2007/07/25 Council Agenda Packet

i 7 • replacements, though new air quality standards may necessitate purchasing more expensive hybrid-electric coaches in the future. Community Transit's long-range base capacity needs are not well defined, but it is likely that as the system grows (� additional operating capacity will be necessary or desirable to preserve operating efficiencies. Expanding existing bus bases is generally a cheaper and quicker option than building new bases, which can take many years to plan, design and construct and cost many millions of dollars. However, building a new facility in the northern portion of Snohomish County may make sense at some point to reduce non-revenue service (deadhead) costs. High deadhead costs are incurred when running buses between the base and the start or end of revenue service, when no fare revenue is gathered. Putting base facilities closer to the start and end points of routes can lower these costs considerably. Future TDP updates will need to consider this question in more detail. ACTION 36: By 2007, complete a long-range cost/benefit analysis of alternatives for adding operating facility capacity to Community Transit's system. Bus Rapid Transit A major new initiative that Community Transit would like to pursue is to develop Snohomish County's first"bus rapid transit" (BRT) corridor on SR-99, to provide higher capacity transit service in our most heavily used transit corridor without making large fixed rail investments. SR-99 has been identified for future high (� capacity transit investment", already has several BRT components programmed, and connects well with a variety of transit services. Implementing BRT along SR-99 could provide higher capacity and quality sooner rather than later. It also presents opportunities to collaborate with Everett Transit, Sound Transit and local jurisdictions, and test new technologies on a small level to inform larger systemwide investment decisions. • BRT can mean many things to many people, but essentially it boils down to bundling $ high quality, higher capacity transit service and facilities together along a corridor to 4 provide a faster, more reliable and more comfortable riding experience for customers that mimics what riders experience on rail systems. Experience in other cities that have implemented BRT applications (e.g. Los Angeles, Boston) have shown that the synergistic effects of focusing BRT investments at the corridor level can also result 4 in large increases in ridership beyond what individual, piece-meal improvements can achieve on their own. One of the advantages of BRT over other high capacity transit modes is that it can be developed incrementally— not all of the eventual components have to be funded and built at the same time. The Federal Transit Administration is leading national 11 Regional Transit System Plan,Joint Regional Policy Committee,1993 COMMUNITY TRANSIT TDP 2004-2009 PAGE 82 OF 190