Cotton Belt Corridor Regional Rail Project Ridership July 2013 Prepared by URS Corporation Prepared for Dallas Area Rapid Transit General Planning Consultant Managed by URS Corporation
Document Revision Record Project/Report Name: URS Project Number: 25338842 PM: Dan Meyers PIC: Jerry Smiley Revision Number: Date: Version 1 December 2013 Version 2 Originator: Reggie Herman, AICP, URS December 30, 2013 Comments by: Task Manager Approval: Date: Verified/Approved by: Date: Distribution Name Title Firm
Cotton Belt Corridor Regional Rail Project TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS... i 1.0 INTRODUCTION... 1 2.0 PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT STRATEGIES... 1 3.0 AGENCY COORDINATION... 2 3.1 Interagency Coordination During Scoping... 2 3.2 Tribal Coordination During Scoping... 2 3.3 Jurisdictional Agency Coordination... 5 LIST OF TABLES Table 2-1 Area Focus Group Meetings... 2 Ridership i
Cotton Belt Corridor Regional Rail Project 1.0 INTRODUCTION Another critical component to the evaluation of rail in the Cotton Belt Corridor Passenger Rail Project (Cotton Belt Project) is ridership. This section of the report will summarize the travel forecasts prepared for the Cotton Belt Project. A simplified approach was employed to develop an order of magnitude patronage for a full-build (also known as All Station) Alternative with eleven to twelve stations and two minimal operating segments (MOS) that serve Dallas/Fort Worth International (DFW) Airport to Addison and Carrollton to Addison, respectively. This information was used to estimate parking needs at stations as well as level of rail service frequency and capacity. It should be noted that there was limited sensitivity testing on ridership for the project. Scenarios with different station locations or fewer stations were not analyzed. 2.0 METHODOLOGY The regional travel demand model developed and supported by the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) is routinely used by DART for the preparation of transit forecasts. The transit network includes fixed route bus modes (local, feeder, and express) and fixed guideway rail modes (light rail, commuter rail, and people movers). In addition, carpooling is allowed in the system of High Occupancy Vehicle lanes in the region. The specific version of the model used in this assessment of the Cotton Belt Corridor was validated using 2007 On Board Survey Data and is the same version of the model that used to develop the regional transportation plan, Mobility 2035: the Metropolitan Transportation Plan for the Dallas/Fort Worth Metropolitan Area. All forecasts used the regionally approved 2035 demographics, with the following rail investments included in the background network..there are other rail investments in the Mobility 2035 that were not included in the background network primarily because service levels in many of these corridor like: McKinney-Allen and Midlothian have not been fully defined. The T s TEX Rail from southwest Fort Worth to DFW Terminal A/B DCTA s A-Train from downtown Denton to downtown Carrollton DART South Oak Cliff extension to UNT Dallas DART Red, Orange, Blue and Green lines Trinity Railway Express Travel forecasts for three alternative scenarios were prepared for this effort., The most comprehensive Build Alternative full build and two MOS alternatives are discussed below. Information related to the remaining forecasts can be found in the document, Technical Memorandum: Cotton Belt Corridor Travel Forecasts June 2013. Ridership 1
Cotton Belt Corridor Regional Rail Project 3.0 RESULTS 3.1 Feeder Bus System Travel forecasts for the most comprehensive Build Alternative (All Station Alternative) and the two shorter segment options were generated using the travel demand model as described in the previous section. The Cotton Belt Rail was coded to operate at 20-minute peak and 60-minute off peak headways. The DART bus system was adjusted to feed the rail stations appropriately. Figures 3.1 through 3.3 show maps of the DART bus in the vicinity of the proposed Cotton Belt Project, along with the specific station locations and corresponding feeder routes. Figure 3-4 shows the complete corridor as reflected in the All Station Alternative forecast. Figure 3-1: All Station Alternative Bus Routing and Station Detail (DFW Airport Vicinity) Source: Connectics Transportation Group, June 2013. Ridership 2
