant St & Cernon City Hall / Merchant St Valero / Merchant & Orchard Big Lots / Alamo Dr Church of Latter Day Saints / Alamo Alamo Creek Park / Alamo & Buck Jepson / Elder St Food Fair / Orchard Recycle Center / Orchard & Anita Housing Authority / Buck & Eldridge Vacaville Museum / Buck Ave Transit Plaza Prime Time Nutrition / Monte Vista Juanita Market / Brown St La Primera Iglesia / Brown St Trailer Park / Brown St Brown St & Bennett Hill Rd Markham Elem. / Brown & Markham Brown St & Woodcrest Browns Valley & Shannon Tipperary & Browns Valley Browns Valley & Wexford Tipperary & Waterford Tipperary & Roscommon Ridgview Park / Tipperary & Bantry Tipperary & Browns Valley Millenium/In Shape Glen Eagle & Browns Valley Glen Eagle & Bald Eagle Glen Eagle & Grey Hawk Wrenthan & Graylyn Ct Browns Valley Elem. / Wrentham Wrenthan & Rollingwood Wrentham & Amberwood Nugget Market / Brown Valley Transportation Center (arrival) Source: Counts conducted in October 2017, adjusted to average weekday during school year. Total of 71 runs. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 35

42 TABLE 20: Route 4 Average Daily Passenger Boarding/Alighting and Load by Stop Weekdays During School Year Passengers Load After Stop Stop On Off Total Average Maximum Transportation Center (departure) Solano College / No Village Pkwy & Vaca Valley Genentech / New Horizons & Vaca Valley State Fund / Grasslands (Call Stop) Kaiser / Quality Dr & Vaca Valley Extended Stay / Orange Dr Dodge Chrysler / Orange Dr & Gilley Wy DMV / Orange Dr Senior Manor / Lawerence Dr & Orange Dr Motel 6 / Lawerence Dr & Orange Dr Chevron Gas Station / Carl's Jr Applebees / Nut Tree Pkwy Burlington / Harbison Dr Transportation Center (arrival) Source: Counts conducted in October 2017, adjusted to average weekday during school year. Total of 64 runs. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 36

43 TABLE 21: Route 5 Average Daily Passenger Boarding/Alighting and Load by Stop Weekdays During School Year Passengers Load After Stop Stop On Off Total Average Maximum Transportation Center (departure) Safeway/Target Harbison Dr Baskin Robbins / Helen Power Dr Wal Mart / Helen Power Dr Burton Common Apts / Burton Dr Burton / Burton & Nut Tree Nut Tree Nut Tree Rd & Yellowstone Nut Tree (at Ulatis) Nut Tree Rd & Summerfield Nut Tree Rd & Elmira Nut Tree Rd & Vaca Pena St. Josephs / Nut Tree & Marshall Nut Tree Rd & Bel Air Dr Raleys / Nut Tree & Alamo Raleys / Alamo & Nut Tree Creekside Gardens / Alamo & Bel Air Sycamores / Alamo & Tulare Lucky's / Alamo & Peabody Mountain Mikes / Alamo & Peabody Alamo Dr & Rosewood St. Anne Apts / Alamo & Mariposa Alamo Dr (at Alamo Lane) First Baptist Church / Alamo & Davis Alamo Dr & Whitehall Alamo Dr Walnut Grove Sr Apts / Alamo & Marshall Wal Mart / Alamo & Butcher Tony's / Merchant & Alamo Ace Hardware / Merchant & Elm Merchant & Stevenson Mc Bride Senior Center / Dobbins St Transit Plaza Merchant & Cernon City Hall / Merchant Valero / Merchant & Orchard Starbucks / Alamo & Butcher Three Oaks / Alamo & Marshall Alamo & Beythe / Alamo Dr & Alamo Ct AM PM / Alamo Dr Alamo Dr & Mariposa Firehouse / Alamo Dr Rosegarden Apts./ Alamo & Peabody Walgreens / Alamo & Peabody Alamo Dr & Marna River Run Apts. / Alamo Dr & Farmington Alamo Autumn Leaves / Nut Tree Rd Nut Tree Rd & Woodbridge Nut Tree Rd & Bel Air Dr Walnut Glen / Nut Tree Rd & Marshall Vaca Pena / Nut Tree Rd CVS / Nut Tree Rd & Elmira Vaca Valley Hospital/ Nut Tree Rd Nut Tree Behind Outlets / Burton Dr Sams Club / Burton & Helen Power Hometown Buffet / Helen Power Dr Burlington Coat Factory / Harbison Dr Transportation Center (arrival) Source: Counts conducted in October 2017, adjusted to average weekday during school year. Total of 62 runs. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 37

44 TABLE 22: Route 6 Average Daily Passenger Boarding/Alighting and Load by Stop Weekdays During School Year Passengers Load After Stop Stop On Off Total Average Maximum Transportation Center (departure) Safeway/Target Harbison Dr Baskin Robbins / Helen Power Dr Wal Mart / Helen Power Dr Meridian Professional Center Burton Dr & Nut Tree Premium Outlets / Nut Tree Rd Amici's Pizza / E Monte Vista Best Buy / E Monte Vista Taco Bell / E Monte Vista Goodwill / E Monte Vista Human Services / E Monte Vista & Brown Brown St & E Monte Vista Brown St & Hazel St Mobile Home Park / Brown Brown St & Bennet Hill Brown St Jehovas Witness / Brown & Markham Rocky Hill Rd & Lomita Rocky Hill Rd & Novato Meadows Dr & Rocky Hill Rd Trower Park / Markham Av Markham & Wesley Lucky's / Markham Transit Plaza Mason & Williams Sutter / Mason St Lillte Ceasar's / Markham Markham & Rocky Hill Rd Markham & Meadows Dr Meadows Dr & Rocky Hill Rd Rocky Hill Rd & Novato Rocky Hill Rd & Manzanita Markham Elem. / Markham & Alpine Markham Elem. / Brown & Markham Brown St School Bus Yard / Brown St School Corp. Yard / Brown St Primera Iglesia / Brown St Juanita Meat Market / Brown St Mexico Meat Market / E Monte Vista American Tires / E Monte Vista El Pollo Loco / E Monte Vista & Br Val Outlets / Nut Tree Rd Outlets / Burton Dr Sams Club / Burton Dr Hometown Buffet / Helen Power Dr Burlington / Harbison Dr Transportation Center (arrival) Source: Counts conducted in October 2017, adjusted to average weekday during school year. Total of 68 runs. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 38

45 TABLE 23: Route 8 Average Daily Passenger Boarding/Alighting and Load by Stop Weekdays During School Year Passengers Load After Stop Stop On Off Total Average Maximum Transportation Center (depart) River Oaks Apartments / Elmira & Allison Meadow wood Apts. / Aegean Way Creekside Mobile Park / Aegean Way Creekside Village / Aegean Way Carl's Jr. / Peabody Rd & Elmira Starbucks / Peabody Rd & Hume Wy Sandpiper Village Apts. / Peabody & Marshall Beelard & Peabody Beelard & Tulare Beelard Park / Beelard Hidden Creek Apts. / Marshall Rd Nelson Park / Nut Tree Canal Walkway / Marshall Rd Meadowlands Park / Vanden Vanden Rd & Harvest Car Wash / Alamo Dr & Nut Tree Nut Tree Cambridge Elementary / Nut Tree & Neidham Youngsdale Dr & Nut Tree Rd Youngsdale Dr & Ruby Dr Youngsdale Dr & Marna Youngsdale Dr & Morning Glory Morning Glory & Larkspur Peabody Rd & California Dr Taco Bell / Peabody & Alamo Lucky's / Peabody Rd Peabody Rd & Beelard cent store / Peabody Will C. Wood / Marshall Rd Marshall Rd & Bowline Marshall Rd & Alonzo Ct Marshall Rd & Davis Win Co Foods / Davis Brenden Theaters / Davis Mason & Davis McBride Senior Center / Dobbins Transit Plaza Mason & Williams Davis St & Sevenson Park and Ride / Davis St Davis Self Storage / Davis St Davis St & Marshall Rd Marshall Rd & Davis Padan Park / Marshall & Padan Sch Rd Marshall Rd & Bowline Will C. Wood / Marshall Rd Shell Station / Peabody Rd Elmira Rd & Shasta Allison Dr (at Elmira) Transportation Center (arrive) Source: Counts conducted in October 2017, adjusted to average weekday during school year. Total of 64 runs. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 39

