REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS Downtown Hartford Transit Circulation and Through-Routing Study Transit Operations Planning Services The Capitol Region Council of Governments (CRCOG) seeks consulting services in support of the implementation of other projects ongoing in the region. The City of Hartford is the recipient of a TIGER IV grant for its Intermodal Triangle project. Additionally, the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) is currently in the construction phase of the development of a busway, dubbed CTfastrak, which will link New Britain and downtown Hartford and will begin operation in 2015. The Intermodal Triangle project is a downtown street rebuilding project that will strengthen the Capitol Region s economic and employment core by improving pedestrian and vehicular connections within the Union Station to Main Street triangle. It will provide improved pathways for transit vehicles, including CTfastrak operations. The City seeks to transform transit in downtown Hartford so that it functions as an economic development tool, providing convenient access to employment, culture, and outside connections, serving as the center, not the terminus, of a regional system. Further, the City desires a downtown transit system that is highly legible and easy to use for nonregular users, valuable customers, and property owners. At this point, the redesign of the downtown bus circulation is conceptual in nature and the Capitol Region Council of Governments (CRCOG) seeks consulting assistance to flesh out these concepts to create a workable downtown bus circulation system. This project will be managed by the CRCOG, but will be conducted with close collaboration between all involved parties: the City of Hartford, CTDOT, CTTRANSIT, the Greater Hartford Transit District (GHTD), and CRCOG. This collaborative meets on a biweekly basis, and the Consultant will be expected to work closely with this group. The results of the downtown circulation study will inform the design work for TIGER funded roadway improvements. Additionally, within the next quarter, CRCOG will also seek transit operations planning consulting services for a comprehensive analysis of the entire Hartford transit system. The work completed in this downtown study will be input to that larger work. Specific tasks to be performed by the Consultant 1. Establish a stop spacing policy for downtown. This should be based upon research into best practices for downtown transit operation, consideration of the downtown street grid, and current operations. The following parties should agree to the new policy: CTDOT, CTTRANSIT, and the City of Hartford. 2. Create a concept that will remove terminating bus routes from Main street: Removal of terminating routes from Main Street has several goals to eliminate end of route layover time which currently occurs on Main Street for terminating routes; to provide better coverage of downtown employment locations for transit users; and to provide a de facto downtown circulator, with the existing bus service. a. Develop an initial scheme for through routing east and west routes which currently terminate in the downtown. This should begin with the work completed for the downtown transit circulation study conducted as part of the Northwest Corridor Transit Study and completed in 2009. Parameters for through-routing, such as maximum route length, will be established by
CTTRANSIT as input to this process. CTTRANSIT s standard for recovery time on through routes will be maintained. b. For those west routes that cannot be through routed, develop a routing that will take the routes past Main Street, and provide a layover point east of Main Street (possibility, Convention center area). c. For any east routes that are not through routed, develop a routing that will take the routes past Main Street and provide a layover point west of Main Street (possibility Union Station.) d. Examine the north south bus routes to determine if any additional through routing can be accomplished. e. Summarize the ramifications of the new recovery points in terms of convenience to passengers, ability to keep routes on schedule, and convenience for drivers. 