Cotton Belt Corridor Regional Rail Project Figure 3.2: Build Alternative Bus Routing and Station Detail (Addison Vicinity) Source: Connetics Transportation Group, June 2013 Figure 3.3: Build Alternative Bus Routing and Station Detail (Plano Vicinity) Source: Connectics Transportation Group, June 2013 Ridership 3
Figure 3.4: Build Alternative Corridor Map Cotton Belt Corridor Regional Rail Project Source: Connetics Transportation Group, June 2013. 3.2 Ridership The two MOS Alternatives (MOS 1 Carrollton to Addison and MOS 2 DFW Airport to Addison) include the following stations. Source: Dunbar Transportation Table 3.1 MOS Station Configuration STATION/ALTERNATIVE MOS 1 MOS 2 DFW Airport Terminal B Station No Yes DFW North No Yes North Lake Station No Yes Downtown Carrollton Yes Yes Addison Transit Center Station Yes Yes Alternative MOS included all of the above except the North Lake Station. Both were forecast at 20 and 60 minute headways to generate 2,035 average daily ridership in the corridor. Ridership 4
3.3 Build Alternatives Cotton Belt Corridor Regional Rail Project Table 3.2 Total Station Ridership 2035 Average Weekday Ridership All MOS 1 MOS 2 STATION/ALTERNATIVE Station DFW Airport Terminal B Station 2,590 NA 1,552 DFW North 1,567 NA 1,244 North Lake Station 608 NA 407 Downtown Carrollton 2,719 2,021 1,810 Addison Transit Center Station 1,837 2,021 2,123 Knoll Trail Station 998 NA N/A Preston Station 544 NA N/A Renner Village Station 1,012 NA N/A UTD/Synergy Station 1,341 NA N/A Bush Turnpike Station 1,736 NA N/A 12 th Street Station 600 NA N/A Shiloh Station 831 NA N/A Total Cotton Belt Trips 16,382 4,041 7,136 All Station Alternative which extends the full length of the project corridor, beginning at Shiloh Road in Plano and continuing into the DFW Airport Terminal B Station. A review the detailed information contained in the Technical Memorandum: Cotton Belt Corridor Travel Forecasts June 2013 reveal the following observations about the performance of the Build Alternative: Drive access represents the highest boarding mode (32% of all boardings) and is highest at the Bush Turnpike Station (nearly 24% of all drives board at this station). Transfers from the regional commuter rail lines (TEX Rail and the DCTA A-Train) provide the next highest boarding mode (18% of all boardings) and occur at the DFW North and Downtown Carrollton stations. The Downtown Carrollton Station reflects the highest overall station ridership, due in great measure to the transferring rail riders from the DART Green Line and the DCTA A- Train at this location. Transfers to the Cotton Belt Project from DART Light Rail occur as expected at the 12 th Street and Bush Turnpike stations (from the Red Line), the Downtown Carrollton Station (from the Green Line) and the DFW Airport Terminal B Station (from the Orange Line). Transfer from LRT represents nearly 14% of all boardings and 18% of all alightings for the Cotton Belt Project. The second highest station ridership overall occurs at the DFW Airport Terminal B Station. The airport is a major activity center and the high rail ridership at this station reflects that both for employees and passengers. It is primarily a destination station (231 boardings versus 4981 alightings) with Walk and the Automated People Mover (APM) providing the majority of access. The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD)/Synergy Station shows the impact of the feeder bus system that was included for this Alternative. Over 68% of the boardings at this Ridership 5
