Transit Development Plan / Route Study: The Basics

January 29th, 2009

TCAT, Inc. began operations in 2005 and is the successor to the TCAT joint venture, which was formed in 1998 from three local agencies: Ithaca Transit (urban service), CU Transit (university service), and TOMTRAN (rural service). TCAT currently employs a subcontractor, Gadabout, to provide paratransit services for people with disabilities.

Since the 1998 consolidation, public transit ridership in Tomkins County has grown from 2.4 million rides per year to 3.3 million rides per year in 2008. Although TCAT has continually makes minor adjustments to its routes, TCAT hasn't looked at its service as a whole since the 1997-1998 Service and Fare Consolidation Study. TCAT is taking this opportunity to evaluate its service as a whole, in light of changes to land use, development, employment, and commuting patterns over the past decade.

The Transit Development Plan (TDP) considers four main areas:

• Simplification and clarification of the fixed route system;
• Introduction of alternative transit services (for example, demand-responsive transit or Park-and-Rides);
• Improved use of technology;
• Better use of existing financial, capital, and human resources and identification of opportunities to receive additional funding or other resources.

TCAT started the TDP process back in early 2008 by contracting with Perteet, Inc, a consulting firm based in Seattle.  Perteet has decades of experience working with transit agencies.  During 2008, Perteet consultants did extensive field work, putting someone on every single trip of TCAT's service to collect ridership data.  They interviewed stakeholders and worked with a Resource Committee of bus riders,  advocates for people with disabilities, planners, engineers, transportation specialists, students, and others.  TCAT plans to complete the Transit Development Plan by the summer of 2009.

What does this mean for you, as a rider?  This means that TCAT is looking for opportunities to better serve the community.  Do you think your bus service should be expanded (perhaps a trip at a different time of day, or a new stop along a route)?  Here is your chance to let us know.

TCAT is also looking for ways that we can improve our service overall, while serving more people and becoming more efficient in how we serve them.  For example, there are some portions of some trips on some routes that carry few, if any, passengers.  TCAT believes that it would be better to use those service miles and hours in other locations that will produce ridership--i.e. will actually serve people.

Check out the recommendations.  See how they would affect you.  If you can, think not only of your particular route, but of the system as a whole.  Has TCAT made the system easier to use?  Easier to understand?  Do you think these changes will work?  If not, what can we do to make them work?  We want to hear from you.  Submit your comments to tcat@tcatmail.com, give us a call at 277-RIDE, or attend an open house.