ROUTE 68A MONROEVILLE EXPRESS

ROUTE 68A MONROEVILLE EXPRESS Route 68A Monroeville Express operates between Turnpike Gardens in Monroeville and downtown Pittsburgh via Northern Pike, the Monroeville Mall, Route 22, I-376, and Wilkinsburg, and the East Busway. The route serves the Northern Pike Park and Ride Lot and the Monroeville Mall Park and Ride Lot (see Figure 1). Figure 1: Route 68A Monroeville Express Similar Routes Route 68A is most similar to Route GC Garden City Express that operates between the Garden City Drive area of Monroeville and downtown Pittsburgh via the Monroeville Mall, Wilkinsburg, and the East Busway. With only a few small exceptions, Routes GC and 68A share the same alignment between the intersection of Stroschein Road and North Pike in Monroeville and downtown Pittsburgh (as shown in Figure 1). In addition, Route 67A provides local service in the same corridor between CCAC Boyce Campus and downtown and uses much of the same alignment between Monroeville and Wilkinsburg. From Wilkinsburg, it then travels along local roads through Oakland to Downtown. (Travel times on Route 67A are significantly longer, at 62 minutes between the Monroeville Mall and Downtown versus 47 minutes on Route 68A.) In Wilkinsburg and along the East Busway, Route 68A will only stop inbound to discharge passengers and outbound to pickup passengers. Alignment/Service Patterns Route 68A begins service at the intersection of Route 22 and Northern Pike and then travels along Northern Pike to the Monroeville Mall, where it serves several stops, including the Monroeville Mall Park and Ride lot. From the Monroeville Mall, Route 68A travels via the Route 22/William Penn Highway and I-376 to Wilkinsburg and exits I-376 at Ardmore Boulevard. In Wilkinsburg, the route enters the East Busway via Wallace Street and exits the East Busway onto Ross Street. Route 68A stays on the East Busway to Penn Station, making a one-way loop in downtown Pittsburgh on Liberty Avenue, Oliver Avenue and Grant Street. Page 1

Route 68A operates with two inbound and two outbound variants: Inbound 68A-IA: Operates from the intersection of Route 22 and Northern Pike as described above. This is the normal inbound variant and provides six of eight inbound trips. 68A-IB: Operates from an alternative Southridge Plan terminal on Haymaker Road in Monroeville to Northern Pike and then outbound (north) to the Northern Pike Park and Ride Lot. From there, it reverses direction to travel inbound and then deviates to Macbeth Drive and then back to Northern Pike where it then follows the Variant 68A-IA alignment to Downtown. This variant provides two inbound trips per day. Outbound 68A-OB: Operates from Downtown Pittsburgh to the intersection of Route 22 and Northern Pike. It is the outbound counterpart to variant 68A-IA and provides six of eight outbound trips. 68A-OC: Operates from Downtown Pittsburgh to the Southridge Plan terminal on Haymaker Road. It is the outbound counterpart of Variant 68A-OA and operates in the reverse of that variant. This variant provides two outbound trips per weekday. Schedule Route 68A provides weekday peak period, peak direction service with eight AM peak inbound trips and eight PM peak outbound trips (see Table 1). Travel times are approximately 65-70 minutes from end-to-end. Table 1: 68A Flyer Schedule Statistics One-Way Trips Headways Span of Service Inbound Outbound (minutes) Weekdays AM 5:31 am 8:40 am 8 0 10-22 PM 3:32 pm 6:44 pm 0 8 9-31 Route 68A s schedule is coordinated with that for Route GC Garden City Express, and the two routes are presented on the same public timetable. Route 68A provides significantly more service than Route GC (eight AM inbound trips and eight PM outbound trips), and the Route GC trips are operated effectively as variants of Route 68A. In both the AM peak and PM peak, at three points in Route 68A s schedule, Route GC trips run instead of Route 68A trips. The schedules of the two routes are very well coordinated along the common segment. Ridership Average daily ridership on Route 68A is approximately 530 passengers per weekday (see Table 2). Ridership is balanced between inbound and outbound directions, and trips are moderately well utilized (32 passengers per trip). Page 2

