DENVER | Transportation Thread

[Cirrus]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

IIRC Seattle/King County Metro laid their own fiber along each RapidRide route.

Dear god, why? Smartphones and a little software are all it takes.

Originally Posted by TakeFive

So no shitty buses. Something like this then?

Well I was referring to headways, but if you want to talk Seattle, how about some of them trolleybuses:

[Zmapper]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

Dear god, why? Smartphones and a little software are all it takes.

The agency that I operate transit buses for recently switched our bus tracking system over to a system that is ran off of high-end (larger battery, rugged) Android tablets. A solid advantage to our new system is that it tells the operator whether to speed up or slow down in order to keep even spacing between buses, meaning that bus bunching could be significantly reduced.

I'm no programmer, but it seems that there is potential for a cheap (or even free) open-source bus tracking app, geared primarily towards companies and agencies with small fleets and low or no funding for advanced technology like their big-city peers (think places like Salina, KS; Cheyenne, WY; small intercity bus companies, etc).

[TakeFive]

Rockies Cruisin'

Three (and only 3) First Phase BRT-Quality Routes

Federal Blvd - with centerline dedicated lanes from Colfax to (maybe) 44th Ave

West Colfax Ave - with centerline dedicated lanes from Federal to Wadsworth Blvd

Colorado Blvd - with dedicated centerline lanes from somewhere between Johnston Corner and Palmer Lake

With East Colfax already accounted for, I tried to think of logical routes for upgraded service that had segments where a higher level of investment including nice stations would make the most sense and be successful. Colorado Blvd could be a hard sell politically - or not - I dunno. Partly, given the higher capital costs is also why I thought of easily identifiable segments for a top shelf treatment.

Enhanced bus service routes up next.

[Cirrus]

Originally Posted by Zmapper

A solid advantage to our new system is that it tells the operator whether to speed up or slow down in order to keep even spacing between buses, meaning that bus bunching could be significantly reduced.

That's fantastic. Looooovvvve it.

One of the many not-BRT-but-better-than-normal-bus tricks some agencies do, especially on frequent bus lines, is what's called "headway scheduling," where rather than try to keep buses on a time-of-day schedule, a "line manager" just tries to keep them evenly spread, so one arrives every X minutes. But it's hard because you need a person who's job is to tell drivers when to speed up and slow down. Automating that functionality could be a game-changer.

[seventwenty]

Reported post for excessive emoji use.

[TakeFive]

Compromise

Colorado legislators reach grand deal on hospitals, roads and business tax cuts
May 4, 2017 by Ed Sealover - Denver Business Journal

Never thought this would happen

A restoration of the proposed $528 million in cuts to hospitals through a rollback of the hospital provider fee ... The money will be restored by pulling the fee out from under the state’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) revenue cap and turning it into an enterprise fee.

Actually I knew there was a bill brewing that some Republicans supported but the sticking point was the TABOR revenue cap.
If they would only compromise (a lot).....

A lowering of that TABOR revenue cap by $200 million to reflect the roughly $750 million in revenues that is being moved out from under it to the new hospital-provider fee enterprise fund. Republicans originally wanted to lower the cap by the full $750 million but compromised with Democrats, who did not want it lowered at all.

The rural/non-metro Republicans won this one but that's fine; it's a good start.

The provision of enough revenue to sell $1.8 billion in bond-like certificates of participation to fund major road projects across the state. Just 10 percent of the funding will go to "multi-modal" transportation projects other than roads, such as transit and bike lanes, and at least 25 percent of the money must pay for roads in counties with populations of less than 50,000 people.

At least here, they're spending the money in the right place although I have mixed feelings about the mechanism.

The sale and re-leasing of state buildings to create a $120 million fund to provide overdue maintenance to state buildings.

And a few other items including cutting the business personal property tax, long a Republican and business sore point. I'm onboard.

[bunt_q]

Except there is no new revenue to pay for the COPs. So it's a massive hit to the CDOT maintenance budget for the term of the debt.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by bunt_q

Except there is no new revenue to pay for the COPs. So it's a massive hit to the CDOT maintenance budget for the term of the debt.

Not correct. There's $550 million in new money although they haven't yet specified how much of that is to be dedicated to pay for the COP's... but I assume they will? That was what R's constantly whined about. "More money should come from the General Fund for roads/CDOT."