46 The Transit Plaza is the busiest stop on Route 5 with 114 passengers, followed by the Transportation Center with Ridership is spread well across this route, with many stops generating 15 or more passenger trips per day. The only portion with low ridership on successive stops is along Nut Tree Route between Helen Power Drive and Ulatis Drive. Route 6 s busiest stop is also the Transit Plaza (174 passengers), followed by the Transportation Center (80.4) and Wal Mart (34.4). Ridership is relatively low on the eastern portion of Monte Vista Avenue, but relatively strong in the Markham and downtown areas. The higher passenger activity on Route 8 is generated by the stops serving Will C. Wood High School (including the adjacent stop at Peabody/Marshall) with a total of passengers, followed by the Transportation Center with and the Transit Plaza with All portions of this route are relatively strong ridership generators. Route 1 also includes the Leisure Town Connect service option, whereby passengers can call for a pick up at their home in the Leisure Town area (along Yellowstone Drive between Nut Tree Road and Sequoia Drive). For their trip home, some passengers will call but the majority simply ask the bus driver to drop them off at home as they board at a fixed stop. While these on demand passengers were recorded at the nearest stop along Yellowstone Drive by the surveyors, the transit contractor keeps a log of on demand service requests that can be used to more accurately review the level of on request activity in this area. A review of two weeks of these logs indicates an average of 6.8 pick up requests per day. Compared with the total passenger boardings in the Connect service area (28.9), this indicates that approximately 25 percent of all passengers in this area board (and presumably also alight) in this area using the Connect option for service to their home, while the other 75 percent board and alight at the stops along Yellowstone Drive. As many stops are served by more than one route, it is also useful to review total ridership activity by stop, over all routes. Table 24 presents this information, ranked by the total boarding activity. Beyond the two key transit hubs (Transportation Center and Transit Plaza), other busy stops are Food Fair, Kaiser, around Will C. Wood High School, at Vaca Pena Middle School and Wal Mart. Of note, half of all passenger activity occurs at only the top 12 bus stops. On the other hand, 66 stops have less than 5 daily boardings plus alightings. Passenger Loads The passenger boarding/alighting data can also be used to calculate passenger loads along each route on each surveyed run. This data is particularly useful in evaluating appropriate vehicle size. The average and peak observed load is provided for each stop along each route in Tables In addition, this information is summarized for all six routes by run in Table 25. A review of this data indicates the following: Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 40

47 Observed passenger loads are highest on Route 2 (up to 47 passengers) and Route 6 (44 passengers), followed by 38 passengers on Route 5 and 33 on Route 8. Maximum loads on Routes 1 and 4 are substantially lower, at 4 and 11 respectively. As the largest buses in the City Coach fleet have a seating capacity of 30, this indicates that up to 17 passengers are standing on the busiest runs. Peak loads by run reflect the school bell times, but vary between routes. On Route 2, peak loads are in the afternoon (2:00 PM, 2:30 PM and 3:00 PM runs), but are much lower in the morning. On Routes 5, 6 and 8, however, peak loads occur both in the morning and the afternoon. Morning peak loads occur on the 6:30 AM run of Route 5, the 6:30 AM and 7:00 AM runs of Route 6, and the 7:00 AM run of Route 8. Routes 1, 2 and 4 all have periods of the day with low passenger loads: o Route 1 loads are less than 5 both prior to 11:00 AM as well as after 2:00 PM. o Route 2 loads are 5 or less from 8:00 AM to 11:30 AM. o Route 4 loads do not exceed 5 until the 10:30 AM run. Note that these figures (the total passengers onboard at any one time) differ from the figures presented at the outset of this chapter regarding the total number of passengers boarding over the entire run. The table also presents the 95 th percentile passenger load (that number which is only exceeded on 5 percent of the runs) as well as the 90 th percentile (exceeded on only 10 percent of the runs). These figures reflect the low occurrence of high passenger loads. For example on Route 2 with a maximum load of 44, only 5 percent of the runs have more than 14 passengers onboard anywhere along the route. City Coach has a performance standard of striving to not exceed 145 percent of the seating capacity. The table presents the seating capacity that would be required to accommodate the peak loads given this standard on each route, which ranges from 6 on Routes 1 and 4 to 33 on Route 2. Compared with the existing maximum City Coach bus seating capacity of 30, this indicates that the standard is exceeded on a few runs on both Route 2 and 6. While the focus of this discussion is the passenger loads on weekdays, Table 25 also presents the observed maximum passenger load on Saturdays. This only reaches as high as 12 (on Routes 5 and 6), indicating that weekday passenger activity is the key consideration regarding vehicle capacity. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 41

