The Importance Customers Place on Specific Service Elements of Bus Rapid Transit

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is a rapidly growing national trend in the provision of public transportation. At present, with more than 150 New Start Rail Projects currently in the FTA pipeline, a wide range of alternatives is necessary to fulfill the demand for cost-effective rapid public transportation. As a lower cost, high-capacity mode of public transportation, BRT can serve as an option to help address the growing traffic congestion and mobility problems in both urban and nonurban areas. Careful documentation and analyses of BRT systems and the unique features of these projects will help determine the most effective features offered by the BRT systems such the most successful service characteristics, level of transit demand, region size, and other amenities. This article presents a statistical analysis of the data from two on-board customer surveys conducted in 2001 of the BRT systems in Miami and Orlando, Florida. Using data from the two on-board surveys, the simplest method for measuring the importance that customers place on specific BRT service characteristics is to calculate mean scores for each characteristic using some type of numeric scale (e.g., a scale of 1 through 5, with 5 being the highest). While there are no real discernable drawbacks to this simple method, an alternate technique to measure the importance of each service attribute is to derive the importance of each attribute using STEPWISE regression. This statistical method estimates the importance of each Journal of Public Transportation, Vol. 6, No. 4, 2003 2 attribute to overall customer satisfaction. The results indicate that customers place a high value on the BRT service characteristics frequency of service, comfort, travel time, and reliability of service. Introduction One of the main goals of the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Demonstration Program is to determine the effects of 10 nationwide BRT demonstration projects through a scientific evaluation process. The FTA designated the South Miami-Dade Busway, Busway for short, as one of its 10 BRT demonstration sites. While not one of FTA’s 10 designated BRT demonstration projects, the Lynx LYMMO in Orlando was chosen by the FTA for evaluation due to its Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and as a model for the implementation of similar BRT systems. According to the FTA, careful documentation and analyses of the BRT demonstration projects and the unique features of these projects will help determine the most effective features (i.e., type of service offered, most successful service characteristics, level of transit demand, region size, and other amenities). It is anticipated that the BRT demonstration projects will serve as learning tools and as models for other locales throughout the country, and possibly the world. For these demonstrations to have maximum effectiveness in their respective operational capacities, a consistent and carefully structured approach to project evaluation is necessary. The following, taken verbatim from Evaluation Guidelines for Bus Rapid Transit Demonstration Projects (Schwenk 2001), are the four evaluation guidelines for the 10 BRT demonstration projects: 1. Determine the benefits, costs, and other impacts of individual BRT features, including ITS/APTS applications, and of the system as a whole. 2. Characterize successful and unsuccessful aspects of the demonstration. 3. Evaluate the demonstration’s achievement of FTA and agency goals. 4. Assess the applicability of the demonstration results to other sites. In addition, the FTA plans to examine specific impacts of the BRT demonstration projects. These impacts include: degree that bus speeds and schedule adherence improve; degree that ridership increases (due to improved bus speeds, schedule adherence, and convenience); effect of BRT on other traffic; effect of each of the BRT components on bus speed and other traffic; benefits of ITS/APTS applications to the demonstration project; and effect of BRT on land use and developService Elements of Bus Rapid Transit 3 ment. To meet these objectives, it is necessary to collect a variety of data on several aspects of the BRT demonstration project, including measurable impacts to BRT customers via the on-board survey process. In keeping with the FTA’s evaluation guidelines, the National Bus Rapid Transit Institute at the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR), working jointly with Miami-Dade Transit (MDT) and Lynx, conducted on-board surveys of South Miami-Dade Busway customers in March 2001 and Lynx LYMMO customers in December 2001. The South Miami-Dade Busway and Lynx LYMMO are examples of different applications of BRT systems that are specifically designed to offer faster travel choices to customers compared to standard local bus service and possibly, even the private automobile. Evaluation of the various components of the Busway and LYMMO are crucial parts of the demonstration project. The two on-board surveys serve as