The Utah Transit Authority (UTA), Salt Lake City, UT, continues to extend its award-winning system with the state’s first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line. The transit agency has mapped a total of 80 miles for rapid transit service along several busy corridors; the first stretching 10 miles from Magna to the 3300 South TRAX station. An additional corridor is in a building stage while eight more are still in planning.
Passengers will ride the introductory corridor in a Van Hool A300L specifically tailored to urban transit. UTA has purchased 10 A300L buses for its 3500 South BRT line.
As Van Hool’s sales and marketing partner in the United States, ABC Companies, Faribault, MN, brought the modern European design to this country. The 40-ft A300L provides true low-floor access from front to back as well as three wide doors that Van Hool says promotes easy passenger flow. ABC Companies and Van Hool also offer a 60-ft articulated bus that includes the flat floor throughout and four entry doors.
The Utah agency says its drivers have responded favorably to the new buses. Hal Johnson, manager of engineering and construction for Bus Rapid Transit at UTA says the agency was able to integrate its own radio head and component layouts, which has been a true benefit to the drivers. The strengths inherit in the A300L and the signal priority on the rapid transit line give drivers a positive momentum that eases travel through the corridor.
“Van Hool prides itself on its strength to customize vehicles for a client,” says John Andrews, vice president public sector for ABC Companies. “The company’s flexibility is unique in bus manufacturing. Van Hool vertically integrates its operations, whereas most U.S. manufacturers act as a final assembler of components. Van Hool builds many of its own components.”
He says whether it is fiberglass pieces, body panels or the seats, this is quite a change from other manufacturers in North America. While the A300L is new to the U.S. transit market, Van Hool has delivered the bus to 80 other countries.
“The main factor was for passengers to be able to get on and off our BRT buses easily and quickly,” says Johnson. “Having the third door on the A300L is a significant advantage as it improves the flow within the vehicle. It also has a large rear window that along with the third door eliminates the feeling of riding at the back of the bus.”
Johnson says on the agency’s previous buses the two steps up to the mezzanine level made access to the center door difficult.
“Our design provides a continuous plane from the front to the rear-most doors,” says Andrews. “People do not need to step up or step down.”
According to Andrews, the flat floor was a point of entry for Van Hool into the BRT market in this country. He says none of the other bus manufacturers wanted to build a 40-ft bus with three doors.
“With the BRT industry moving towards prepaid fares and using ticket vending machines at stops, operators are looking at ways to improve the speed of passengers boarding the bus,” he says. “People are expected to buy their fare media and validate it. The bus agency will often have employees come on the bus and ask people to show their fare media.”
The rapid transit ticketing model follows the example of Europe and other countries where people are boarding at multiple doors and paying before they get on the bus.
The UTA operation incorporates all public transportation modes and covers a large linear service area of about 120 miles north to south and 30 miles east to west with light rail, commuter rail, express buses, local buses and now the BRT service.
The agency serves more than 80 percent of the state’s population including Box Elder, Weber, Davis, Tooele, Salt Lake and Utah counties. Over 550 buses and 102 paratransit vehicles operate on 119 routes.
The 3500 South line will run buses in mixed traffic and use signal prioritization to increase transit speed. The buses will maintain a high service frequency of 15 minutes or less.
“Our goal with the first rapid transit corridor is 4,400 riders with about 1,400 new riders,” says Johnson. “We are mixing BRT with local service along the route to meet the needs of all potential riders.”
According to Johnson, the 80 miles of rapid transit bus service is central to a long-range transportation plan that is a collaborative project with the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT), which is concerned with roadway needs. UTA is concerned with transit needs, so the two entities agreed to a convergence of issues. UDOT determined the need for roadwork in the 3500 South area and UTA jumped at the chance to include a BRT structure that would improve transit ridership through the corridor.
Johnson says UTA used V-SIM products to replicate the operation of a signalized intersection. With V-SIM, Novi, MI, he was able to put a corridor of intersections together to replicate how signal priority would affect congestion. The simulation aided in determining the settings for maximum benefit to the bus and minimum impact to other traffic.
The system’s name, MAX, builds on the city’s current light rail service, TRAX. Johnson says the idea is to take MAX to TRAX and create as seamless a transit service as possible. The local modes of transit also connect with the University of Utah transit system, which does not fall under the UTA umbrella. The agency did prompt graduate students at the university’s school of architecture to design the BRT terminals with a contest. UTA took the winning concept to professional engineers.
According to Johnson, the student’s concept is nearly 100 percent of the complete product.
UTA is a three-time recipient of the American Public Transportation Association’s Outstanding Public Transportation System award; and the world’s only transit authority with both ISO 9001 certification for quality management and ISO 14001 certification for environmental management.
The agency is reaching out to numerous resources for continued evaluation of its own services.
“These projects are not static,” says Johnson. “We don’t have the luxury to set it and forget it. We are constantly watching and tweaking in order to meet the service demands.”
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