48 TABLE 24: Bus Stop Daily Boarding and Alighting Activity Average Weekday During School Year, Ranked by Boarding Activity Stop Boarding Alighting Both Stop Boarding Alighting Both Transportation Center River Oaks Apts. / Elmira & Allison Transit Plaza Alamo Dr & Marna Food Fair / Orchard Nut Tree Kaiser / Quality Dr & Vaca Valley Burlington / Harbison Dr Sandpiper Village Apts. / Peabody & Marshall Allison Dr (at Elmira) Wal-Mart / Helen Power Dr Nut Tree Will C. Wood / Marshall Rd Creekside Village / Aegean Way Nut Tree Rd & Vaca Pena Morning Glory & Larkspur Raleys / Nut Tree & Alamo Yellowstone & Carlsbad Cc Solano College / No Village Pkwy & Vaca Valley Burton / Burton & Nut Tree AM PM / Alamo Dr State Fund / Grasslands (Call Stop) Tipperary & Browns Valley Wrenthan & Graylyn Ct Meadowlands Park / Vanden Tony's / Merchant & Alamo Jepson / Elder St Sycamores / Alamo & Tulare / Alamo Dr & Alamo Ct Applebees / Nut Tree Pkwy Alamo Dr & Mariposa Brenden Theaters / Davis Vanden Rd & Harvest Meadowwood Apts. / Aegean Way City Hall / Merchant St Cambridge Elementary / Nut Tree & Neidham Safeway/Target - Harbison Dr Yellowstone & Rushmore Valero / Merchant & Orchard Brookdale Sr. Living St. Josephs / Nut Tree & Marshall Saratoga Apts Autumn Leaves / Nut Tree Rd Yellowstone & Bryce Walgreens / Alamo & Peabody Markham Elem. / Brown & Markham Creekside Gardens / Alamo & Bel Air Browns Valley & Wexford Canal Walkway / Marshall Rd Recycle Center / Orchard & Anita Ridgview Park / Tipperary & Bantry Church of Latter Day Saints / Alamo Three Oaks / Alamo & Marshall Glen Eagle & Browns Valley Shell Station / Peabody Rd Glen Eagle & Grey Hawk McBride Senior Center / Dobbins Ace Hardware / Merchant & Elm Sams Club / Burton & Helen Power Nut Tree Rd & Yellowstone Marshall Rd & Davis Firehouse / Alamo Dr Wal-Mart Chevron Gas Station / Carl's Jr Walnut Grove Sr Apts / Alamo & Marshall Hidden Creek Apts. / Marshall Rd Lucky's / Alamo & Peabody Mason & Williams Genentech / New Horizons & Vaca Valley Youngsdale Dr & Marna Prime Time Nutrition / Monte Vista Country Garden Apts Housing Authority / Buck & Eldridge Yellowstone & McKinley Alamo Dr (at Alamo Lane) Yellowstone & Teton St. Anne Apts / Alamo & Mariposa Self Storage / Leisure Town-Orange Dr First Baptist Church / Alamo & Davis Trailer Park / Brown St Beelard & Peabody Alamo Creek Park / Alamo & Buck Walnut Glen / Nut Tree Rd & Marshall Mason & Elizabeth Extended Stay / Orange Dr Vacaville Museum / Buck Ave Big Lots / Alamo Dr Wrentham & Amberwood Mountain Mikes / Alamo & Peabody Nut Tree Rd & Woodbridge Rosegarden Apts./ Alamo & Peabody Alamo Dr & Rosewood Nut Tree Rd & Elmira Baskin Robbins / Helen Power Dr Burton Common Apts / Burton Dr Peabody Rd & California Dr Creekside Mobile Park / Aegean Way Starbucks / Peabody Rd & Hume Wy Youngsdale Dr & Nut Tree Rd Taco Bell / Peabody & Alamo Nut Tree Rd & Summerfield Yellowstone & Sequoia Juanita Market / Brown St Yellowstone & Glacier Nelson Park / Nut Tree Yellowstone & Ponderosa Tipperary & Roscommon Yellowstone & Rainer Millenium/In Shape Outlets Burlington Coat Factory / Harbison Dr Yellowstone & Lassen Wal-Mart / Alamo & Butcher Yellowstone & Nut Tree Ct Alamo Yellowstone & Olympic Nut Tree Rd & Bel Air Dr La Primera Iglesia / Brown St Metro Store / Elmira & Shasta Les Schwab / Mason & Dept Win Co Foods / Davis Wrenthan & Rollingwood Youngsdale Dr & Morning Glory Glen Eagle & Bald Eagle Youngsdale Dr & Ruby Dr Brown St & Woodcrest Davis Self Storage / Davis St Alamo Dr & Whitehall Nut Tree Hometown Buffet / Helen Power Dr Raleys / Alamo & Nut Tree Nut Tree (at Ulatis) Browns Valley Elem. / Wrentham Alamo Dr Car Wash / Alamo Dr & Nut Tree Merchant & Cernon Cent Store / Peabody Dodge Chrysler / Orange Dr & Gilley Wy River Run Apts. / Alamo Dr & Farmington Beelard & Tulare Vaca Valley Hospital/ Nut Tree Rd Park and Ride / Davis St Starbucks / Alamo & Butcher Mason & Davis Ulatis Cultural Center River Oaks Apartments / Elmira & Allison Padan Park / Marshall & Padan Sch Rd Davis St & Marshall Rd Vaca Pena / Nut Tree Rd Browns Valley & Shannon CVS / Nut Tree Rd & Elmira Merchant St & Cernon DMV / Orange Dr Merchant & Stevenson Senior Manor / Lawerence Dr & Orange Dr Leisure Town Rd / Poplar Brown St & Bennett Hill Rd Burton Dr & Ulatis Tipperary & Waterford Leisure Town / Orange Dr Nugget Market / Brown Valley Ulatis & Burton Dr Carl's Jr. / Peabody Rd & Elmira Motel 6 / Lawerence Dr & Orange Dr Elmira Rd & Shasta Burton Dr & Helen Power Beelard Park / Beelard Leisure Town Rd & Gilley Rd Lucky's / Peabody Rd Burton Dr & Nut Tree Peabody Rd & Beelard Ulatis and UCC Leisure Town Rd / Maple Davis St & Sevenson Behind Outlets / Burton Dr Meridian Professional Center Alamo & Beythe Yellowstone & Isle Royale Marshall Rd & Bowline Yellowstone & Nut Tree Marshall Rd & Alonzo Ct Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 42

49 TABLE 25: Maximum Observed Passenger Load by Route by Run Weekday During School Year Half Hourly Start Time Route (1) 6 8 6:00 AM :30 AM :00 AM :30 AM :00 AM :30 AM :00 AM :30 AM :00 AM :30 AM :00 AM :30 AM :00 PM :30 PM :00 PM :30 PM :00 PM :30 PM :00 PM :30 PM :00 PM :30 PM :00 PM :30 PM :00 PM 5 Maximum th % th % Required Seating Capacity to Achieve Standard of 145% of Seating Maximum Load Maximum Passenger Load on Saturday Note 1: Route 5 run start times are 15 minutes later than the half hourly start time. Source: Onboard counts conducted 9/26/17 through 10/5/17 Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 43

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51 Chapter 4 City Coach On Time Performance As part of the data collection that generated the onboard surveys and boarding/alighting counts, surveyors also recorded the times that stops were served on each run and route. Data was recorded at a total of 3,383 time points on weekdays, along with 1,139 time points on Saturdays. This information was analyzed to identify thee on time performance of the individual fixed routes, as well as to evaluate the specific route segments and times of day that cause on on weekdays, 70 percent of time points were served within City Coach s identified standardd window of 0 to 5 minutes behind schedule. An additional 2 percentt of time points consisted of time issues. A summary of the results is presented in Table 26 and shown in Figure 7. Overall early arrivals at the end of the route (not a negative result). Stops served early totaled 17 percent of all observations (the large majority of these were only a few minutes ahead of schedule). Time points served 6 or more minutes behind the published schedule totaled 111 percent of all observations, with 7 percent 6 to 9 minutes late, 3 percent 10 to 14 minutes late, and 1 percent 15 or more minutes late. Saturday on time performance was equal to or better than weekday performance on most routes. The two exceptions were Routes 4 and 6, both of which travel throughh the busy streets serving the Premium Outlets and/or Nut Tree Village. Route 6 in particular reflected on time problems on Saturday, with 47 percent of time points 6 or more minutes behind schedule. TABLE 26: Summary of Vacaville City Coach On Time Performance Weekdays Percent Early (Departures Only) Percent Early (Arrivals Only) Percent On Time (0 5 Minutes Late) Percent 6 9 Minutes Late Percent Minutes Late Percent Minutes Late Percent >20 Minutes Late Maximum Minutes Early Maximum Minutes Late Saturdays Percent Early (Departures Only) Percent Early (Arrivals Only) Percent On Time (0 5 Minutes Late) Percent 6 9 Minutes Late Percent Minutes Late Percent Minutes Late Percent >20 Minutes Late Maximum Minutes Early Maximum Minutes Late 55% 7% 37% 1% 0% 0% 0% % 5% 66% 1% 5% 1% 0% % 4% 77% 7% 0% 0% 0% % 2% 64% 3% 7% 11% 0% 6 20 Source: Surveys conducted between 9/26/17 and 10/7/17 Working Paper 2: Route and Network Evaluation Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study 1 41% 6% 49% 3% 0% 0% 0% Route 24% 15% 17% 2% 4% 3% 67% 79% 62% 6% 2% 10% 2% 0% 6% 0% 0% 2% 0% 0% 1% Total 9% 11% 17% 0% 0% 2% 75% 81% 70% 7% 7% 7% 5% 0% 3% 3% 0% 1% 1% 0% 0% % 13% 17% 1% 0% 2% 48% 80% 63% 25% 6% 9% 12% 1% 5% 5% 0% 3% 0% 0% 0% Page 45

52 Figure 7: On Time Performance Summary 100% % Early (Departures) % Early (Arrivals) % On Time % 6 9 min. Late % min. Late % min. Late % >20 min. Late 90% 80% 70% Percent of All Runs 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Route 1 Route 2 Route 4 Route 5 Route 6 Route 8 TOTAL Additional detail for each individual route is provided in Table 27 through Table 32. In addition, Figure 8 depicts the average minutes late by route and run (at the most delayed point in each run) over the course of a weekday. A review of the data indicates the following by route: Route 1 on time performance is affected by the Leisure Town Connect program. Time is built into the schedule to allow time to serve on demand stops. Specifically, the schedule allows 16 minutes in the eastbound direction and 12 in the westbound direction to travel the 1.1 miles along Yellowstone Drive between Nut Tree Road and Sequoia Drive (which takes only 3 minutes at the posted speed limit). Given this schedule and the fact that on demand requests are accommodated on only roughly half of the one way runs, the route is often operated substantially ahead of schedule. This could largely be addressed in a straightforward way by revising the schedule assuming no time for on demand requests, with a note indicating that service may operate behind schedule by up to 10 minutes. Route 2 s on time performance issues are largely associated with peak school travel times, particularly on the 7:30 AM and the 3:00 PM runs. The 1:00 PM run also is often late. Weekday delays appear to be generated by high passenger activity and the need to make transfers. This route is also impacted by traffic delays in the Nut Tree and Premium Outlets areas, particularly on Saturday. On the other hand, a relatively Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 46

