The Metro Rapid Demonstration Program has been a clear success during its first 90 days of operations. Based on this success, a Phase II Expansion Program is proposed that involves two principal elements:

• Introduction of the remaining Curitiba model attributes (attributes 8-13).
• Expansion of the Metro Rapid network.

Introduce Remaining Attributes

The remaining attributes are discussed below.

Exclusive Bus Lanes

Two approaches are proposed for development of exclusive bus lanes: (1) short segments where warranted by congestion delay; and (2) full-length exclusive transitways either on arterials or in separate rights-of-way. The following is illustrative of possible arterial exclusive lane options.

Higher Capacity Buses

As previously discussed, the Wilshire/Whittier Metro Rapid peak hour frequency has nearly reached 2 minutes and the service is still experiencing overcrowded conditions despite several capacity increases. There are three principal options open for MTA to operate higher capacity buses:

• 45-foot vehicles (8-12 more seats than the standard bus)
• 60-foot articulated vehicles (18-20 additional seats)
• 80-foot bi-articulated vehicles (36-40 additional seats)

Multiple Door Boarding and Fare Prepayment

Multiple door boarding requires off-vehicle fare collection either through controlled access or using a barrier-free proof-of-payment system. The benefits have been long established for light and heavy rail operations and are clearly applicable to high volume Metro Rapid service (the Wilshire/Whittier Metro Rapid is Los Angeles County's third heaviest transit line after the Metro Red and Blue Lines and ahead of the Metro Green Line). MTA has adopted a barrier-free system with random inspections for the rail program. Metro Rapid has very similar needs and will likely require a similar approach, especially given the limited space along the arterial rights-of-way for Curitiba-type stations.

Feeder Network

MTA's basic grid network of regional and local bus services makes development of a separate feeder network for the Metro Rapid (and Metro Rail) of less importance. In Phase II, introduction of new community-based transit services (e.g., Smart Shuttles and circulators) as well as local network restructuring will be appropriate in support of the Metro Rapid network, especially where the prevailing local network is not grid-based.

Coordinated Land-use

One reason for the success of both the Wilshire/Whittier and Ventura Metro Rapid lines is their operation on corridors where land-use is coordinated with transit. Streetscapes and densities are not unlike the "structural corridors" that were developed in Curitiba for the bi-articulated red express lines. The City of Los Angeles has a new project underway to identify transit impacts that could become part of its redevelopment warrants, i.e., Transit Oriented Design - one element could cover coordinated land-use around Metro Rapid stations.

Expansion of the Metro Rapid Network - Arterial Lines

The success of the demonstration lines has provided clear indications that the Metro Rapid program as currently implemented has met with customer approval. Together with the introduction of the additional Curitiba model attributes, expansion of the Metro Rapid network is appropriate. A multi-level selection process was developed for identifying the Phase II Metro Rapid arterial lines.

The first step is based on the Tier One transit criteria and includes lines that meet the following minimum requirements:

• Serve major regional corridors
• Provide key network connections for longer distance travel
• High passenger use

The second step prioritized lines meeting the above requirements based on secondary criteria that included:

• Weekday unlinked passengers
• Average passenger trip length
• Revenue operating speed
• Annual passengers per route mile
• Weekday seat utilization
• Weekday riders retained on weekends
• Weekday passengers per bus hour
• Operating ratio

The resulting candidate lines were then checked for current frequency levels (ability to support Metro Rapid frequencies), whether the corridor currently has multiple levels of regional service (e.g., express, limited-stop, local, and community), and whether it duplicates any other comparable rapid transit (generally a one mile spacing between continuous lines). Based on these findings, lines were confirmed as Metro Rapid candidates and prioritized in three sub-Phases: IIA, IIB, and IIC.

The proposed Metro Rapid candidate lines for Phase II are:

Metro Rapid Phase II

Related Items: Metro Rapid Phase II - Expansion of Metro Rapid Network