Speeding up the slow progress of building true RTA RapidLink service

Several public transportation studies long show that establishing a bus rapid transit alternative for the Magnolia and University Avenue corridors is desirable and feasible. True BRT involves dedicated stops with ticket vending machines, dedicated transit lanes through high density areas, traffic signal priority, 10-15 minute service frequency or better, and early morning to late night service span. Major transfer hubs could also be staffed with teams of volunteer transit ambassadors to assist riders in purchasing tickets and getting them to the right connecting local bus.

The Riverside Transit Agency has been exploring this alternative for a number of years now. The hold-up of getting BRT or even limited stop runs of existing services onto Riverside's streets has long been funding. We really cannot fault either RTA or the Riverside County Transportation Commission on this. Both local agencies are at the mercy of a stubbornly soft Inland Empire economy which provides the local resources. The misspending of transportation dollars at the state level which we pay into also contributes to this madness.

The fact that the cost of public transportation infrastructure is artificially inflated certainly does not help. The State of Indiana, for example estimates that upgrading a railroad crossing with automatic warning devices and gates is about $250,000. Fair enough. Ohio estimates $200,000 per upgrade. In contrast, according the Press Enterprise, Riverside County officials estimate the cost to upgrade a Perris Valley Line rail crossing in Box Springs to be anywhere from $3-$4 million. Even if the surrounding streets required upgrades, that is more than 10 times the cost of a single family home, which requires far more construction labor. We'll take a closer look at the Box Springs railroad crossing drama before making any judgement, but the inflated cost to upgrade the grade crossing is absolutely questionable to say the least.

Also, the City of Riverside must coordinate RTA's RapidLink plans into its Riverside Reconnects project, even if that means using articulated buses as the selected technology in lieu of the streetcar. By the way, here's our take and position on the city's streetcar proposal.

RTA RapidLink funding and proposed phases

Back to BRT. In June, RCTC issued the 2013 Multi-funding Call for Projects (Call) in order to acquire transportation funding from the federal government. RTA reports that available funds from the feds under Call adds up to around $116 million:

• Congestion Management and Air Quality Program (CMAQ): $61 million
• Surface Transportation Program (STP): $52 million
• Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP): $3 million

Money for BRT falls within the CMAQ program. Specifically, the CMAQ program is geared toward transportation projects or programs that are air quality beneficial and provide congestion relief. Hey, shouldn't any major transportation project not contribute toward dirty air and actually address traffic congestion? Anyway, under CMAQ, eligible transportation projects generally include construction activities on highway and arterial capacity enhancements, signal synchronizations, intersection channelization, bicycle and pedestrian improvements, and transit enhancements. BRT is one of these.

RTA staff applied for funding to implement Phase 1 of the RapidLink BRT service...Well, it's not quite BRT just yet, but limited stop service will certainly provide a speedy alternative to slow local bus rides to get across town by bus. The Phase 1 service involves launching peak hour limited-stop bus runs that would operate concurrently with Route 1 between UCR and the Galleria at Tyler bus transfer hub. Here's a map of the proposed route and stop locations.

Under Phase 1, the limited-stop service would serve 15 stops in each direction during peak rush hours as compared to 55 stops in each direction on the local Route 1 between UCR and the Galleria at Tyler. Service will start at 5:30 a.m. and continue through 8:30 for the morning rush hour and from 2:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. in the afternoon. The interval between limited stop buses would be 15 minutes. RTA predicts Phase 1 will start in January 2015 pending a public comment period. The agency reports that Route 1 records 7,586 weekday daily boardings, far above the system-wide weekday average of 822 weekday daily boardings among 40 routes which excludes the trolley circulator routes.

Phase 2 extends the limited stop services west to the Corona Transit Center with additional runs during off-peak hours.

Phase 3 would involve all day service implementation on weekdays from downtown Riverside to the Corona Transit Center with additional transit stop amenities, similar to OCTA's Bravo! limited stop runs of Route 43 along the Harbor Boulevard corridor.