53 high proportion of stops are served early, possibly due to low passenger activity in offpeak periods. Route 4 has one of the best on time performances of the various routes, with only 2 percent of runs operating 6 or more minutes behind schedule. The time needed to accommodate the State Fund on call stop was the generator of minor delays, but the route quickly regained the schedule. Route 5 is the most challenging for drivers to operate within the available schedule, with 19 percent of timepoints served 6 or more minutes behind schedule on weekdays, and 21 percent on Saturdays. The bulk of the late runs occur in the late afternoon (starting with the 2:45 PM run). The key source of delays along this route is the southern section between Marshall Road/Nut Tree Road and Marshall Road/Alamo Drive. The buses lost 5 or more minutes of scheduled time on 12 percent of the westbound runs, and 1 percent of the eastbound runs. These delays occurred at various times over the day. This route was also impacted during the surveys by a bus malfunction on one of the 10:15 AM runs that required a second bus to take over the route. Route 6 is 6 or more minutes late at 16 percent of the timepoints. Other than the busy 6:30 AM and 7:30 AM runs, this route maintains schedule in the morning, but is typically behind schedule from Noon through 4:00 PM. As mentioned above, traffic delays in the Nut Tree Village/Premium Outlets areas are the source of much of the delays, along with high school passenger activity. Route 8 has good on time performance, with only 7 percent of timepoints served 6 or more minutes late (on both weekdays and Saturdays). The runs operating late are confined to the 7:00 AM, 7:30 AM and 8:00 AM runs. The driver noted that travel times are delayed at the beginning of the month when they need to punch tickets. There is no specific portion of the route that generates most of the delays. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 47

54 TABLE 27: Route 1 On Time Performance Analysis Scheduled Run Start Time 6:00 AM 7:00 AM 8:00 AM 9:00 AM Average Deviation from Schedule Vacaville Transit Center (departure) Ulatis Cultural Center Burton Dr & Helen Power Yellowstone & Nut Tree Yellowstone & Sequoia Kaiser Hospital Brookdale Sr. Living Yellowstone & Nut Tree Ct Wal Mart Ulatis Cultural Center Vacaville Transit Center (arrival) Maximum Average Late :00 AM 11:00 AM 12:00 PM 1:00 PM 2:00 PM 3:00 PM 4:00 PM 5:00 PM Total Total Timepoints Departure Timepoints Percent Timepoints Early (Departures Only) % Timepoints Early (Arrivals Only) % Timepoints On Time % Timepoints 6 9 Minutes Late % Timepoints Minutes Late % Timepoints Minutes Late % Timepoints >20 Minutes Late % Maximum Minutes Early Maximum Minutes Late Source: Surveys conducted between 9/26/17 and 10/7/17 Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 48

55 TABLE 28: Route 2 On Time Performance Analysis Scheduled Run Start Time Total 6:00 AM 6:30 AM 7:00 AM 7:30 AM 8:00 AM 8:30 AM 9:00 AM 9:30 AM 10:00 AM 10:30 AM 11:00 AM 11:30 AM 12:00 PM 12:30 PM 1:00 PM 1:30 PM 2:00 PM 2:30 PM 3:00 PM 3:30 PM 4:00 PM 4:30 PM 5:00 PM 5:30 PM Average Deviation from Schedule Vacaville Transit Center (departure) Transit Plaza Big Lots / Alamo Dr Alamo Creek Park / Alamo & Buck Transit Plaza / Cernon & Monte Vista Prime Time Nutrition / Monte Vista Tipperary & Browns Valley Glen Eagle & Grey Hawk Wrentham & Amberwood Vacaville Transit Center (arrival) Maximum Average Late Total Timepoints Departure Timepoints Percent Timepoints Early (Departures Only) % Timepoints Early (Arrivals Only) % Timepoints On Time % Timepoints 6 9 Minutes Late % Timepoints Minutes Late % Timepoints Minutes Late % Timepoints >20 Minutes Late % Maximum Minutes Early Maximum Minutes Late Source: Surveys conducted between 9/26/17 and 10/7/17 Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 49

56 TABLE 29: Route 4 On Time Performance Analysis Scheduled Run Start Time Total 6:00 AM 6:30 AM 7:00 AM 7:30 AM 8:00 AM 8:30 AM 9:00 AM 9:30 AM 10:00 AM 10:30 AM 11:00 AM 11:30 AM 12:00 PM 12:30 PM 1:00 PM 1:30 PM 2:00 PM 2:30 PM 3:00 PM 3:30 PM 4:00 PM 4:30 PM 5:00 PM 5:30 PM 6:00 PM Average Deviation from Schedule Vacaville Transit Center (departure) Solano College / No Village Pkwy & Vaca Valley State Fund / Grasslands (Call Stop) Kaiser / Quality Dr & Vaca Valley DMV / Orange Dr Senior Manor / Lawerence Dr & Orange Dr Burlington / Harbison Dr Vacaville Transit Center (arrival) Maximum Average Late Total Timepoints Departure Timepoints Timepoints Early (Departures Only) % Timepoints Early (Arrivals Only) % Timepoints On Time % Timepoints 6 9 Minutes Late % Timepoints Minutes Late % Timepoints Minutes Late % Timepoints >20 Minutes Late % Maximum Minutes Early Maximum Minutes Late Source: Surveys conducted between 9/26/17 and 10/7/17 Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 50

57 TABLE 30: Route 5 On Time Performance Analysis Scheduled Run Start Time Total 6:15 AM 6:45 AM 7:15 AM 7:45 AM 8:15 AM 8:45 AM 9:15 AM 9:45 AM 10:15 AM 10:45 AM 11:15 AM 11:45 AM 12:15 PM 12:45 PM 1:15 PM 1:45 PM 2:15 PM 2:45 PM 3:15 PM 3:45 PM 4:15 PM 4:45 PM 5:15 PM 5:45 PM Average Deviation from Schedule Vacaville Transit Center (departure) Wal Mart / Helen Power Dr St. Josephs / Nut Tree & Marshall Lucky's / Alamo & Peabody Walnut Grove Sr Apts / Alamo & Marshall Transit Plaza Three Oaks / Alamo & Marshall Walgreens / Alamo & Peabody Walnut Glen / Nut Tree Rd & Marshall Sams Club / Burton & Helen Power Burlington Coat Factory / Harbison Dr Vacaville Transit Center (arrival) Maximum Average Late Total Timepoints Departure Timepoints Percent Timepoints Early (Departures Only) % Timepoints Early (Arrivals Only) % Timepoints On Time % Timepoints 6 9 Minutes Late % Timepoints Minutes Late % Timepoints Minutes Late % Timepoints >20 Minutes Late % Maximum Minutes Early Maximum Minutes Late Source: Surveys conducted between 9/26/17 and 10/7/17 Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 51

