The Middlesex County Community Shuttle...
Transcript of The Middlesex County Community Shuttle...
The Middlesex County
Community Shuttle System
An New Public Transit for the Suburbs
CTAA Expo
May 2012
Middlesex County at a Glance
• 310 square miles
• 805,000 population
• Two cities of over 40,000
• Three commuter rail lines and Amtrak
• High density commuter bus service
• Limited local bus (seven routes)
Early System History • 1975: Title XX funded system began as
Area Wide Transportation System (AWTS)
• 1984- Casino Revenue Tax funding begins
• 1993- Federal grant to NJDOL for
employment transportation for PWD
• 2004- First peak period shuttle for
employment transportation
• 2005- Creation of Middlesex County DOT
and AWTS become Middlesex County
Area Transit (MCAT)
MCAT Mission • Expand mobility opportunities for
transportation dependent residents
• Integrate the operations of MCAT services with NJ Transit and other traditional transit providers where appropriate
• Improve coordination with contiguous county, municipal and human service agency transportation providers
• Work with regional agencies to create services to address unmet needs
Why Community Shuttle? • Smaller, more efficient buses sized to
demand
• Scheduled service that can perform route deviations and increase productivity
• Combining traditional paratransit customers with traditional public transit customers
• Extend the reach of traditional public bus and rail into lower density suburban areas
• NJ Transit does not have the funding to create new suburban intrastate bus routes
Basic Principles for Effectively
Serving Suburbs • Link a wide variety of residential origins
and destinations
• Blend a variety of funding sources
• Use clock headways and timed transfer to promote transit integration
• Aggressively market services via timetable distribution to key residential origins and destinations
• Provide extra recovery time to allow minor route deviations
The MCAT Community Shuttle
System
Funding
• JARC (M1 and M2)
• Casino Revenue (M2)
• New Freedom (M3 and M6)
• County/Municipal (M4 and M5)
• CMAQ (M7)
• Suggested $1 Fare (generated over
$100,000 in 2011)
Route Total Daily
PT
Total Daily
Work PT
Key Work
Destination
M1 320 120 Warehouse
M2 62 12 Mall
M3 74 10 Mall
M4 432 86 Rail Connect
M5 173 34 Downtown
M6 71 56 Rail Connect
M7 68 14 Retail Shop
0
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
300,000
MCAT ANNUAL SHUTTLE RIDERSHIP
251,392
474,577
0
100,000
200,000
300,000
400,000
500,000
MCAT ANNUAL RIDERSHIP
2005 - 2009PASSENGER
TRIPS
2 0 0 5 2 0 0 9
285,000
290,000
295,000
300,000
305,000
310,000
315,000
320,000
325,000
2010 2011
324,729
359,129
MCAT Shuttle Ridership Today
MCAT Total Ridership Today
20112010
487,300502,197
SYSTEM COST PER TRIP- 2005-
2011
$11.61 $10.09
$0
$5
$10
$15
SYSTEM TRIPS PER HOUR:
2005-2011
2.20
4.09
0
1
2
3
4
2005 2011
Future Potential
• Continue to serve as incubator for
traditional bus transit routes
• Consider swapping poorly performing NJ
Transit routes with growing MCAT routes
(NJT 811, M1)
• Operate larger capacity vehicles as
passenger volumes grow with minimal
marginal cost
Conclusions
• Community Shuttles are a more efficient
application of human service grant funding
• Shuttles bring riders to traditional transit,
taking advantage of existing public
investment
• Shuttles can be a cost-efficient mode for
serving suburban employment
destinations