Port Authority to use new service guidelines
With money available to improve service for the first time in decades, the Port Authority has drafted new guidelines for deciding where to add — or possibly subtract — service.
Until now, changes to bus and rail service have largely been made internally, with minimal public participation. The new guidelines are an effort to make the process more transparent, spokesman Jim Ritchie said Tuesday.
The passage of Act 89, the transportation funding law approved by the Legislature in 2013, has brought more revenue to transit agencies and has put Port Authority on solid financial ground after years of deficits and service cuts. The agency was able to add trips on some overcrowded bus routes last year and has proposed extending four routes this year to areas not currently served.
“It became obvious to us that we’re facing a new type of service issue now that our budget has been stabilized through Act 89 funding,” Mr. Ritchie said. “In the past, the issue was always the need to cut service to meet our annual budget. Now we have a different sort of problem. It’s one of those good problems.”
The guidelines call for an annual service report that evaluates
every route for efficiency, effectiveness and equity. Efficiency includes the net cost of the route and the anticipated gains or losses from any changes. Effectiveness includes on-time performance, frequency of trips, the size of the area within walking distance and how it coordinates with other service. Equity is the degree to which it serves lower-income and minority populations, senior citizens and the disabled.
Each route will be assigned a letter grade. The report will be made public in May or June starting next year and will include ridership and cost statistics and on-time performance levels. It will be accompanied by proposed major service changes based on the evaluations.
A “major” change includes adding or eliminating a route, changing more than 30 percent of it or adding facilities such as park-n-ride lots or stations.
Ninety-two percent of the authority’s buses are equipped to count how many riders board or alight at each stop and record the information. Older buses without the counters are scheduled to be removed from service this year, according to the guidelines. Rail cars do not yet make counts of where passengers get on or off.
The route evaluations and public input received throughout the year will be used to determine how to allocate whatever funding is available for service improvements, Mr. Ritchie said. Major route changes will occur in late August or early September each year, but the transit agency will continue to make minor route adjustments on a quarterly basis, he said.
The guidelines say that correcting problems with overcrowding on existing routes should take precedence over adding service. Overcrowding is defined as occupancy equal to or greater than 140 percent of the number of seats on a bus or 225 percent of the seats on a rail car.
It’s possible that routes found to be unsuccessful could be cut back or eliminated, Mr. Ritchie said.
The draft guidelines were posted on the authority’s website, portauthority.org. They will be discussed by the authority board at public meetings next month.
The authority’s proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 sets aside $1.4 million to extend the 44 Knoxville route to serve North Baldwin; the 56 Lincoln Place to serve Penn State’s Greater Allegheny campus in McKeesport; the 20 Kennedy to serve the Groveton section of Robinson; and the 91 Butler Street to serve RIDC Park in O’Hara.
It has an additional $500,000 set aside to add trips on existing routes with overcrowding.