58 TABLE 31: Route 6 On Time Performance Analysis Scheduled Run Start Time Total 6:00 AM 6:30 AM 7:00 AM 7:30 AM 8:00 AM 8:30 AM 9:00 AM 9:30 AM 10:00 AM 10:30 AM 11:00 AM 11:30 AM 12:00 PM 12:30 PM 1:00 PM 1:30 PM 2:00 PM 2:30 PM 3:00 PM 3:30 PM 4:00 PM 4:30 PM 5:00 PM 5:30 PM Average Deviation from Schedule Vacaville Transit Center (departure) Safeway/Target Harbison Dr Wal Mart / Helen Power Dr Best Buy / E Monte Vista Brown St & E Monte Vista Meadows Dr & Rocky Hill Rd Transit Plaza Sutter / Mason St Meadows Dr & Rocky Hill Rd Mexico Meat Market / E Monte Vista El Pollo Loco / E Monte Vista & Br Val Sams Club / Burton Dr Burlington / Harbison Dr Vacaville Transit Center (arrival) Maximum Average Late Total Timepoints Departure Timepoints Percent Timepoints Early (Departures Only) % Timepoints Early (Arrivals Only) % Timepoints On Time % Timepoints 6 9 Minutes Late % Timepoints Minutes Late % Timepoints Minutes Late % Timepoints >20 Minutes Late % Maximum Minutes Early Maximum Minutes Late Source: Surveys conducted between 9/26/17 and 10/7/17 Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 52

59 TABLE 32: Route 8 On Time Performance Analysis Scheduled Run Start Time Total 6:00 AM 6:30 AM 7:00 AM 7:30 AM 8:00 AM 8:30 AM 9:00 AM 9:30 AM 10:00 AM 10:30 AM 11:00 AM 11:30 AM 12:00 PM 12:30 PM 1:00 PM 1:30 PM 2:00 PM 2:30 PM 3:00 PM 3:30 PM 4:00 PM 4:30 PM 5:00 PM 5:30 PM Average Deviation from Schedule Vacaville Transit Center (departure) Creekside Mobile Park / Aegean Way Beelard & Peabody Meadowlands Park / Vanden Youngsdale Dr & Morning Glory Will C. Wood / Marshall Rd Brenden Theaters / Davis Transit Plaza Park and Ride / Davis St Will C. Wood / Marshall Rd Allison Dr (at Elmira) Vacaville Transit Center (arrival) Maximum Average Late Total Timepoints Departure Timepoints Percent Timepoints Early (Departures Only) % Timepoints Early (Arrivals Only) % Timepoints On Time % Timepoints 6 9 Minutes Late % Timepoints Minutes Late % Timepoints Minutes Late % Timepoints >20 Minutes Late % Maximum Minutes Early Maximum Minutes Late Source: Surveys conducted between 9/26/17 and 10/7/17 Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 53

60 Figure 8: Average Minutes Late by Route by Run At Location on Route Most Behind Schedule Average Late by Run (minutes) Route 1 Route 2 Route 4 Route 5 Route 6 Route :00 AM 7:00 AM 8:00 AM 9:00 AM 10:00 AM 11:00 AM 12:00 PM 1:00 PM 2:00 PM 3:00 PM 4:00 PM 5:00 PM 6:00 PM Run Start Time (Route 5 15 Minutes Later) Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 54

61 Chapter 5 City Coach Route Segment Analysis The evaluation of the individual routes presented abovee can hide portions that are relatively productive or unproductive along a route. To evaluate at a finer level of detail, a route segment analysis was conducted, in which each route was divided into three or four segments. For each segment, the passenger boarding and the hours/miles of service were used to identify costs and revenues, and in turn to assess a variety of performance measures. In addition, the passenger load information was considered for each segment. Note that there are some caveats that should be considered when reviewing the results of a route segment analysis. First, passenger activity is considered only for boarding (but not deboardings) in order to avoid double counting individual passengers. Some route segments may see more activity of passengers getting off of the bus rather than boarding the bus. Secondly, some segments may not have many passenger boardings but will carry high loads of passengers thatt are traveling between other segments, and thus may have a higher level of utility than the boarding dataa might indicate. Finally, transferss impact the number of passenger boardings on routes departing the Transportation Center and the Transit Plaza; these segments inherently benefit from the fact that other routes generate passenger boardings, rather than the land uses along the route segment. The results of the route segment analysis are shown in Table 33: The Passengers per Vehicle Mile e range between a low of 0.2 (for the return portion of Route 4) to a high of 2.2 (for the portion of Route 2 between the Transportation Center and Transit Plaza via Allison Drive,, Elmira Road and Mason Street). Other segments that rank highly by this measuree are the portion of Route 6 west of Depot/Montee Vista, the other portions of Route 6, and all segments of Route 5. The most productive segment as measured by the Passengers per Vehicle Hour is the southern stretch of Route 5 between thee Nut Tree/Marshall intersection and I 80/Alamo Drive, with 26.9 passenger trips per hour. As is also shown in Figure 9, other relatively strong segments are the western portion of Route 6, the portion of Route 8 between the Transportation Center and Will C. Wood High School, Route 4 between the Transportation Center and Kaiser Hospital, and the northeastern portion of Route 5. Poor performing segments consist off Route 4 from the Outlets to the Transportationn Center, and all segments of Route 1. The Subsidy per Passenger is a key performance measure, in that it considers the key input to public transit (public operatingg funding) and the key output (passenger boardings). The best segmentss by this measure are those with the lowest values. As shown in Figure 10, the best segmentss are the southern Working Paper 2: Route and Network Evaluation Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 55

62 TABLE 33: Vacaville City Coach Route Segment Analysis Weekday (During School Year) Shading Reflects Best (Red) to Worst (Green) Route Segment Boardings Vehicle Miles Input Data Vehicle Hours Operating Cost Psgrs per Mile Performance Measures Psgrs per Subsidy Hour per Psgr Farebox Return Ratio Passenger Load per Run Aver- 95th age % Maximum Route 1 Route 2 Route 4 Route 5 Route 6 Route 8 Trans Center - Nut Tree Rd $ $ % Nut Tree Rd - Leisure Town Rd $ $ % Leisure Town/Yellowstone - Kaiser $ $5.73 7% Trans Center - Transit Plaza (S. Side) $ $ % West of Transit Plaza $ $ % Transit Plaza - Trans Center (N.Side) $ $ % N. of Browns Vly/Brown St $ $ % Trans Center - Vaca Valley Parkway $ $ % Kaiser - Orange/Lawrance $ $ % Premium Outlets - Trans Center $ $ % Trans Center - Nut Tree/Marshall $ $ % Nut Tree / Marshall - I $ $ % I-80 - Transit Plaza $ $ % Trans Plaza - I $ $ % I-80 - Depot/Monte Vista $ $ % W. of Depot/Monte Vista $ $ % Trans Center - Marshall/Peabody $ $ % S of Marshall/Peabody $ $ % Marshall/Peabody - Transit Plaza $ $ % portion of Route 5 (along Alamo Drive) which requires only $0.62 in subsidy for every passenger, followed by the Markham portion of Route 6 ($0.90), and the segments of Route 2, 4, 5 and 8 starting at the Transportation Center ($1.12 to $1.33). The most expensive segments consist of the portions of Route 1 east of Nut Tree Road/Yellowstone Drive ($5.73 and $10.39) and the last segment of Route 4 between Premium Outlets and the Transportation Center (though in this latter case the route is also serving passengers boarding on previous segments). The Farebox Return Ratio (ratio of estimated fares to operating costs) is highest for the southern portion of Route 5 (52 percent), and is relatively high for all portions of Routes 5 and 6 as well as the portions of Route 2, 4 and 8 closest to the Transportation Center. Poorer performers consist of Route 1, and the last segments of Route 2, 4 and 8. Table 33 also presents the passenger loads by route segment. This shows a high variation in passenger loads along the busier routes, particularly for the maximum load level. Route 2 maximum load is highest between the Transit Plaza and Markham area (generated by the afternoon student trips from Vacaville High School). Route 5 loads are highest on the southern segment (generated by the afternoon student trips from Vaca Pena Middle School). Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 56

