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Home My WebLink AboutREPORT Transportation Advisory Board 2024-05-155/20/2024 TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY BOARD REPORT FOR MAY 2024 NO MEETING ON MAY 15, 2024 This packet contains the following: Materials presented by the scheduled consultant, who was invited to proceed with his originally planned presentation. • Visitor Center Parking Lot Design • 2045 Multimodal Transportation Plan & Transit Development Plan Alternative 1 Parking Parking Removed Transit Stop Area Transit Circulation Alternative 2 Parking Transit Stop Area Transit Circulation Transit Bridge Alternative 3 Parking Transit Stop Area Transit Circulation Alternative 4 Parking EV/RV Parking Transit Stop Area Transit Circulation Alternative 5 Parking Transit Stop Area Transit Circulation Estes Park Transit Plan Improvement Concepts Update Nelson\Nygaard May 2024 TRANSIT RECOMMENDATIONS How did we develop the transit recommendations? Discussing future funding expectations and mechanisms Reviewing historical transit recommendations Discussion of the feasibility of the options proposed 2 Identified Issues and Opportunities from Residents, Workers and Visitors of Estes Park Analysis and field work of the conditions of Estes Park Transit Services Feedback from Staff, the Steering Committee, and Stakeholders about Transit Services Collected preferences of the community and local transit riders through a survey with 285+ responses Identified mapped transit opportunities from the broader MTP Survey Southern extents of town along SH 7 towards Mary’s Lake Road has pockets of potentially unserved transit demand Increasing frequency of routes is challenging due to the long distances to cover and ability to acquire or lease additional buses “Shoulder” months might warrant service based on Tourist trends TDP Transit Improvement Concepts Frequency & Span Service Area Changes Regional Service Transit-supportive Infrastructure and Technology •More months of service or year-round service •Start service earlier and/or end service later •Increase Frequency on Town Routes •Potential to add new regional shuttles (Longmont, Loveland, DIA, etc.) •Potential route extensions into unserved areas in town •Route alignment changes to incorporate future Loop traffic flow •Installing Automated Passenger Counters (APCs) on vehicles •Sidewalk improvements & Safe Pedestrian Crossings •Visitor center enhancements •Improve bus access and operations •Small transit infrastructure projects •Pull out stops •Parking removal or alterations •Intersection improvements •Queue Jumps, TSP CMAQ Grant Funding Coming in 2025 CMAQ Grant – Funded One Year Pilots (2025) Transit Service Expansions ($800,500) –Expand Town Shuttles (Gold, Silver, Brown, and Blue) to 150 service days (like the Red Trolley today) –Later daily service on Town Shuttles Gold, Silver, Brown, and Blue –Later daily service on Red Route –Add a limited winter/holiday service on the Red Route –Red Route add an additional vehicle for more frequency and reliability –Brown Route add an additional vehicle for more frequency Transit Development Plan Recommendations ($363,542) –Updated routes, service dates, and service hours or additional vehicles for reducing headways ($200k) o We want to get feedback from the public on which recommendations they are most interested in –Two regional services at 4 trips a day to/from Longmont and Loveland ($163k) Transit Mobile App ($50,000) –Real time tracking and on-demand scheduling for regional service through Via 5 2025 PILOT 6 The Peak (2023) Annual Days of Service ~600k Daily Span and Frequency 7 The Peak with CMAQ Funded Upgrades (2025) Annual Days of Service More frequent routesMore predictable schedulesService later in the dayMore days of serviceRegional Routes to Longmont and LovelandNew limited Winter service ~1.4M Daily Span and Frequency Additionally, there is ~200k available for TDP Recommendations to be defined with public input Frequency & Span Improvements 8 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 More routes or destinations served More frequency Earlier in the morning Later at night More predictable schedules Stop amenities or signage Other What would make your experience riding the Town's transit service better? (Select up to three choices) FREQUENCY & SPAN Frequency & Span Improvements 9 •Frequency Improvements •Increasing frequency means adding another vehicle and driver to the route, so for each route increased you effectively double the cost for that route. •Earlier or Later Span of Service •Costs around 20% more than today to expand all routes to later and earlier service span •Months of Service •Costs 2 to 4 times more to run more months of service or year round •CMAQ Grant Pilot (2025) Example of how these costs add up for a service scenario •The Brown Route would be around 4.5 times more $$ than today •Add a bus to increase to 30-minute •Run later service span daily •Increase from 74 days of service to 150 days of service (daily from Memorial