Speeding up and getting true BRT onto Riverside's streets

As we've mentioned, a priority for both local elected officials and the state is to encourage the private sector marketplace to invest back into the Magnolia and University Avenue corridors with the jobs that go with it. The state must also stop bowing to the will of labor unions which inflates infrastructure costs. Voters need to hold those in power accountable. These solutions are absolutely necessary to help speed up the slow process of getting true BRT into the dense areas of Riverside County which would transport a productive labor workforce.

Under the current economic and political climate, RTA is forced to restrict its Route 1 corridor upgrades to peak hour limited-stop runs for now. Certainly limited stop bus service costs less than a fully implemented BRT service such as LA Metro's Orange Line and portions of the sbX BRT. However if the state demands its public infrastructure costs to not exceed marketplace rates and as more private investments come back to Riverside with both the entry-level and high paying marketplace jobs that go with them, should they, true BRT would come at faster rate.

RTA and the City of Riverside would then be able to quickly upgrade high density transportation corridors like Route 1 complete with true BRT stop amenities, dedicated transit lanes through dense areas, traffic signal priority, and frequent 10-15 minute service from early morning to late night including weekends by 2015. RapidLink would not just be peak-hour limited stop runs Route 1. That's a rapid reality.

Who is responsible for the Omnitrans sbX fiscal mess-up?

An April audit by the Federal Transportation Administration potentially shows that significant portions of Omnitrans' $191 million sbX bus rapid transit project may not be making it to the E Street corridor as it should. The audit which was made public last week accuses Omnitrans of violating more than 20 federal guidelines, more specifically, how construction contracts were awarded and managed. According to the press, violations included a contract worth $15 million without going through the bidding process. Another mess-up includes a 15% price hike on all change orders--the feds prohibit cost-plus percentage.

While Omnitrans and its new leadership are defending a few of the violations brought up, the agency has acknowledged responsibility of most of the accusations including the cost-plus percentage count. We predict that under the leadership of newly appointed Procurement Director Jennifer Sims, the transit agency will be able to resolve this matter by cooperating with the federal government. At this point, the agency has not reported whether or not all of this fiscal madness fell under the fault of former Omnitrans CEO Milo Victoria or whether the violations were intentional or done in error. What we do know is that Victoria resigned earlier this summer abruptly, yet at the same time, this is the first time Omnitrans has ever taken on a capital project of this scale.

What the public needs to find out is who exactly is responsible for the violations so that such a fiscal disgrace does not repeat itself for the proposed long term sbX extensions toward the west. Omnitrans has promised the feds to come up with a report by the start of next week and work is underway to update fiscal procedures, but more needs to be done. Officials also need to investigate the matter to determine if any crimes were committed with these transit funds. As mentioned, anybody found guilty of defrauding or embezzling our public funds should be put away in jail with mandatory sentences.

Regarding the sbX project itself, this project is certainly no boondoggle; it will be a fast north/south transit alternative to slow local bus rides in the area. The limited stop BRT line promises to speed up public bus transit times for a transportation corridor linked by high-volume activity centers: Cal State San Bernardino, downtown San Bernardino, the Loma Linda University area, and points in between. sbX will connect to a future Metrolink station in the downtown area. The line will mimic LA Metro's Orange Line through downtown and LA Metro Rapid in other areas--both are productive means to move people. Currently, one of Omnitrans' busiest local bus routes--Route 2--serves the corridor and current end-to-end trip times can last in excess of an hour. If officials can clean up the line's fiscal mess, it will be okay.

We want sbX done right!

Proposed east/west Omnitrans sbX BRT routes move forward

What is going on with bus rapid transit in the Inland Empire? It is no secret that Omnitrans is building the sbX system on E Street in San Bernardino. However, the agency has plans to expand the concept with a much grander east-west sbX rapid route mostly following Holt Boulevard and 4th Street through Ontario. Omnitrans recently secured a federal grant that would study BRT through this corridor, which would ultimately have endpoints at Pomona and Yucaipa. The Holt Boulevard route would directly link points from Fontana with Foothill Transit's Silver Streak service in Pomona, thus providing an east-west backbone of rapid bus routes spanning from Santa Monica to San Bernardino. Of course, Metrolink stops its trains at the Inland Empire transfer points and LA Metro will soon have the Metro Expo Line extended to Santa Monica; the rail lines would continue to cater for longer distance end-to-end trips. However, these new rapid routes promise to bring a speedy alternative for those points in between.