63 Figure 9: Route Segment Passenger Boardings per Hour Passenger Boardings per Vehicle Hour of Service Route 1: Trans Center Nut Tree Rd Route 1: Nut Tree Rd Leisure Town Rd Route 1: Leisure Town/Yellowstone Kaiser Route 2: Trans Center Transit Plaza (S. Side) Route 2: West of Transit Plaza Route 2: Transit Plaza Trans Center (N.Side) Route 2: N. of Browns Vly/Brown St Route 4: Trans Center Vaca Valley Parkway Route 4: Kaiser Orange/Lawrance Route 4: Premium Outlets Trans Center Route 5: Trans Center Nut Tree/Marshall Route 5: Nut Tree / Marshall I 80 Route 5: I 80 Transit Plaza Route 6: Trans Plaza I 80 Route 6: I 80 Depot/Monte Vista Route 6: W. of Depot/Monte Vista Route 8: Trans Center Marshall/Peabody Route 8: S of Marshall/Peabody Route 8: Marshall/Peabody Transit Plaza Route 6 s highest loads are in the Markham and downtown areas, generated by the morning trips to Vacaville High School. The greatest loads on Route 8 are on the southeastern loop, generated by both the morning and afternoon student trips from Will C. Wood High School. On time performance by route segment was reviewed, but found not to generate useful information as the delays on one segment create on time problems on subsequent segments. The discussion of on time performance presented above identifies specific roadways and route segments that create delays. Overall, the route segment analysis reveals that the central, western and southern portions of Vacaville are better transit territory than the northeastern or northern portions. Despite the lower development densities along the central portion of Route 5, this area is a particularly strong generator of ridership, along with the areas near downtown and the Transportation Center. The Vaca Valley Parkway area (including Solano Community College and Kaiser) also is a good generator of ridership. The areas served by Route 1 as well as the Orange Drive portion of Route 4 are relatively poor performers, indicating a need to consider changes in service plans for these corridors. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 57

64 Figure 10: Route Segment Subsidy per Passenger Boarding Operating Subsidy per Passenger Boarding $0.00 $2.00 $4.00 $6.00 $8.00 $10.00 $12.00 $14.00 $16.00 Route 1: Trans Center Nut Tree Rd $3.43 Route 1: Nut Tree Rd Leisure Town Rd $10.39 Route 1: Leisure Town/Yellowstone Kaiser $5.73 Route 2: Trans Center Transit Plaza (S. Side) Route 2: West of Transit Plaza Route 2: Transit Plaza Trans Center (N.Side) $1.24 $1.80 $2.12 Route 2: N. of Browns Vly/Brown St $3.02 Route 4: Trans Center Vaca Valley Parkway $1.33 Route 4: Kaiser Orange/Lawrance $2.82 Route 4: Premium Outlets Trans Center $14.06 Route 5: Trans Center Nut Tree/Marshall Route 5: Nut Tree / Marshall I 80 Route 5: I 80 Transit Plaza Route 6: Trans Plaza I 80 Route 6: I 80 Depot/Monte Vista Route 6: W. of Depot/Monte Vista Route 8: Trans Center Marshall/Peabody Route 8: S of Marshall/Peabody Route 8: Marshall/Peabody Transit Plaza $1.12 $0.62 $1.60 $1.52 $0.90 $1.45 $1.13 $1.88 $2.58 Route Segment Analysis by Run To gain additional insight regarding the performance of the various routes, one measure passengers per vehicle hour of service (also referred to as productivity) was reviewed by weekday run. Table 34 presents both the average ridership by route and run, as well as the average productivity by route and run. Not surprisingly, this data also reflects the peaks generated by school ridership, particularly in both the AM and PM school bell periods on Routes 2, 5, 6 and 8. There are also various runs with high productivity on the Route 4 segment between the Transportation Center and Kaiser, which benefits from the quick running times along I 80 and I 505. The first segments of Routes 5, 6 and 8 (departing from the Transportation Center) all have relatively good productivity through the mid day period, as does the segment of Route 6 between I 80 and Depot Street. There is no particular pattern of productivity on Route 1. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 58

65 TABLE 34: Passenger Boardings and Productivity by Run by Route Segment Average Weekday in School Year Excludes Passengers on Board From Previous Segments Run Start Time (1) 6:00 AM 6:30 AM 7:00 AM 7:30 AM 8:00 AM 8:30 AM 9:00 AM 9:30 AM 10:00 AM 10:30 AM 11:00 AM 11:30 AM 12:00 PM 12:30 PM 1:00 PM 1:30 PM 2:00 PM 2:30 PM 3:00 PM 3:30 PM 4:00 PM 4:30 PM 5:00 PM 5:30 PM Average Weekday Ridership by Run Trans Center - Nut Tree Rd Route Nut Tree Rd - Leisure Town Rd Route 2 Route 4 Route 5 Route 6 Route 8 Leisure Town/Yellowstone - Kaiser Trans Center - Transit Plaza (S. Side) West of Transit Plaza Transit Plaza - Trans Center (N.Side) N. of Browns Vly/Brown St Trans Center - Vaca Valley Parkway Kaiser - Orange/Lawrance Premium Outlets - Trans Center Trans Center - Nut Tree/Marshall Nut Tree / Marshall - I I-80 - Transit Plaza Trans Plaza - I I-80 - Depot/Monte Vista W. of Depot/Monte Vista Trans Center - Marshall/Peabody S of Marshall/Peabody Marshall/Peabody - Transit Plaza Average Weekday Productivity (Passenger Boardings per Vehicle-Hour) by Run Trans Center - Nut Tree Rd Route Nut Tree Rd - Leisure Town Rd Route 2 Route 4 Route 5 Route 6 Route 8 Leisure Town/Yellowstone - Kaiser Trans Center - Transit Plaza (S. Side) West of Transit Plaza Transit Plaza - Trans Center (N.Side) N. of Browns Vly/Brown St Trans Center - Vaca Valley Parkway Kaiser - Orange/Lawrance Premium Outlets - Trans Center Trans Center - Nut Tree/Marshall Nut Tree / Marshall - I I-80 - Transit Plaza Trans Plaza - I I-80 - Depot/Monte Vista W. of Depot/Monte Vista Trans Center - Marshall/Peabody S of Marshall/Peabody Marshall/Peabody - Transit Plaza Note 1: Route 5 start times 15 minutes later. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 59

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67 Chapter 6 City Coach Passenger Onboard Survey Onboard passenger surveys weree conductedd on the Cityy Coach fixed routes in order to gain a further understandin ng of the current servicee and the ridership it serves. The survey results provide information on trip making patterns of existing transit ridership, as well as provide a demographic profile of current riders. Additionally, survey feedback provides insight into riders perception of existing services and their desires for service improvements. The survey was a two sided format of a single page in English on one side and Spanish on the opposite side. A total of 703 valid surveys were collected, 9.6 percent of which were completed in Spanish. The survey instrument and detailed responsee data is presented in Appendix A. Key findings of this survey are as follows: 51 percent of riders weree travelling roundtrip, while 49 percent were riding one way. The proportion of passengers traveling for primary or secondary schooling that ride only one way is particularly high, at 57 percent. 79 percent walked to or from the bus to get to their origin or destinationn and 10 percent transferred to or from another bus. Approximate ely 1 percent used a bike to get to and from the bus, 1 percent used a wheelchair and another 3 percent were dropped off or picked up. A car was available for 12 percent of passenger ss trips. Just over a quarter of passengers had a driver s license. The largest proportion of passengerss (47 percent) are adultss between 18 and 61 years of age, while 37 percent are age 6 to 17 and 15 percent are 62 or older. City Coach passenger s use the service for a widee range of trip purposes. Figure 11 indicates thatt the largest proportion were primarily traveling to or from high school (26 percent), followed by work (24 percent). Other common trip purposes are shopping (12 percent), medical/dental trips (11 percent) and elementary/ /middle school students (11 percent). In total, primary and secondary education generates 37 percent of all travel among respondents, while college generates an addition 5 percent. When asked to describe their occupation, 31 percent indicated they were high school students, 28 percent were employed, 12 percentt were retired, 8 percent were college students, 7 percent weree middle school students, and 6 percent each were unemployed and other. Working Paper 2: Route and Network Evaluation Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 61