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

Not correct. There's $550 million in new money although they haven't yet specified how much of that is to be dedicated to pay for the COP's... but I assume they will? That was what R's constantly whined about. "More money should come from the General Fund for roads/CDOT."

That money is already spoken for- it just means that the massive cut to hospitals that was in the budget is offset by this increase.. The road funding will go for capital construction, but no additional maintenance.

Though I'm pretty sure that Bunt knows quite a bit more about where this money is heading than you or I.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by wong21fr

That money is already spoken for- it just means that the massive cut to hospitals that was in the budget is offset by this increase.. The road funding will go for capital construction, but no additional maintenance.

Though I'm pretty sure that Bunt knows quite a bit more about where this money is heading than you or I.

Well... if I understand it correctly, $750 million representing the hospital provider fee(s) is being moved into an enterprise fund and out from under TABOR. That frees up $750 million +/- in new money - like magic - minus the cap reduction of $200 million "compromise" with Republicans and whatever budget "cuts" they were planning on. No disrespect to bunt; we just haven't seen all the details as yet. Knowing the R's refrain that more money should come from the General Fund I'm assuming that is what will happen but I have been wrong B4 so we'll see.

Originally Posted by seventwenty

RTD’s North Line will take longer than expected, officials say

I think Andrew Kenney, Denverite, has found a part of the problem. It's that dang Riverside Cemetery.

[LooksLikeForever]

After reading about the expected delay for the N line I started to do some more research into it. I've been primarily concerned with the A line (living along its route) and the G line since I think there will be huge potential for development in Old Town Arvada.

Has anyone seen any expected ridership figures for the N line? I have to admit, I'm not that familiar with with the stations along the route (http://www.rtd-denver.com/FF-NorthMetro.shtml) so I'm not familiar with what destination attractions may be close by. I know the purpose of commuter rail isn't necessarily to draw visitors from the center city out to the Park-and-Rides, but does anyone have a list of notable points of interest along the N line? Granted, there's not much to do or see along the A line yet with the exception of the Blake Street station and the RiNo area, and the B line terminus in Westminster is your typical suburban environment. I hope Forest City can do something interesting with the Central Park Station in Stapleton but I'm not optimistic after looking at preliminary plans.

I've always been of the opinion that MLS is poised to finally take off in popularity, but I think we can mostly agree that DSG Park in Commerce City is one of the worst locations for a stadium for fan experience. I know that it has become the premier soccer facility in the state with countless practice fields, so they need all that space, but the fan experience for a game leaves much to be desired. The stadium itself is nice enough but there's nothing to do around the park (no bars or restaurants, nothing for pre- or post-game activities). This is also a problem at Sports Authority Field and most NFL stadiums, but at least there are plans to redevelop that area.

My ultimate question is: do the Colorado Rapids or the ownership group have any plans for a free shuttle from either Central Park Station on the A line, or anywhere along the future N line? I googled a bit and didn't find any such service. It would be great if fans from anywhere in the metro region could hop on a train out to Commerce City/Stapleton and take a 5-10 minute free shuttle bus to the stadium. I know that the stadium itself has acres and acres of free parking, but for fans that want to imbibe and not DUI, or for those that want a more 'urban' experience, this seems like a no-brainer.

As it stands, Coors Field, the Pepsi Center and Sports Authority Field are *mostly* easily accessible by public transit, notwithstanding the long and miserable walk from Sports Authority Field Station to the entrance of the stadium, and the fairly long walk from Union Station to Coors Field. It would be great if Denver could claim that all four major sports stadiums are easily accessible by public transit, however loosely they want to define that. There's probably a local RTD route that will get you from Central Park Station along the A line to Dick's Sporting Goods Park, but most people that take the train won't want to transfer onto a local bus. A designated "Soccer Shuttle" that only runs on game days would be ideal, I think.

[TakeFive]

We may not always be of like mind but David Sachs does bring some interesting insight into the ongoing GO Denver Bond process in his StreetsBlog article today:

The citizen-led Transportation and Mobility Stakeholder Committee, which Hunt chairs, had whittled down the project list from 100 items to 32, totaling $500 million.

To appreciate the good guy-bad guy story that Sachs excels at creating you'd have to read his piece.

My interest goes more to the process and the results. The Mayor did commission this citizen/activist group and task them to come up with their priorities. There's 5 Stakeholder sub-committees plus an Executive Committee to tie everything together. It's assumed that Transportation and Mobility will get about half the bond money so they would be a key committee, presumably. Among their priorities is $100 million for improving bus routes.

