BRT for Berkeley A Proposal for Consideration CITY OF BERKELEY STAFF PROPOSAL FOR A LOCALLY PREFERRED ALTERNATIVE OF THE EAST BAY BUS RAPID TRANSIT PROJECT SEPTEMBER 8, 2009
Table of Contents Executive Summary... ES-1 ES-1 About This Report... ES-2 ES-2 Project Overview... ES-2 ES-3 Proposed Locally Preferred Alternative... ES-3 ES-3.1 Telegraph South of Dwight... ES-3 ES-3.2 Telegraph North of Dwight... ES-4 ES-3.3 Telegraph to Shattuck (Bancroft and Durant)... ES-4 ES-3.4 Shattuck... ES-4 ES-4 Summary Analysis of Benefits and Impacts... ES-5 ES-5 Summary of Proposed Mitigations and Improvements to the Project... ES-6 ES-5.1 Mitigations Proposed by AC Transit... ES-6 ES-5.2 Improvements Proposed by Berkeley Staff... ES-6 Chapter 1. Introduction to Bus Rapid Transit and the East Bay BRT Project... 1-1 1-1 Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)... 1-1 1-1.1 BRT and Dedicated Lanes... 1-2 1-1.2 Benefits of Dedicated Lanes... 1-2 1-1.3 Other Benefits of BRT... 1-3 1-2 The East Bay Bus Rapid Transit Project... 1-8 1-2.1 Project Rationale... 1-10 1.2.1.1 Existing Demand for Transit... 1-10 1.2.1.2 Existing Land Use Patterns... 1-11 1.2.1.3 Population and Traffic Growth in the Corridor... 1-11 1.2.1.4 Future Demand for Transit... 1-12 1-3 Project History... 1-13 1-4 Project Details... 1-15 1-4.1 Features of the AC Transit East Bay BRT project... 1-15 1-4.2 Service Plan: Combined Service... 1-16 1-4.3 Details of the Service Plan... 1-19 1-4.4 Vehicles... 1-19 1-5 BRT and Rapid Bus... 1-20 1-5.1 What is Rapid Bus?... 1-20 Sidebar: Could Rapid Bus Be Improved Instead of Building BRT?... 1-21 Chapter 2. Proposed Locally Preferred Alternative... 2-1 2-1 How to Read the LPA...2-3 2-2 Telegraph South of Dwight: Median Transitway... 2-4 2-2.1 Recommended Design... 2-4 2-2.1.1 Alignment, Transit Right-of-Way, and Stops... 2-9 2-2.1.2 Transit Service... 2-9 2-2.1.3 Traffic and Circulation... 2-10 2-2.1.4 Parking and Loading... 2-11 2-2.1.5 Bicycles... 2-11 2-2.1.6 Pedestrians... 2-12 2-2.1.7 Streetscape... 2-14 2-2.1.8 Economic and Community... 2-14 2-2.2 Other Alternatives Considered... 2-14 2-2.3 Summary of Issues Remaining for Resolution... 2-14 2-3 Telegraph North of Dwight: Northbound Mixed-Flow Lane, Southbound Transit/Delivery Lane... 2-16 2-3.1 Recommended Design... 2-16 2-3.1.1 Alignment, Transit Right-of-Way, and Stops... 2-21 2-3.1.2 Transit Service... 2-21 i
2-3.1.3 Traffic and Circulation... 2-21 2-3.1.4 Parking and Loading... 2-22 2-3.1.5 Bicycles... 2-22 2-3.1.6 Pedestrians... 2-22 2-3.1.7 Streetscape... 2-23 2-3.1.8 Economic and Community... 2-23 2-3.2 Other Alternatives Considered... 2-23 2-3.3 Summary of Issues Remaining for Resolution... 2-24 2-4 Telegraph to Shattuck: Side-Running Transitways on Bancroft and Durant... 2-25 2-4.1 Recommended Design... 2-25 2-4.1.1 Alignment, Transit Right-of-Way, and Stops... 2-31 2-4.1.2 Transit Service... 2-31 2-4.1.3 Traffic and Circulation... 2-32 2-4.1.4 Parking and Loading... 2-32 2-4.1.5 Bicycles... 2-32 2-4.1.6 Pedestrians... 2-33 2-4.1.7 Streetscape... 2-33 2-4.1.8 Economic and Community... 2-33 2-4.2 Other Alternatives Considered... 2-33 2-4.3 Summary of Issues Remaining for Resolution... 2-35 2-5 Shattuck: No Dedicated Lane ( No-Build )... 2-36 2-5.1 Recommended Design... 2-36 2-5.1.1 Alignment... 2-43 2-5.1.2 Stops... 2-43 2-5.2 Other Alternatives Considered... 2-44 2-5.3 Summary of Issues Remaining for Resolution... 2-45 Chapter 3. Frequently Asked Questions About the East Bay BRT Project... 3-1 3-1 Who Rides the Bus in the Corridor, and Where Are They Going?... 3-2 3-2 Would BRT Duplicate BART?... 3-3 3-3 Would It Be Worth It to Dedicate Lanes to Buses?... 3-4 3-4 How Would BRT Affect Safety (including Emergency Vehicle Access)?... 3-5 3-5 What Would Be the Land Use and Economic Impacts of BRT?... 3-6 3-6 How Would BRT Affect Spillover Parking in Neighborhoods?... 3-8 3-7 Would the East Bay BRT Project Be Cost-Effective?... 3-9 3-8 How Effective Have Other BRT Projects Been?... 3-11 3-8.1 Travel Time... 3-11 3-8.2 Reliability... 