Cotton Belt Corridor Regional Rail Project station come from DART bus this represents the highest bus access of any stations along the Cotton Belt Project. The Addison Transit Center Station is the third highest in overall ridership and includes a strong walk egress component. The stations at North Lake, Preston and 12th Street are the lowest ridership stations along the project. The 12 th Street Station is clearly impacted by the proximity of the Bush Turnpike Station and ridership at this location would increase if the Bush Turnpike Station were eliminated. The riders accessing the Cotton Belt Project at both the North Lake Station and the Preston Station would most likely re-distribute to the neighboring stations should these two be eliminated. There is a greater likelihood of this for Preston Station than North Lake Station as the neighboring Addison Transit Center Station is much closer to Preston Station than the Downtown Carrollton or DFW North are to the North Lake Station. The local and feeder bus service to North Lake Station is minimal, which also may contribute to this station s performance. The ridership forecast did show some degradation of ridership on existing DART rail lines as a result of Cotton Belt Project service. There is a net increase in overall system ridership. o Orange Line 13,050 No-Build versus 9,990 Build Alternative 2 o Green Line 12,500 No-Build versus 12,090 Build Alternative 2 o Red Line 14,640 No-Build versus 14,730 Build Alternative 2 o Blue Line 7,000 No-Build versus 6,680 Build Alternative 2 Alternative MOS 1 Carrollton to Addison Alternative MOS 1 depicts rail running from downtown Carrollton to the Town of Addison. Headways, park-and-ride locations, and feeder bus routes are identical for the stations included in this segment as those shown for the All Station Alternative. A review of MOS 1 ridership projections reveals the following observations about the performance of MOS 1. The ridership on MOS 1 was estimated at 2,021 riders per day or about 12.3% of overall ridership on the All Station Alternative previously stated. With only two stations, ridership at each is identical. Transfers between the Cotton Belt Project and DART LRT or the DCTA A-Train in downtown Carrollton represent 85% of the MOS 1 ridership. Alternative MOS 2 DFW Airport to Addison Alternative MOS 2 depicts rail extending from the Town of Addison to the DFW Airport. Headways, park-and-ride locations, and feeder bus routes are identical for the stations included in this segment as those shown for the Full Station Alternative. A review the detailed information contained in the Technical Memorandum: Cotton Belt Corridor Travel Forecasts June 2013 reveal the following observations about the performance of the MOS: The MOS shows a 56% drop in overall corridor ridership from the All Station Alternative previously shown in Table 3-2. Addison Transit Center Station is the highest overall ridership station, with 30% of the overall ridership. Ridership 6
Cotton Belt Corridor Regional Rail Project Drive and Commuter Rail access are the highest modes for boardings along the corridor, each representing 30% of the overall boardings. As with All Station Alternative, transfers to DART LRT at Downtown Carrollton and DFW Airport, along with the DFW Airport APM are important representing 30% of the total alightings for this alternative. Ridership at the North Lake Station is the lowest along the MOS, representing less than 6% of the overall corridor riders. Removing the North Lake Station results in a slight drop in ridership, a loss of 14 daily riders. The remaining North Lake Station riders were distributed across the other stations. Each increased in ridership, with the Addison Transit Center Station showing a 4% increase, Downtown Carrollton and DFW North stations each showing a 5% increase and DFW Airport Terminal B Station showing a nearly 10% increase. The ridership forecast did show some degradation of ridership on existing DART rail lines as a result of Cotton Belt service. The overall effect on system ridership will need further analysis. MOS-2 has a similar impact on the DART LRT system as the All Station Alternative although there is less degradation in ridership on Green and Orange Lines and no degradation on the Red and Blue lines. System ridership has a net increase. Ridership 7
Alliance Transportation Group Arredondo, Zepeda & Brunz Bowman Engineering Connetics Transportation Group Cox McLain Environmental Consulting CP&Y Criado & Associates Dunbar Transportation Consulting HMMH KAI Texas K Strategies Group Legacy Resource Group Mas-Tek Engineering & Associates Nathan D. Maier Consulting Engineers Pacheco Koch Consulting Engineers Parsons Schrader & Cline Spartan Solutions Stantec Consulting Services Inc.