the first phase of the independent review of the Busway and LYMMO BRT systems. The second phase will include analyses of the more detailed components of each BRT system, including engineering and construction, technical documentation, ITS, and system performance. The on-board surveys were conducted to assess customer perceptions, behavior, and to develop customer profiles. The survey instruments asked customers to evaluate the various BRT elements of service as well as overall satisfaction, with the ultimate purpose of measuring the impacts of the systems on customer perceptions. Other questions focused on customer behavior, including trip origins and destinations and frequency of use. Objective This article presents a statistical analysis of the data from two on-board customer surveys of the BRT systems in Miami and Orlando, Florida. Using data from the two on-board surveys, the simplest method for measuring the importance that customers place on specific BRT service characteristics is to calculate mean scores for each characteristic using some type of numeric scale (e.g., a scale of 1 through 5, with 5 being the highest). While there are no real discernable drawbacks to this simple averaging method, an alternate technique to measure the importance of each service attribute is to derive the importance of each attribute to overall satisfaction using more advanced statistical procedures such as STEPWISE regression. This statistical method estimates the importance of each service attribute to overall customer satisfaction. While there may be a degree of intercorrelation between each of the service attributes, this method can be used to measure the relative Journal of Public Transportation, Vol. 6, No. 4, 2003 4 importance of each attribute when determining what elements or combination of elements best comprise overall customer satisfaction with these two BRT systems. South Miami-Dade and Orlando LYMMO BRT Systems South Miami-Dade Busway The South Miami-Dade Busway, or Busway for short, is an 8-mile, two-lane busonly roadway constructed in a former rail right-of-way (the former Florida East Coast Railroad corridor) adjacent to US 1, a major north-south arterial in southern Miami-Dade County. Miami-Dade Transit (MDT) opened the first phase of the Busway on February 3, 1997. The Busway was designed for exclusive use by transit buses and emergency and security vehicles. The purpose of the Busway service is to address the need for faster travel choices for MDT customers. Much of the Busway BRT service uses 20-seat minibuses to keep costs to a minimum. Currently, there are 18 intersections and 15 stations in each direction (30 total stations), as shown in Figure 1. The Busway corridor over much of its length is within 100 feet of the west side of US 1, one of the most heavily traveled corridors in Miami-Dade County. There are several types of service in the Busway corridor: Local—Only operates on the exclusive Busway and makes every stop at all times (referred to as the Busway Local). Limited Stop—Operates along the length of the Busway and beyond, skips stops nearest the Metrorail station during peak periods (Busway MAX or Metro Area Express). Feeder—Collects passengers in neighborhoods and then enters the Busway at a middle point (service is known as either the Coral Reef MAX or Saga Bay MAX). Crosstown—Preexisting routes in the corridor that now take advantage of the Busway when possible. These routes enter and exit the Busway at middle points. These routes are designed to provide access to many destinations in the region, not just to the center city (Routes 1, 52, and 65). Intersecting—Routes in the corridor that intersect with Busway routes, sometimes stopping at Busway stations. Service Elements of Bus Rapid Transit 5 Figure 1. Map of South Miami-Dade Busway Journal of Public Transportation, Vol. 6, No. 4, 2003 6 The Busway stations are located at roughly half-mile intervals, more than twice the customary stop spacing for conventional MDT local bus service. For example, when Route 1 operated on US 1, it had 19 designated stops southbound and 23 northbound (on the portion of the route using US 1). When it was moved to the Busway, only 10 Busway stations served the same distance. Most stations are on the far side of intersections. In two locations there are mid-block stops to serve major generators. All stations have large shelters designed to protect customers from the weather. Stations platforms are in three lengths: 40 feet, 60 feet, and 80 feet. Busway vehicles operate parallel in a bidirectional manner with vehicular traffic operating separate from Busway vehicles. According to MDT, bus ridership on the U.S. 1 corridor in South Miami-Dade County increased greatly with the implementation of the Busway service. As a result of Busway service, ridership in the corridor increased by 49 percent on weekdays, 69 percent on Sundays, and 130 percent on Saturdays since May 1998. MDT staff indicated that the major reasons for the increases in ridership were the increase in service provided, in terms of new areas served, more frequent