Table 2: Route 68A: Ridership by Time Period and Per Trip Weekday Ridership Ridership/ Trip Inbound Early AM 67 30.2 AM Peak 207 33.0 Total 274 32.3 Outbound PM Peak 257 31.5 Both Directions 531 Route 68A primarily carries passengers from areas between the Monroeville Mall area and Route 22/William Penn Highway to areas along the East Busway and downtown Pittsburgh (see Figure 2) with passenger boardings observed throughout the route. Boarding restrictions on the East Busway mean that all riders board the GC Flyer before it gets on the East Busway. By segment, major boarding locations include: Figure 2: Route 68A Ridership by Stop: All Day Outbound 100 300 90 80 250 Passengers 70 60 50 40 30 Variant 68A-IB Var 68A-IB Ons Offs Load Out from Stop 200 150 100 20 10 0 NORTHERN PIKE @ RT 22-NO STOP NORTHERN PIKE @ OPP LAVALE SOUTHRIDGE TURNAROUND @ HAYMAKER RD @ MAYBERRY HAYMAKER RD @ OPP HILLSIDE HAYMAKER RD @ OLD CONCORD HAYMAKER RD @ NORTHWESTERN HAYMAKER RD @ OPP COLGATE MOSSIDE BLVD @ MOSSIDE MEDICAL MONROEVILLE FIRE CO @ PARK-N-RIDE MACBETH DR @ JAMES PLACE MACBETH DR @ #920 TILBROOK RD @ PITCAIRN NORTHERN PIKE @ FAIRVIEW MONROEVILLE BLVD @ OPP MONROEVILLE BLVD @ STROSCHEIN MONROEVILLE BLVD @ OPP MUNICIPAL MONROEVILLE BLVD @ RACQUET LANE MONROEVILLE MALL EXPOMART DR @ WEST ENTRANCE WM PENN HWY @ CIRCUIT CITY WM PENN HWY @ HAWTHORNE ARDMORE BLVD @ OPP REBECCA FS SOUTH AVE @ SWISSVALE WALLACE AVE @ COAL WALLACE AVE @ WOOD EAST BUSWAY @ GARAGE EMPLOYEES EAST BUSWAY @ HERRON STATION D LIBERTY AVE @ OPP SMITHFIELD Load Out from Stop 50 0 Two-thirds of all riders (190) board in the vicinity of the Monroeville Mall. The most popular boarding locations in this area are Monroeville Boulevard at Ivanhoe (39 passengers), Monroeville Boulevard at Racquet Lane (17 passengers), Oxford Drive at Racquet Club Apartments (24 passengers), and Mall Boulevard opposite K-Mart (87 passengers). Interestingly, the Monroeville Mall itself and the park and ride lot recorded Page 3

very few boardings, at 1 and 2 boardings, respectively. (Outbound service also recorded very low ridership to these stops.) 33 passengers (12% of total) board along Route 22/William Penn Highway. Very few passengers use the variant service along Haymarket Road and via Macbeth Drive. The Haymarket Road segment recorded only 5 boardings, and the Macbeth Drive deviation recorded only 6 boardings (and similarly low ridership was recorded outbound). Maximum loads on inbound trips range from fewer than 30 passengers on early trips (before 7:00 am) to 35 to 46 on trips later in the AM peak (see Figure 3). Average loads on PM outbound trips are generally higher with most between 25 and 41. Exceptions are the last trips of the day (5:22 pm and 5:35 pm) that have low average loads. 50 Figure 3: Route 68A Maximum Loads by Time of Day (All Sampled Trips) 45 40 Inbound Outbound 35 Maximum Load 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 5:34 5:35 5:35 5:56 5:59 6:00 6:04 6:35 6:50 7:16 7:17 7:22 15:36 15:38 16:05 16:06 16:07 16:33 16:34 17:07 17:23 17:26 Productivity Route 68A performs below average in terms of operating cost per passenger and the number of passengers per revenue vehicle hour and passengers per revenue mile (see Table 3): Operating and Subsidy Costs: Route 68A has a higher than average operating cost per passenger at $6.80. The concentration of service hours during the peak period means that the route has a large amount of unproductive vehicle time (as described below), which increases operating costs. Page 4