Day to late October) Potential Route or Service Area Changes 10 Opportunities 11 ROUTE CHANGES 12 ROUTE CHANGES SILVER ROUTE Potential Silver Route Extension – Bidirectional Loop service •A bidirectional loop would allow for riders to get a shorter ride to their destinations, not having to take the route all the way south first •A bus would pass by every stop every 30 minutes and every other bus would be the opposite direction •Silver Route would be every 60 min •Orange Route would be every 60 min •Requires an additional bus or approx. $180k per year* ORANGE ROUTE2-way Loop and Extension *$180k includes expanded months of service and longer span as identified in the CMAQ grant 13 OUTBOUND INBOUND SILVER ROUTE ROUTE CHANGES Potential Silver Route Extension Requires an additional bus or approx. $180k per year* *$180k includes expanded months of service and longer span as identified in the CMAQ grant 14 OUTBOUND INBOUND ROUTE CHANGES Potential Silver Route Extension Requires an additional bus or approx. $180k per year ORANGE ROUTE *$180k includes expanded months of service and longer span as identified in the CMAQ grant 15 NEW ON DEMAND SERVICE Alternative to the Silver Route Extension and Orange Route •On Demand would be around 5 Square Miles served by 1 bus covering south Estes Park and parts of Larimer County •Pick up / Drop off within zone or at EPVC •The Pines would be served by on demand instead of on the Silver Route •The Silver Route turnaround would be at Solitude Cabins, this change also adds bidirectional service for Ridgeline Hotel and Estes Park Community Center which would allow for riders to get a shorter ride to their destinations, not having to ride the full loop. •The new Transit App funded through CMAQ should help pay for the startup technology costs of this option MICROTRANSIT OPTION NEW SERVICE TYPE ROUTE ALIGNMENT CHANGES Opportunities 16 •The Stanley Hotel and Village is a town landmark. Even visitors who don’t stay at the Stanley like to go for the activities and restaurants and ghost stories •From our visit and survey, the Red Route is so popular with visitors, even those just riding it for the experience, we wanted to explore realigning the Red and Gold Routes to add a connection to the Stanley on the Red Route instead. •The Gold Route would take over the stops for the destinations west of Moraine in this option and serve new stops on the west portion of Elkhorn Avenue. Which Estes Park transit routes have you used or plan to use during your visit? (Visitors Only) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 To avoid traffic Parking availability To save money on gas or parking It is more convenient when I'm going to specific… It is better for the environment For the experience I do not have another form of transportation I prefer not to drive I am unable to drive Other Why do you choose to ride transit? (Select all that apply) 17 OUTBOUND INBOUND RED ROUTE - REALIGNED ROUTE ALIGNMENT CHANGES Potential Red Route Change With the hills near the Stanley, the battery life of the electric vehicles would need to be tested for the feasibility of this option. 18 OUTBOUND INBOUND GOLD ROUTE - REALIGNED ROUTE ALIGNMENT CHANGES Potential Gold Route Change Increase to 20-minute frequency Requires an additional bus or $180k per year* *$180k includes expanded months of service and longer span as identified in the CMAQ grant Transit Supportive Infrastructure and Technology Opportunities Stop -level data through the purchasing of Automated Passenger Counters (APCs) for buses would improve long-term performance tracking Town Visitor Center functions well as a transit hub, but some infrastructure changes could help transit work even better: –Signal/median on Big Thompson Ave to speed up left turns for WB shuttles o Alternatively, explore changing intersection at Steamer to a roundabout and having WB shuttles turn right onto Big Thompson and turn around using the roundabout –Safer ped crossing of Big Thompson Coordinate with Multimodal Plan recommendations to prioritize sidewalk/ accessibility at key stops Long term – explore stop-level amenities at busy stops (benches, lighting, shelters) 20 TRANSIT INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS Regional Services Opportunities Regional connectivity a key theme in engagement for residents, workers, and visitors alike –Among survey respondents who were visitors to Estes Park, most either came from out of state or the Front Range. –Survey respondents identified additional routes or destinations served as a key priority for transit improvement. Destinations they noted included Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, and Loveland, among others. 22 REGIONAL SERVICE 23 REGIONAL SHUTTLES NEW SERVICE Estimated at $163k per year for both routes 24 REGIONAL SHUTTLES NEW SERVICE Next Steps Next Steps Present these Transit Recommendations to the community at the Open House and Online for feedback Fine tune our recommendations and create a 5-year plan for how and when to implement changes 26 NEXT STEPS