Being also familiar with the Elevate 2020 CIP list of about $2 billion worth of backlogged projects many of which have already been vetted with cost estimates it will be fascinating to see how the two approaches get married together? The Stakeholder Committees used a blank slate for their process and presumably came up with a totally different list of projects worth another couple of billion.

I believe June is the critical month for determining final recommendations which will then be presented to city council for their approval and then voters approval. Much of the process will be open and likely publicized by the media as we go along so it should be tons of fun.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by LooksLikeForever

I have to admit, I'm not that familiar with with the stations along the route (http://www.rtd-denver.com/FF-NorthMetro.shtml) so I'm not familiar with what destination attractions may be close by.

The north-northeast part of the metro area is my weakest link when it comes to knowledge and I suspect for many others as well.

Originally Posted by LooksLikeForever

I hope Forest City can do something interesting with the Central Park Station in Stapleton but I'm not optimistic after looking at preliminary plans.

That's just sad. Not sure they've finalized anything just yet so we can still hope for better.

Originally Posted by LooksLikeForever

I've always been of the opinion that MLS is poised to finally take off in popularity, but I think we can mostly agree that DSG Park in Commerce City is one of the worst locations for a stadium for fan experience. I know that it has become the premier soccer facility in the state with countless practice fields, so they need all that space, but the fan experience for a game leaves much to be desired.

My ultimate question is: do the Colorado Rapids or the ownership group have any plans for a free shuttle from either Central Park Station on the A line, or anywhere along the future N line?

Not aware of any shuttles in the works. I wouldn't rule it out for down the road but don't see anything happening real soon.

Rapids are owned by Stan Kroenke or KSE short for Kroenke Sports & Entertainment along with the Avalanche, the Nuggets and Mammoth sports teams in Denver.

A little off-topic but many NBA teams have been building high-powered, high dollar practice facilities with the latest greatest training equipment, injury rehab and nutrition facilities and coaching. Not unlike what the Broncos have done in Centennial. KSE is looking into building similar facilities that would accommodate all of his Denver sports teams. Where this might be located is unknown and not sure how far along they are but it's been brewing I'm sure.

[TakeFive]

Erica Meltzer, Denverite in a piece today does an excellent job of trying to explan what will happen with SB17-267. Very interesting read. BTW, I still get confused by the tentacles of TABOR but the Enterprise Fund concept is fairly straightforward.

Originally Posted by wong21fr

That money is already spoken for...

The article defines it this way:

This is a “Christmas tree” bill in some ways, with all sorts of things hung from its branches.

The bill has funding for rural roads, money for schools, higher taxes for marijuana users, higher co-pays for Medicaid patients, tax credits for small business owners and protections for older home owners. There is A LOT crammed in there.

Originally Posted by wong21fr

The road funding will go for capital construction, but no additional maintenance.

Any notion of a transportation bill that included additional dedicated revenue was abandoned as Republicans objected to any new taxes, this is true. Some of the projects might combine some expansion and/or repaving (maintenance) in some cases. That's TBD.

It admittedly is not exactly what I had hoped for though.

Meanwhile, without going to the voters, SB 267 would provide funding for a $1.8 billion spending program — mostly for roads but also for capital construction — to be financed through lease-purchase agreements. This is basically taking out a mortgage on state-owned property. For the roads portion, 25 percent of the money will be earmarked for rural areas.

I knew this mechanism had been proposed by Republicans but I don't personally favor mortgaging state building to pay for this. It is what it is I guess.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

Real-time info completely changes how people use transit.

As an example, consider my daily commute.

There is no physical infrastructure imaginable that would be even remotely as cost effective at saving people that much time.

Insightful, intereswting and enjoyed your personal example which really brings meaning to its usefulness.

Originally Posted by Cirrus

Dear god, why? Smartphones and a little software are all it takes.

That's really interesting what they've been able to do with the Circulator buses. Got a kick out of the IoT references or Internet of Things, a "new" concept that was coined a few years ago.

My guess is that at the point in time when RapidRide was conceived there weren't yet all these handy dandy app thingies. RapidRide was born in 2006 with voter approval and would have been planned even before that.