68 Figure 11: Passenger Primary Trip Purpose Personal Business, 8.0% College, 4.6% Other, 4.3% Work, 23.5% High School, 26.5% Medical/Dental, 10.8% Shopping, 12.0% Elem/Middle School, 10.8% Multi purpose, 9.2% Recreational/Social, 5.5% Passengers were asked if they agreed with the statement I would rather have fares increased than service cuts. A solid majority of 68 percent indicated yes, while 32 percent indicated no. Passengers were asked to rank transit service characteristics of The Bus on a scale of poor (1) to excellent (4). The results are shown in Figure 12. Overall, passengers indicate a high opinion of City Coach, with 89 percent indicating that overall service rates an Excellent or Good response, 6 percent indicating Fair and 5 percent indicating Poor. As indicated, Cleanliness of Vehicles received the highest rating of the individual factors, with 89 percent indicating Excellent or Good, followed closely by Safety/Security (88 percent), Driver Courtesy (87 percent) and Fares (86 percent). The categories with the lowest ratings consist of Information at Bus Stops (29 percent indicating poor or fair), On Time Performance (25 percent) and Bus Stops (19 percent). Factors Passengers Believe Would Increase Ridership Passengers were asked What do you think would most increase ridership on City Coach. A total of 327 passengers responded to this question. Responses were sorted in 12 categories, as well as a category for kudos (compliments). Note that many passengers indicated multiple Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 62

69 Figure 12: Passenger Opinion of City Coach Service 1 Poor 2 Fair 3 Good 4 Excellent 100% 90% 80% 70% 42% 53% 62% 55% 48% 63% 63% 63% 54% 60% 55% 59% 60% 50% 40% 34% 23% 30% 20% 10% 0% 17% 8% 32% 29% 25% 10% 8% 11% 5% 5% 5% 18% 11% 30% 26% 26% 25% 23% 26% 30% 11% 7% 6% 8% 11% 8% 6% 5% 6% 6% 6% 6% 8% 5% responses. The overall results are shown in Figure 13, while detailed responses are included in Appendix A. The single most common response was later hours of service, cited by 19 percent of respondents. Other common responses were service to new areas or stops (16 percent), improvements to marketing or information (10 percent), and changes to fares (10 percent). Roughly 8 percent of respondents indicated improvement in on time performance, Sunday service, bus stop improvements and greater frequency of service. A review of the individual responses provides the following insights: Most of the respondents indicating the need for service to new areas or stops identified the need for additional stops along the existing routes. There were also requests for service extensions into the outlying portions of Vacaville, as well as specific requests for stops at Monte Vista/Buckhorn and Centennial Park. Many of the responses relating to marketing/information were specifically for more advertising, real time bus location information on the app, and more schedule information at the bus stops. Suggestions for fare changes focused on reducing the fare (typically to $1), having more free fare days, and eliminating the transfer charge. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 63

70 Figure 13: Improvements That Would Most Increase Ridership Proportion of Responding Ridership Indicating Improvement by Category 0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% 18% 20% Later Hours of Service 18.7% Other 18.3% Serve New Areas or Stops 16.2% Marketing / Info 10.4% Fare Changes 9.8% Improve Ontime Perf 8.9% Kudos 8.3% Sunday Service 8.0% Bus Stop Improvements 7.6% Greater Frequency Improve Buses 4.9% 7.6% Note: Many Riders Indicated More Than One Response Routing Changes 1.5% Earlier Service 1.2% Bus stop improvements focused on the need for additional shelters and benches. Recommendations for improvements in the buses focused on additional seating capacity and provision of wifi service. The Other category included several comments regarding driver courtesy, as well as passenger interactions. Improvements Riders Would Most Like to See Passengers were also asked to respond to the question What transit improvements would you like to see. A total of 394 persons responded to this question, many with multiple responses. Detailed responses are included in Appendix A, and are summarized by category in Figure 14. The clear preference was for later hours of service, identified by 45 percent of respondents. This was followed by Sunday service (18 percent), service to new areas or stops (13 percent) and earlier service (11 percent) 7. Responses garnering between 5 and 10 percent of 7 This figure includes those respondents indicating longer or increased hours of service without specifying a desire for earlier service, which were roughly half of these respondents. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 64

71 Figure 14: Improvements That Riders Would Most Like to See Proportion of Responding Ridership Indicating Improvement by Category 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% Later Hours of Service 44.7% Sunday Service 17.5% Serve New Areas or Stops 12.9% Earlier Service 11.4% Greater Frequency 8.4% Improve Ontime Perf 7.1% Bus Stop Improvements 6.6% Kudos 6.6% Marketing / Info 5.8% Other Routing Changes 4.6% 5.6% Note: Many riders indicated more than one response Improve Buses 4.1% Fare Changes 1.5% responses consisted of increased frequency, improved on time performance, bus stop improvements and improved marketing/information. A review of the detailed responses yields the following conclusions: Many of the passengers desiring later service specified the desire for one additional hour of service. Responses regarding service to new areas or stop were largely generically for additional stops. Specific locations mentioned consisted of Elmira/Shasta, the new train station, near Lowes, on Monte Vista by Saks 5 th Avenue, Heritage Homes, Vanden Ranch, North Pointe Apartments, the Amazon warehouse, the residential area north of Solano Community College, and along Crescent Drive. Passengers who indicated they desired stops nearer their home reported that the lived near the following street intersections: o Vanden/Oak Brook o Glen Eagle/Wrentham o Vanden/Alamo Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 65

72 Of those passengers specifically desiring earlier service, the majority identified the desire for earlier hours on Saturday (such as starting at the weekday start of service). Bus improvements focused on the need for more seating capacity, though wifi service was also mentioned. Suggested marketing/information improvements included requests for improvements to the transit app and more real time information. Bus stop improvements focused on the desire for additional shelters and benches, though the desire for public restrooms as well as a playground at the transit centers were mentioned. There were also several comments regarding the need for routes or runs specifically for school trips. Transfer Patterns The passenger surveys can be used to estimate total daily transfers between the various routes. As shown in the top portion of Table 35, passengers indicated the other routes that they would use to complete their one way trip. The proportion of passengers on each route that transfer as part of their trip varies widely, from as low as 34 percent on Route 2 to as high as 89 percent on Route 8. These results can be factored by the average weekday ridership on each route (during the school year) to identify total daily transfers between the various routes, as shown in the bottom portion of Table 35. The highest transfer activity is between Routes 6 and 8, with 356 daily transfers (more than one third of all transfers). This is followed by transfers between Routes 5 and 6 (211) and between Routes 2 and 4 (133). As discussed in Chapter 2, above, the current City Coach operating plan interlines buses only between Routes 2 and 8. While there are other factors that affect interlining (notably the need to provide adequate driver breaks as part of the overall cycle), from a passenger s perspective interlining Routes 6 and 8 would be beneficial, in that it would reduce the need for passengers to physically transfer between buses and would eliminate the potential for transfers to be missed between these two routes. Passenger Origin/Destination Patterns The onboard survey results are also useful in evaluating passenger s trip patterns by origin and destination. As shown in Figure 15, a system of 10 zones were established for this analysis. Data is derived from a total of 377 respondents who provided adequate information to identify both their origin zone and destination zone for their trip. The total number of respondents by trip origin and destination zone is presented in the top portion of Table 36. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 66

73 TABLE 35: Transfer Patterns Between City Coach Routes Transfer To Percent of Passengers Transferring 1 48% 10% 6% 23% 10% 3% 52% 2 66% 4% 30% 0% 0% 0% 34% 4 23% 2% 23% 13% 9% 30% 77% 5 54% 4% 0% 7% 21% 14% 46% 6 11% 2% 0% 6% 25% 55% 89% 8 38% 0% 0% 13% 12% 38% 63% Transfer From Passengers On Route Don t Transfer Total Transfer To Source: Onboard Surveys Estimated Daily Transfers on Weekdays During School Year Sum of Both Directions And Between As indicated, the highest number of respondents indicated they were traveling within the Southwest Zone (25), followed by travel from the Southeast Zone to the Central Zone (24). This data can be factored by the ratio of the average school year weekday ridership to the total responses, and summed over the two directions to yield estimates of the total daily ridership between each pair of zones, as shown in the bottom portion of Table 36. This data is also depicted graphically in Figure 15. A review of this analysis reflects the diverse, many to many pattern of travel using the City Coach service, rather than a focus on a limited key corridors. There are however, five trips that stand out (all of which are made by more than 100 passengers per day): Central Zone Southeast Zone (140 one way passenger trips per day) Central Zone Southwest Zone (125) Outlets Zone Southwest Zone (125) Internal to Southwest Zone (120) Southwest Zone Southeast Zone (115) The Downtown, Markham, Outlets and Vaca Valley Parkway Zones also have multiple relatively high ridership trip pairs. However, no one OD pair has more than 8 percent of total City Coach ridership. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 67