Table 3: Route 68A Weekday Productivity Express Route 68A Average Operating Cost/Passenger $6.80 $5.07 Passengers/Revenue Vehicle Hour 28.6 34.2 Passengers/Total Vehicle Hour 16.6 22.6 Passengers/Revenue Mile 1.9 1.7 Total Vehicle Hours/Rev Vehicle Hours 1.72 1.51 Average Speed 14.7 20.2 Bus Stops/Mile 2.2 3.3 Directness 0.92 0.72 Number of Variations 4 4.7 Ridership per Unit of Service: Route 68A carries 28.6 passengers per revenue vehicle hour, which is 16% below the average, and 16.6 passengers per total vehicle hour, which is 27% below average. Passengers per revenue mile is slightly better than average, at 1.9. Note that these ridership per unit of service figures are nearly identical to those for Route GC Garden City Flyer, which as described above, provides some Route 68A trips. Total Vehicle Hours Versus Revenue Vehicle Hours: The ratio of total vehicle hours to revenue vehicle hours is very high at 1.72. The high ratio results from the peak period peak direction nature of the service that means most vehicles only operate a single peak period trip. Consequently, nearly 39% of all vehicle time is associated with vehicle pull-ins and pull-outs. Average Speed: The average speed is 14.7 mph, which lower than average. Bus Stops/Mile: Route 68A has an average of 2.2 stops per mile along entire route, which is significantly less than average. Number of Variations: Route 68A has two inbound and two outbound variants. As described above, ridership on two of the variants is very low. Service Design Route 68A s service design is straightforward and easy to understand, and the service is well coordinated with Route GC (and these two routes provide a good example of how route that operate along a common truck should be coordinated). However, the designation of Routes 68A and GC as separate routes, rather than as variations of the same route, makes the combined service appear to be more different and complicated than it really is. Service Improvement Opportunities Route 68A is designed to serve peak period commuters traveling to and from downtown Pittsburgh, and performs moderately well considering the low density commercial and suburban nature the corridor. Potential improvements include: Page 5

Consolidate Routes 68A and GC. As described above, Routes 68A and GC are largely different variations of the same route. The re-designation the two routes with the same route number would help to clarify that the two routes provide largely the same service. Eliminate Variant Service Along Haymaker Road and to Macbeth Drive: This variant service is very poorly used and complicates service. Service would be more productive if all trips operated directly along Northern Pike where demand is greater. Alternate Trips in Monroeville between Garden City and Turnpike Gardens: Ridership along the outer end of both Routes 68A and GC is relatively light, but most service now operates to Turnpike Gardens. The reconfiguration of service to alternate between the two terminals could provide a more consistent operating pattern that would be easier for passengers to understand and to remember. Improve Marketing of Monroeville Mall Park and Ride Lot: Routes 68A and GC provide good service between Monroeville and Downtown, and the Monroeville Mall Park and Ride Lot is underutilized. Better marketing of this lot could help to increase ridership. Develop Route 68A as a Bi-Directional Route: Route GC could be configured to provide bi-directional service, with reverse direction trips designed to serve reverse commute trips to Monroeville (in a similar manner as Route 28M Campbells Run Express). Reduce Level of Service: While Routes 68A and GC carry fairly strong loads, most trips do operate below capacity. With the consolidation of the two routes, it may be possible to reduce service by a small amount. Page 6