3. Create downtown routing for all local buses: NOTE: the City of Hartford expects to reopen State Street between Main Street and Market Street. The additional concepts are requested as back up plans if this is not possible in the short-term. a. Concept 1: Begin with an initial downtown transit routing scheme developed by the City of Hartford as illustrated on the map at the end of this document. This scheme assumes that State Street between Main and Market (the old Isle of Safety location) will be reopened and identifies proposed routes for downtown loops of terminating routes. This also assumes that Asylum Street will be made 2 way, at least for buses. There will be 2 subsets to Concept 1: 1A assumes that the reopened State Street will be 2 way, 1B assumes that only 1 way flow will be possible on the reopened State Street. i. Consider passenger loads and transfer patterns between routes, consider additional route miles and ease of maneuverability and recommend modifications to the City s initial concept as needed. ii. Estimate the number of buses on each road segment, by direction, during the pm peak hour. iii. Indicate where the peak service is particularly concentrated and a peak b. Concept 2: Concept 2 will assume that State Street between Main and Market will NOT be reopened. i. Consider passenger loads and transfer patterns between routes and consider additional route miles and ease of maneuverability. ii. Estimate the number of buses on each road segment, by direction, during the pm peak hour. iii. Indicate where the peak service is particularly concentrated and a peak Capitol Region Council of Governments 2/7
4. Assign CTfastrak buses to the downtown grid a. This work will come from CTDOT, however, while this work is being prepared, an initial assumption will be that all CTfastrak buses (except commuter expresses) use Pearl Street, inbound and outbound, and will terminate east of Main Street. i. Estimate the number of buses on each road segment, by direction, during the pm peak hour. ii. Indicate where the peak service is particularly concentrated and a peak iii. Estimate passenger loads by stop. 5. Assign commuter express buses to the downtown grid. a. Some of this work will come from CTDOT for CTfastrak buses, but initially, begin with the Northwest Corridor Downtown Transit Circulation Study work, and identify downtown loops for express buses. Again, these loops should be developed for the three options for State Street between Main and Market. These routings will assume that as done today, a portion of commuter express trips will make the Asylum Hill loop. It is not necessary for all express routes to follow the same downtown loop. i. Estimate the number of buses on each road segment, by direction, during the pm peak hour. Consider the movement of buses from layover locations in developing these volumes. ii. Indicate where the peak service is particularly concentrated and a peak iii. Estimate passenger loads by stop. iv. Identify layover locations for the express buses, in downtown, but not in the heart of downtown. 6. Summarize, evaluate and modify: a. For each of the 3 concepts, Summarize and Evaluate functionality For each Concept: i. Summarize bus passenger volumes and transfer patterns at each downtown bus stop. ii. Summarize peak hour bus volumes (and 15 minute flows, as needed) on each downtown street. iii. Evaluate added transit mileage, for each concept, as compared to current route miles and indicate implications for fleet size. iv. Identify which routes will require schedule changes. v. Evaluate the functionality of the 3 concepts, for passengers, and for operations. b. Modify the concepts as needed where passenger volumes or bus volumes appear to be too high for capacity and where routing results in excessive additional route miles. Capitol Region Council of Governments 3/7
7. Identify the best location for the late night and weekend pulse services, given the 3 Circulation Concepts. 8. Output of Transit Tasks 1 to 7 For each of 3 Concepts: a. Description and Maps of Bus Re-routing and assumed routing travel times b. Description and Maps of proposed/relocated bus stops and required amenities c. Peak 15 minute AM and PM bus turning movement volumes on downtown streets d. Description of bus layover location, volumes and requirements e. Summary of added transit mileage as compared to current operations. 9. Collaborative modifications a. The City of Hartford, under a separate contract, will engage a traffic engineering consultant to evaluate the impact of proposed roadway changes and the bus reroutings upon traffic operations. The traffic evaluation may require a reconsideration of downtown transit operations as contained in Concepts 1A, 1B and 2. This task will include a reexamination and revisions to each of the three concepts based upon the traffic analysis. The output of this task will be modified Concepts 1A, 1B, and 2. 