PRTC to go to Headway Based Schedule

[Perry]

I got an email from one of the planners at PRTC picking my brain about headway based schedules as they want to try it out on their Dale City/State Dept. route.  While I'm not a huge fan of those, particularly because the ones we have in Vegas on the Strip are sometimes impossible to maintain, on a frequent commuter route with limited stops it might work.  It would certainly eliminate dwelling at a timepoint and clogging traffic. 

I think they are going to roll it out as a test soon and then if successful make it more official in one of their service changes later this year. 

They're also moving the routes from State Dept. onto 15th street rather than 14th.  That's something we tried to do when I was there, but the turn from H Street to 15th at the time was too hard.  Now DCDOT moved the stop bar back and reconfigured the road so it's easier.

[79MetroExtraMD]

I got an email from one of the planners at PRTC picking my brain about headway based schedules as they want to try it out on their Dale City/State Dept. route.  While I'm not a huge fan of those, particularly because the ones we have in Vegas on the Strip are sometimes impossible to maintain, on a frequent commuter route with limited stops it might work.  It would certainly eliminate dwelling at a timepoint and clogging traffic. 

I think they are going to roll it out as a test soon and then if successful make it more official in one of their service changes later this year. 

They're also moving the routes from State Dept. onto 15th street rather than 14th.  That's something we tried to do when I was there, but the turn from H Street to 15th at the time was too hard.  Now DCDOT moved the stop bar back and reconfigured the road so it's easier.

Headway based schedules are more suited for like urban routes and not so much commuter services. I can't really see PRTC doing a headway type of service on a route where having a set schedule tailored to work schedules and rush hour seems suitable for now.

[Perry]

The route runs so frequently that if they do it right, they can keep the departure times about what they are and just make sure that each trip after leaves at the frequency they're trying to obtain.  I'm skeptical of it too and think that as cranky as those commuters get, those that are used to a bus showing up at 5:10 might not be happy if it comes anywhere from 5:05 to 5:15 because they won't know for sure what time the one before it went by.

[WayneNYC]

I get wanting to knowing the exact time your bus is due to arrive, but if buses are coming along frequently (less than 10 min intervals), you'd think the passengers would be OK knowing a bus is due to arrive every XX min. 

Way back in the 80s in NYC when they were putting the guide-a-ride schedules in bus stops, if a particular route was operating on intervals between 1 and 9 minutes... It would get listed as "Frequent Service".  As you can imagine, many of our busiest routes like the Bx1/2, Bx12, M15, B46 (and so on), the giude-a-rides read "Frequent Service" from 5 AM to like 8 or 10 PM.

Perry - If PRTC makes this move, does that mean they'll do something like have a dispatcher at the starting point telling the bus operators when to leave?   

[Tritransit Area]

Oh wow!  I think I misunderstood what PRTC meant by "headway schedule".  I was thinking it would be fantastic to have a route operate at a fixed headway!

SEPTA has a few "headway" schedules on some of their routes, like the MFL, BSL, and P&W.  They would start off, during off peak hours, with the times posted in the schedules.  Then, during the middays, they would have something like "trains operate every 10 minutes".   To get the exact time, just look above at the other times that are listed and add 10 (or 20 or 30 depending on when you need to ride). 

What I never did like, and what I hope PRTC isn't planning to do, is when there would be a block of time stating "buses run every 5 to 10 minutes during this time".   That means nobody (except dispatchers and drivers and regular super-savvy passengers) know when the bus will arrive, which is frustrating.  Say what you will about "only having to wait a maximum of 10 minutes", but people hate running out and not knowing exactly when the next bus will arrive.

[79MetroExtraMD]

The only place I can see this possibly happening is at the Pentagon. Given downtown DC traffic at rush hour, those headways will be choopped and screwed.

[Perry]

The Dale City/State Department route is going to do this, not the Pentagon, it's the whole route.  I think it's going to say, "buses run every 8-10 minutes" or something like that.

Wayne, I don't think they were planning on a dispatcher for that but I stressed to them the importance of making sure that they leave at the proper spacing.  It's going to be important that the dispatchers watch what they're doing.  That's what we do with the Deuce, even though they get bunched up in the middle.  We have people at both ends giving them the time to depart.  I wish them luck on this.

Knowing how flaky dispatchers can be because they are so busy with everyting else, I don't see this working as great as it sounds.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

Will there be any indication of when the first and last buses are?

In Jerusalem, some routes now have posted signs at all the stops that include a (bad) map and the frequencies for the route, but they aren't terribly detailed.  For example, it can just say from 6 AM until 7 PM, the bus comes every 8-20 minutes.  Not so helpful.

[Perry]

I don't know any of the specifics of how they're planning on doing it.