Case studies
Presented by Kristin Haldeman, Tom Harrington, Jim Hamre, Tomika Hughey, Robin McElhenney, Scott Peterson, and John Dittmeier
Kristin Haldeman, from the office of Business Planning and Development introduced the case studies that would be presented as part of the afternoon’s program.
BPPD Case Studies presentation
Bus Stops (Tom Harrington and Jim Hamre):
What customers would prefer at bus stop:
- Bus stop has sense of place, including concrete pad;
- Bus stop has system map, route map and schedule;
- Bus stop offers protection from traffic;
- Bus stop has adequate lighting.
Q: Can bus stops without shelters have benches?
A: The installation of benches is important, especially as population ages.
More information about bus stops:
- Most of what constitutes a "bus stop" is controlled by the jurisdiction, not by WMATA.
- Communication is a critical component of bus stops – a bus stop is the "front door" of Metrobus service. The quality of information provided at bus stops has improved.
- The "NextBus" information system, specifically that Metro will be rolling out 22 more routes with NextBus on April 1st.
- NextBus is part of the "Extra" in the Georgia Avenue "MetroExtra" service.
- NextBus technology allows for the generation of messages to customers.
Q: Why is it that schedules in PDA format are only available for routes that serve Northern Virginia routes.
A: All of the schedules are available in .pdf formats, which can be used by some PDAs. Additional resources would need to be available to convert other bus schedules to PDA formats.
Q: How a bus stop can be put in before it is served by a particular bus?
A: That it depends on how the stop was put in. It ’s possible that the stop was required of the developer or done as part of a public works project.
Q: This is a particular problem in Fairfax County.
A: Chris Wells from the Fairfax County Department of Transportation noted that, under Virginia law, the time to get improvements is when there is development on the property; this allows the stops to be constructed, even if there isn’t a bus line serving the stop yet.
Regional Bus Stop Survey -- Kristin Haldeman
- 12,000 WMATA-only stops in the region, plus approximately 8,000 stops served solely by local operators such as Ride-On, Fairfax Connector, etc.;
- Survey goal is to collect data on all of these stops and house this information at WMATA;
- Next step is to overlay other information such as ridership data, points-of-interest data, and demographic data
Q: Is a GIS layer included in the data set of bus stops?
A: Yes. A GIS layer is included in the bus stop data set.
Stations Access Programs -- Scott Peterson
The "Station Access Program", is designed to improve pedestrian access to stations. Mr. Peterson reviewed the proposed redesign of access to the Minnesota Avenue station that will result in improved pedestrian and bus safety, as part of a joint development project.
Q: Some bike riders who use the station say they would never leave their bikes at the station. She said that she is encouraged by the discussion of putting bike racks within view of the station manager.
A: Metro needs to address this issue.
Q: Where will the proposed streetcar demonstration project run?
A: The project is proposed to run along Minnesota Avenue; Minnesota Avenue station is proposed terminus in two of the alternatives.