10. Final Product: Three Downtown Transit Circulation schemes a. Concept 1A: With State Street between Main and Market reopened and operating in 2 directions: i. Local bus routing, with bus stops identified for each route and layover locations for terminating routes ii. CTfastrak bus routing, with bus stops identified for each route and layover locations for terminating routes iii. Express bus routing, with bus stops identified for each route and layover locations identified. b. Concept 1B: With State Street between Main and Market reopened and operating in 1 direction only: i. Local bus routing, with bus stops identified for each route and layover locations for terminating routes ii. CTfastrak bus routing, with bus stops identified for each route and layover locations for terminating routes iii. Express bus routing, with bus stops identified for each route and layover locations identified. c. Concept 2: With State Street between Main and Market NOT opened: i. Local bus routing, with bus stops identified for each route and layover locations for terminating routes ii. CTfastrak bus routing, with bus stops identified for each route and layover locations for terminating routes iii. Express bus routing, with bus stops identified for each route and layover locations for terminating route Capitol Region Council of Governments 4/7
Qualifications The selected Consultant must demonstrate experience with transit operations planning. Proposal Requirements To be considered for this work, the consultant must submit the following: A brief summary of experience with downtown transit operations planning with a focus upon the individual(s) who will carry out this work. A brief summary of experience with CTTRANSIT Hartford Division operations with a focus upon the individual(s) who will carry out this work. The name(s) of the individual(s) who will participate in this project. Resume(s) for the individual(s) who will participate in this project. A summary of your approach to this project, this should be an expansion upon the above task listing. The cost to provide these services. The cost should be listed by task, with an understanding that Task 9 might shrink or expand in scope depending upon the traffic evaluation. Your estimate should assume that Task 9 includes one round of revisions to each concept. A summary of hours to be spent by each staff person on each task. A schedule for completion of Task 1 through 8 by November 30, 2012, assuming that Notice to Proceed is issued on October 1, 2012. An indication of DBE status of the proposer (and its subconsultants, if any.) All proposals must be received by September 21, 2012, at 5 PM and should be sent to Sandra Fry, Capitol Region Council of Governments, 241 Main Street, Hartford, CT 06106. Any questions regarding this RFP should be directed to Sandy Fry, CRCOG. 860-522- 2217, X220, sfry@crcog.org. Resources: City of Hartford TIGER IV Project: http://www.hartford.gov/component/content/article/319-planning/one-cityone-plan-pocd-2020/funding/509-tiger-iv CRCOG Northwest Corridor Transit Study, Downtown Circulation Final Report: http://www.crcog.org/publications/transportationdocs/nw/nwdowntown-final-2009-08-31.pdf CTfastrak information: www.ctfastrak.com CTTRANSIT Hartford Division: http://www.cttransit.com/routesschedules/display.asp?divid={7428a88dddd7-4910-9c2f-ad1e63b94375} Capitol Region Council of Governments 5/7
B U S Transit Structure Map Existing Alignments (Not Including Commuter Bus or the Bradley Flyer) Downtown Hartford South-West West SPRUCE I-84 UNION PL HOADLEY LAFAYETTE WASHINGTON BUCKINGHAM TRINITY CLINTON P A L R K N O R T H FORD HIGH ALLYN FOOT GUARD E L ANN H N HICKS HAYNES WEST JEWELL TRUMBULL CHAPEL HUDSON LEWIS MORGAN JOHN CHARTER OAK AV WHITMAN CT PULASKI MALL PROSPECT LINDEN PL SHELDON ARCH FRONT ATH. SQ. GOLD Turnaround for Terminating South Lines GROVE CENTRAL ROW STATE PRATT TEMPLE KINSLEY MARKET TALCOTT WHITEHEAD HWY. Founders Bridge From East I-91 N East N / 30, 32-36, 38, 40-43, 44, 46, 50-54 S / 31-33, 37-39, 47, 53-55, 59 West 60, 62, 64, 66, 72, 74, 76 East 80, 82-83, 85, 86, 87, 94-96 South-West 61, 63, 69, 41 Star Shuttle Suisman Urban Design July 17, 2012
Transit Structure Map Proposed Alignments (Not including Commuter Bus or the Bradley Flyer) Downtown Hartford South-West CTfastrak West SPRUCE Turnaround / Layover for East I-84 UNION PL HOADLEY LAFAYETTE WASHINGTON BUCKINGHAM TRINITY CLINTON P A L R K N O R T H FORD HIGH ALLYN FOOT GUARD E L ANN H N HICKS WEST B U S JEWELL Optional Alignment for a West route HAYNES TRUMBULL CHAPEL HUDSON LEWIS MORGAN JOHN CHARTER OAK AV WHITMAN CT PULASKI MALL PROSPECT LINDEN PL SHELDON ARCH FRONT ATH. SQ. GOLD GROVE Alternate Turnaround / Layover for CTfastrak CENTRAL ROW Alternate Turnaround / Layover for West STATE KINSLEY PRATT TEMPLE MARKET TALCOTT Turnaround / Layover for Terminating South and South West Lines WHITEHEAD HWY. Turnaround & Layover for CTfastrak and West Founders Bridge East I-91 N N / 30, 32-36, 38, 40-43, 44, 46, 50-54 S / 31-33, 37-39, 47, 53-55, 59 West 60, 62, 64, 66, 72, 74, 76 South-West 61, 63, 69, 41 CTfastrak East 80, 82-83, 85, 86, 87, 94-96 Suisman Urban Design July 17, 2012