service, and a greater span of service. Except for Saturdays, revenue miles increased even faster than boardings and operating costs increased at only half the rate of the increase in vehicle revenue miles—due to the use of 20-seat minibuses, which cost the MDTA $31 to $35 per hour to operate, significantly less than the $51 to $53 per hour it costs to operate full-size buses. The difference in cost is due to fuel and maintenance costs and to the lower wages paid to minibus operators. Orlando LYMMO The LYMMO BRT system is very different in application from the Busway operated by MDT. It operates on a 3-mile continuous loop through Downtown Orlando using a combination of the various types of dedicated running ways including median and same-side travel way configurations. The exclusive running ways are paved with distinctive gray-colored pavers to delineate them from general traffic lanes. They are separated from general traffic lanes either with a raised median or a double row of raised reflective ceramic pavement markers embedded in the asphalt. Because the LYMMO operates in places and directions contrary to other traffic, all bus movements at intersections are controlled by special bus signals. To prevent motorist confusion, these signal heads use lines instead of the standard red, yellow, and green lights. When a LYMMO bus approaches an intersection, an emService Elements of Bus Rapid Transit 7 Figure 2. Map of the LYMMO System Journal of Public Transportation, Vol. 6, No. 4, 2003 8 bedded loop detector in the dedicated running way triggers the intersection to allow the bus to proceed either in its own signal phase or at the same time as other traffic is released when no conflicting traffic movements are permitted. The LYMMO uses 10 low-floor vehicles fueled by environmentally friendly compressed natural gas. The vehicles use high-quality, modern interiors that incorporate the Transit TV Network, an ITS system. The Transit TV Network provides realtime information such as Downtown events, weather, and fun and trivia to customers. In addition, public art exteriors are used on the vehicles to enhance the customer’s experience with the LYMMO. The LYMMO system has 11 lighted and computerized stations and 9 additional stops, as shown in Figure 2. LYMMO vehicles operate approximately every 5 minutes during office hours; after office hours, vehicles operate approximately every 10 minutes. Since the inception of service, the LYMMO has been free to ride during all hours of operation. Operation and maintenance of the LYMMO is 100 percent funded by revenue generated by the City of Orlando’s Parking and Enterprise Fund. The LYMMO operates from 6 A.M. to 10 P.M., Monday through Thursday, 6 A.M. to midnight on Friday, 10 A.M. to midnight on Saturday, and 10 A.M. to 10 P.M. on Sunday. LYMMO’s target market is customers who drive to Downtown Orlando and then use LYMMO to get to other Downtown locations, such as the courthouse, restaurants, shopping, and other land uses. For comparison, Table 1 shows the key components of the both the Busway and LYMMO BRT systems. Survey Methodology and Statistical Procedures The Busway survey instrument was printed in English on one side and Spanish on the other due to the bilingual nature of Miami. It contained 18 questions and provided space for additional written comments by customers. The LYMMO survey instrument was printed in English only and contained a total 13 questions. NBRTI/CUTR and MDT and Lynx staff developed the survey instruments jointly. The on-board surveys specifically targeted customers riding only those routes that operate along the Busway for either all or a portion of their trips and for all or a portion of their trips in Downtown Orlando on the LYMMO. At least half of all trips on a particular Busway route were selected for surveying. For example, if there were eight trips on a route, four were to be surveyed. If there were nine trips, five were surveyed. The trips selected for survey distribution spanned the service Service Elements of Bus Rapid Transit 9 hours (i.e., morning peak, midday off-peak, afternoon peak, and evening). For the LYMMO, surveying began at the start of service and concluded at about 7 P.M. Given that the typical weekday LYMMO schedule consists of about 186 21-minute round trips (circulations) and the last trip begins at 10 P.M., this translates into just over 90 percent of all weekday trips being included in the sample. Surveyors were instructed to offer a survey form to each customer upon boarding a bus. Every time a customer boarded a Busway or LYMMO vehicle to make a subsequent trip (regardless of the whether the trip was their second, third, fourth, and so on), they were asked to complete another survey. Surveyors were instructed to do the best they could to encourage participation in the survey. If a survey could not be handed directly to a customer, surveyors were instructed to “drop” a survey in each vehicle seat. All surveys were collected on-board buses. No mailback provision was provided for returning the completed surveys. Key BRT Attributes Busway LYMMO