3-12 3-8.3 Ridership... 3-13 Chapter 4. Impacts and Strategies to Address Impacts... 4-1 4-1 Summary of LPA Impacts and Mitigations... 4-1 4-2 Traffic and Parking Impacts, and Mitigations Proposed by AC Transit... 4-2 4-2.1 Traffic Impacts... 4-2 4-2.2 AC Transit Traffic Mitigations... 4-7 4-2.3 Parking Impacts... 4-7 4-2.4 AC Transit Parking Mitigations... 4-9 4-3 Additional Mitigation Strategies Proposed by Berkeley Staff for Further Analysis... 4-9 Chapter 5. Next Steps... 5-1 5-1 Future Process... 5-1 Appendices: BRT Resources... A-1 APX-1 EBBRT Resources... A-1 City of Berkeley EBBRT webpage... A-1 AC Transit EBBRT webpages... A-1 ACT for Me website... A-2 APX-2 Berkeley Planning Resources... A-2 ii
Downtown Area Plan... A-2 Draft Southside Plan... A-2 Climate Action Plan... A-2 UC Berkeley Long Range Development Plan... A-2 APX-3 General BRT Resources... A-2 Federal Transit Administration (FTA) BRT webpages... A-2 Federal Transit Administration: Characteristics of Bus Rapid Transit for Decision-Making... A-2 California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) BRT webpages... A-2 American Public Transportation Association (APTA) BRT webpages... A-2 BRT Information Clearinghouse... A-2 National BRT Institute... A-2 Buses with High Level of Service... A-2 United States General Accounting Office (GAO)... A-2 Bus Rapid Transit Shows Promise report... A-2 Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Report 90: Bus Rapid Transit, Volume 1: Case Studies in Bus Rapid Transit and Volume 2: Implementation Guidelines... A-3 Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Report 118: Bus Rapid Transit Practitioner's Guide... A-3 Victoria Transport Policy Institute BRT webpage... A-3 Wikipedia BRT webpage... A-3 APX-4 Examples of Dedicated Bus Lanes... A-3 Table of Figures Figure ES-1 Proposed Locally Preferred Alternative: Summary of Benefits and Impacts... 5 Figure 1-1 Problems with Bus Service, and Proposed BRT Solutions... 1-4 Figure 1-2 & Figure 1-3 Median Transitways: Los Angeles Orange Line and Cleveland Health Line... 1-6 Figure 1-4 Side-Running Lane and Bulb-Out Stop: Boston Silver Line... 1-7 Figure 1-5 BRT Stop with Level Boarding: Eugene (Oregon) Emx... 1-7 Figure 1-6 East Bay Bus Rapid Transit: Conceptual Alignments (AC Transit DEIS/R)... 1-9 Figure 1-7 Top Five Projected Ridership Increases Among Proposed Bay Area BRT Corridors (2035)... 1-13 Figure 1-8 Proposed Locally Preferred Alternative (Including Local Stops Proposed for Removal). 1-18 Figure 1-9 Elements of Local, Rapid, Enhanced Rapid, and BRT Service... 1-23 Figure 2-1 Major Issues Considered by City Staff... 2-2 Figure 2-2 Telegraph from Woolsey to Ashby... 2-5 Figure 2-3 Telegraph from Ashby to Ward... 2-6 Figure 2-4 Telegraph from Ward to Dwight... 2-7 Figure 2-5 Dual Threat to Pedestrians at Unsignalized Intersections... 2-13 Figure 2-6 Telegraph North of Dwight... 2-19 Figure 2-7 Durant from Ellsworthto Telegraph... 2-27 Figure 2-8 Durant from Shattuck to Ellsworth... 2-28 Figure 2-9 Bancroft from Telegraph to Ellsworth... 2-29 Figure 2-10 Bancroft from Ellsworth to Shattuck... 2-30 Figure 2-11 Shattuck from Durant to Center... 2-39 Figure 2-12 Shattuck from Allston to Addison... 2-40 iii
Figure 2-13 Cross-Sections of All Shattuck Alternatives... 2-41 Figure 3-1 Origins and Destinations for Route 1R Trips with One or Both Ends in Berkeley... 3-3 Figure 3-2 FTA Cost-Effectiveness Ratings for East Bay BRT and Peer Projects... 3-11 Figure 3-3 Examples of BRT Travel Time Savings... 3-12 Figure 3-4 Examples of BRT Ridership Increases... 3-14 Figure 3-5 Percentages of BRT Riders Shifting from Driving... 3-14 Figure 4-1 AM Peak Hour Intersection Levels of Service... 4-4 Figure 4-2 PM Peak Hour Intersection Levels of Service... 4-5 Figure 4-3 PM Peak Hour Traffic Volumes on Telegraph, With and Without BRT... 4-6 Figure 4-4 Existing Parking Supply and Occupancy By Segment... 4-8 Figure 5-1 Major Steps Remaining Before Construction Could Begin... 5-3 iv