Transit Service Usage Impacts. Bi-directional ridership on the 95 Express bus service increased by 30 percent when comparing the first three months of 2009 with the same period of the previous year, with a significant increase coinciding with Express Lanes implementation in December 2008. This represents a significant increase in productivity of 40 percent, measured in terms of boardings per revenue mile. At the corridor level however, bus ridership actually dropped by 4.6 percent, with corridor level boardings per revenue mile remaining unchanged. This is likely due to small systemwide reductions in service quantity and significant fare increases, coupled with exogenous factors like lower gas prices and economic recession, plus the fact that the 95 Express accounts for less than one fifth of total corridor ridership. The higher income profile of express bus users is one reason why the fare increase has not impacted 95 Express ridership in the same way in which it has impacted the MDT system as a whole. Data from FDOT’s I-95 Lane Monitoring Reports were used to assess the impacts of Express Lanes implementation on transit person throughput and mode share. Transit person throughput was measured at 1.4 percent higher in 2009 compared to 2008. While the sampled transit person throughput remained approximately the same, SOV person throughput increased dramatically due to SOVs being permitted to legally use the managed lanes. The net effect of this was that transit mode share in the managed lanes decreased from 15 percent in 2008 to 12.3 percent in 2009, while transit mode share for the facility as a whole remained unchanged at around 3.5 percent. Mode shift to transit may be constrained by the lack of parking capacity at Golden Glades Interchange. Transit User Perceptions Though the 95 Express bus service is already highly rated, Express Lanes implementation has further improved customer satisfaction, with statistically significant increases in perceptions of travel time and service reliability (as well as seat availability). The only element receiving a lower rating in 2009 was “value for money of service”, though the rating difference was not statistically significant. This lower rating likely relates to the significant increase in fare and pass costs imposed in October 2008. Several questions were included in the 2009 survey to assess potential mode shift resulting from Express Lanes implementation. It was found that almost all surveyed users (92%) had been riding the service before the ...
Transit Service Usage Impacts. Bi-directional ridership on the 95 Express bus service increased by 30 percent when comparing the first three months of 2009 with the same period of the previous year, with a significant increase coinciding with Express Lanes implementation in December 2008. This represents a significant increase in productivity of 40 percent, measured in terms of boardings per revenue mile. At the corridor level however, bus ridership actually dropped by