From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RapidRide

Planning and construction began shortly after approval of the measure. Along each of the corridors, fiber-optic cable was utilized to enable a Transit Signal Priority system (to synchronize traffic signals with buses), an automated vehicle location system and the features on "tech pylons" to be installed at certain locations.
.......
The busiest stops were improved into "stations" with large shelters and a "tech pylon" with an electronic real-time arrival sign, audible arrival information, a backlit route map, and an ORCA reader for off-board fare payment.

[TakeFive]

I wanted to take a closer look at the Seattle RapidRide System. Other than a one-off BRT route, the two cities (that I'm aware of) that have taken a system-wide approach are Seattle and Los Angeles (with its Commuter Express and DASH lines).

The first six RapidRide lines operated by King County Metro (A - F) cover 64 miles or about 10.5 miles each. These are more metro purposed routes. I was able to track down a cost breakdown for Lines E and F at Seattle Transit Blog. The E Line which is 12.5 miles cost $36.4 million while the F Line which is 12.8 miles cost $35.12 million. Note: Like FasTracks, these lines were developed at a lower cost, recession flavored time. Additionally I'd guess the total project costs (as opposed to hard costs) were closer to $60 million each.

Seattle also has plans now for 7 more RapidRide routes. The new routes appear to be shorter, more urban and neighborhood focused. These, presumably would be more like what Denveright is looking at. Funding will come from both Seattle via the Seattle Moves $900 million voter approved initiative as well as ST3, the recently passed metro-wide initiative.

The next RapidRide route is currently in design phase and is expected to break ground in 2018. It will be called the G line, will only be 2.1 miles long but will cost $120 million. For comparison, Denver's East Colfax BRT is pegged at $115 million over 10 miles. Guessing about 40% inflation over the 1st six RapidRide routes plus some intense street redo costs.

[Cirrus]

RapidRide and LA's similar MetroRapid systems are wonderful models for what all our main arterial bus lines should look like. Every city should roll out that sort of improvement ASAP. It's relatively easy and it's very cost effective.

But it's mostly* not real BRT. It's a half measure. If you just do the RapidRide treatment and then call it a day, you've made a nice incremental improvement but you haven't really provided rapid transit. By all means do it, but it's really just making arterial buses a little bit better; it's not a substitute for actual BRT or light rail.

* Asterisk because Seattle's G-Line, which you link to, will be real BRT, which is why it's so expensive.

[Cirrus]

Also fun fact: SkyscraperPage's previous Interior West moderator, J Church, is one of the designers working on Seattle's Madison Street BRT.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

But it's mostly* not real BRT. It's a half measure. If you just do the RapidRide treatment and then call it a day, you've made a nice incremental improvement but you haven't really provided rapid transit. By all means do it, but it's really just making arterial buses a little bit better; it's not a substitute for actual BRT or light rail.

* Asterisk because Seattle's G-Line, which you link to, will be real BRT, which is why it's so expensive.

You just like the Madison Street BRT bcuz it uses ETB's.

At $57 million per mile that would make the East Cofax BRT $570 million as opposed to the $115/120 million it's currently pegged at. Not really a fair comparison though and I'd agree that on short, high value routes that top shelf finish may be totally justified. Per the link, Madison Street from downtown goes through high density neighborhoods, links with their streetcar and with their ferry service as well as "dozens" of bus routes.

My "proposal" was to use segments for top shelf finish where the rest of the route would drop to an enhanced level of upgrades. That's actually what Seattle did with (at least) some of their first six routes. There are areas of dedicated lanes and even queue jumps B4 the route dropped to a lower level of service.

[TakeFive]

What's the State of Federal Transit Funding?
I'll call it mostly sunny but partly cloudy.

DOT received a $681 million increase over 2016 funding levels. That included $500 million for TIGER; $2.4 billion goes for CIG programs. What that meant is:

• Seattle's Lynnwood light rail extension received its requested $125 million but that's a small piece of the $1.1 billion that they are eventually hoping for
• The Albuquerque Rapid Transit Project received its $50 million
• Tempe and Indianapolis both received $50 million; Obama had offered $75 million. Both cities sound happy though and Tempe is planning to break ground on their streetcar in June.
• Sacramento is promised $50 million towards the $100 million that they want but they're still jumping through hoops B4 wrapping their process.
• And many more....

Once Denver hopefully passes the GO Denver Bond package then they will be ready to submit the East Colfax BRT project to the FTA for a grant, I assume.