Cities along the proposed route are even more excited, as several are conducting studies as to whether BRT is feasible and what kind of transit-oriented development opportunities BRT would bring. Check out Omintrans' BRT master plan here. Note that the proposed Holt Boulevard line is marked in purple:

Metro Rapid in the Inland Empire

SANBAG's plans to bridge transit gaps between transfer hubs with local/rapid buses is long overdue. How about seamless rapid connections to the high occupancy lanes?

Remember when the fast-expanding Metro Rapid bus system brought a speedy and immediate alternative to slow local bus rides along major corridors throughout Los Angeles? That same expansion may soon be a reality along major streets in San Bernardino County, and these rapid connections also promise to bridge major transit gaps too.

The San Bernardino Associated Governments has major long-term plans to bring Metro Rapid-style lines or even dedicated bus rapid transit routes west from San Bernardino all the way across the LA and Riverside County borders with proposed seamless local/rapid connections to Riverside and Foothill Transit buses at major transit centers. The proposals include three existing local bus route extensions which would close major gaps between Riverside, Los Angeles and San Bernardino County activity centers. The extensions are long overdue and have been long addressed by The Transit Coalition.

One extension connects the Highway 83 corridor in Ontario with the Corona Transit Center. Currently, getting from Ontario to Corona by bus, city center to city center, peak hour or off-peak, involves a 2+ hour circuitous journey through Eastvale and Jurupa Valley with many transfers. The second extension directly connects Eastvale with Chino and Diamond Bar via a single line. Currently, bus riders must transfer between several routes to get around this gap outside of peak travel times. The third planned extension creates another north/south connection from Downtown Riverside to the City of Rialto and points north. This will eliminate the need for Riverside Transit riders of the necessity to travel northeast to Downtown San Bernardino and backtracking west. The Transit Coalition stays appraised on developments regarding enhanced bus transit. Be sure to check out an up-to-date Future Vision of Inland Empire Mass Transit which illustrates the proposed rapid transit corridors and enhanced north/south connections. sbX Highway 83 Corridor and the 91 Express Lanes Let's talk about the proposed sbX rapid service for the Highway 83/Euclid corridor through Ontario. According to this SANBAG map, the line will go south along Highway 71, to the 91 Freeway and terminate at the Corona Transit Center. Rapid buses are clearly high occupancy vehicles worthy of passing by freeway traffic congestion; so does it make sense to have a direct access ramp along the 91 Express Lanes at the Highway 71 junction and a second bidirectional ramp at Smith Street in Corona to link to the Corona Transit Center so that BRT doesn't have to sit in 91 freeway traffic? Speaking of HOT lanes, these facilities are quickly spreading across the nation. Several areas around the country have toll lanes of their own, while Los Angeles and Washington, DC, opened their toll lane systems last fall. Despite their promise of fast travel to those who can pay to use them, opponents continue to decry them as lanes for the privileged and that the physical lanes are built through funds taxed from existing road users. It is a fact that people of all income levels use toll lanes, especially HOV's who use the lanes for free or a discount. Field studies and public agency stats back this statement up. "Lexus Lanes" are not just for the rich. To be fair, the state should be held accountable for paying its share to construct HOT lanes so that any 2+ or 3+ HOV is exempt from paying tolls or preregistering. Posts to Metro's Facebook ExpressLanes Page continue to show that traffic on LA's I-110 freeway has worsened since the freeway's HOV lanes were converted to transponder-mandated HOT lanes. Meanwhile, toll lane proponents believe these lanes provide a market value to increasingly scarce road space and additional revenue for highway and transit projects, although our expensive state gas tax funds should really be footing these bills. The Transit Coalition continues to monitor this development, especially in light of efforts to bring non-transponder carpooling to HOT lanes in the Inland Empire, as part of our We want Toll Lanes done right campaign.