74 TABLE 36: Daily Passenger Trips Between Zones Average Weekday in School Year Browns Valley Central Downtown East Markham Outlets Southeast Southwest Vaca Vly Pkwy West From Zone Survey Responses (1 Way Trips) To Zone Browns Valley Central Downtown East Markham Outlets Southeast Southwest Vaca Vly Pkwy West Estimated Daily Passenger Trips (Total 2 Way) Browns Valley Central Downtown East Markham Outlets Southeast Southwest VV Parkway 20 0 West 5 Total Trip Ends by Zone Percent of Total Daily Ridership (2 Way) Browns Valley 1% 0% 2% 0% 2% 1% 0% 2% 0% 2% Central 3% 1% 1% 1% 4% 8% 7% 3% 1% Downtown 0% 0% 2% 1% 2% 2% 1% 1% East 1% 1% 2% 0% 1% 0% 0% Markham 3% 4% 0% 1% 0% 1% Outlets 2% 3% 7% 2% 1% Southeast 2% 6% 2% 1% Southwest 7% 1% 1% VV Parkway 1% 0% West 0% Total Trip Ends by Zone 11% 29% 14% 5% 15% 27% 25% 35% 11% 9% Source: Survey of 377 City Coach Passengers Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 68

75 Orchard Ave Miles I Figure 15 City Coach Origin/Destination Pattern 1-way Passenger Trips Per Day Steiger Hill Rd Trips Internal to Zone Browns Valley Rd Browns Valley Monte Vista Ave Vaca Valley Pky 505 Vaca Valley Parkway Vaca Valley Rd Farrell Rd Dobbins St East Markham Outlets Yellowstone Dr Leisure Town Rd Foothill Dr West Buck Ave Downtown Elmira Rd 80 Davis St Marshall Rd Central Rivera Rd Peabody Rd Southwest Alamo Dr Southeast Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 6

76 Comparison of Passenger Trip Patterns with Transit Quality of Service The passenger origin/destination information can be compared with the quality of service currently provided by City Coach to provide a useful evaluation of how well the current route system and schedules are serving the existing passengers. The relative quality of service between the various zones was calculated as follows: The minimum travel time was identified, as shown in Table 15, above. A 10 minute penalty was applied if the trip requires a transfer. This reflects transit demand research that indicates passengers find the inconvenience of a transfer equivalent to an additional 10 minutes of travel time. A 15 minute penalty was applied for trips that require travel on Route 1, reflecting the inconvenience of service only once per hour. This value is half of the difference between 30 minute and 60 minute service frequency. The resulting values provide a relative measure of quality of service, with a lower figure reflecting a better quality of service. The overall range of values was split into three levels with equal number of OD pairs: relatively good service (less than 25), average service (25 to 48) and relatively poor service (above 48). Table 37 shows both the estimated daily one way passenger trips as well as the relative quality of service shown in shading, with relatively good service in green, average service in yellow, and poorest service in red. (The grey cells reflect trips internal within each cell, which are not possible to classify as travel times would depend on specific trip origin/destination within the cell.) Optimally, all of the highest numerical values (daily passenger trips) would be in green shaded cells (relatively good service), with lowest numerical values in red cells. A review of this table indicates the following: The current City Coach service plan is doing quite a good job of serving the highest passenger OD pairs with relatively good service: all 12 of the highest ridership pairs are provided with a relatively good level of service (i.e., are in a green cell) or are internal to a zone. The largest volume of passengers provided with average service is 35 passengers per day (Central to Outlets zone). The largest volume of passengers provided with relatively poor service is 20 passengers per day between the Markham and Browns Valley zones. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 70

77 The majority of OD pairs provided with relatively low service also have low ridership (less than 15 passengers per day). This analysis indicates that routes are well matched with the existing ridership patterns. There may be some potential of providing direct routes through the Transportation Center, such as between the Central Zone and the Outlets and/or Vaca Valley Parkway Zones. TABLE 37: Comparison of Quality of Transit Service and Daily Ridership Between Zones 20 Daily 1 way Passenger Trips Best Service Less than 25 minutes equivalent travel time Average Service 25 to 48 minutes equivalent service Poorest Service More than 48 minutes equivalent service To Zone Browns Valley Central Downtown East Markham Outlets Southeast Southwest Vaca Vly Pkwy West Browns Valley Central Downtown East From Zone Markham Outlets Southeast Southwest Vaca Vly Pkwy West Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 71

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79 Chapter 7 Recommended Alternatives for Analysis The analyses presented in the previous chapters, as well as the market analysis presented in Work Paper One, were reviewed to identify various alternatives that warrant detailed technical analysis. The following are alternatives that this review indicates have the potential to increase ridership and/or to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the City Coach service, or are common requests for improvements. It should be notedd that inclusion on this list is no indication that an alternative will be included in the final plan. Service Alternatives Establishment of Tripper Routes specifically designed to serve schoolss and operated only when needed to serve schools. This could potentially reduce overall costs (by eliminating service in periods not needed for school transportation), provide more direct and convenient transportationn for students, and address the overcrowding issues on several routes at bell times. Service to the Parkside area in northeast Vacaville. Service to Southeast Vacaville (indicated both byy passenger data as well as survey comments), such as the neighborhoo ods along Ulatis Drive and Elmira Drive east of Nut Tree Road. Service to the neighborhoods north and west of Vacaville High School, perhaps as far north as North Orchard Park. Service to the new Vacaville/Fairfield Train Station. Reduction in service frequency on Saturdays on some routess (particularly Routes 2, 4 and 8), potentially in concert with longer hours of service Reductions in service frequency on some routes in summer (such as Routes 2, 4 and/or 8) Considerationn of a large two directio onal loop combining Route 6 with the northern portions of Route 8 (excluding the large loop south of Will C.. Wood High School) Extension of weekday service by one additional evening hour. Working Paper 2: Route and Network Evaluation Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 73

80 Extension of weekday service until 9 PM. Sunday service. Interline Route 6 with Route 8 Revisions to Route 1 to also serve Orange Drive Revisions to Route 5 schedule to provide better transfer opportunities at the Transportation Center and/or Transit Plaza Revisions to schedules of all routes to better serve school bell times. Revisions to the Route 1 schedule to address operating early. Revisions to routing around the Transportation Center to operate some service on Nut Tree Parkway between Allison Drive and Harbison Drive. Revisions to schedules to better match travel times in periods of peak congestion and/or passenger loads, particularly in the Nut Tree/Outlets area, along Alamo Drive. As an aside, a common transit planning strategy is to focus service on high demand corridors, providing more frequent service on a key corridor (such as between transit centers). However, this analysis of City Coach ridership and conditions indicates against this type of service plan, and there is no one key corridor with a high proportion of ridership (particularly once school trips are served). Capital Alternatives Review of bus stop locations along all routes, with a focus on the Outlet area and downtown Vacaville. Additional shelters and benches Fare and Marketing Alternatives Elimination of the transfer charge Increase in base fare of $1.50 Improve the transit app to provide real time maps of bus locations (in addition to the current estimated arrival times at key stops) Improve printed maps to show all bus stop locations. Vacaville Transit Service Evaluation Study Page 74

81 Appendix A Onboard Passenger Survey Form and Detailed Results

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