The majority of Bob Bourne’s 40+-year career was spent working for CyRide, a public transit operation that serves Iowa State University and the entire city of Ames , Ia. This experience has allowed him to become intimately familiar with the unique needs of campus and small city transit systems and what they need to operate most efficiently. He has worked with several universities to help develop their campus bus systems. Parking lot shuttles, intra-campus connectors, and off campus city routes are necessary for a balanced, effective campus transit network.
Dual Bus Systems exist in some cities with the university providing some service and the local transit provider operating other services. Typically the university system operates circulator routes on campus and to destinations near campus. Some provide longer distance services throughout the community. Usually, student fees and other university revenue support the university system and the city system is supported by traditional transit funding services.
An effective campus transit system meets the needs of students, faculty, staff, and visitors. When designed well, campus transit can meet university administration goals to reduce parking needs on campus, reduce infrastructure costs by allowing higher densities in the core campus, and enhance campus planning.
An effective campus transit system will enhance student life by providing a low-cost transportation system that meets a variety of student needs. A comprehensive transit system that operates from early morning until late in the evening, seven days a week, allows students to study, work, and socialize without the need to have an automobile at all times. Access to and from classes is most important, but a comprehensive transit system allows students access to work opportunities off campus, which can be extremely important to students from low- and moderate-income backgrounds. Additionally, many students recognize that transit is one option to reduce greenhouse gases while allowing maximum mobility to meet daily travel needs.
Bob has a comprehensive understanding about how to develop a local transit system to meet campus needs. A City transit system benefits from a good campus transit market by increased ridership, which can result in increased state and federal funding. More importantly, high student ridership can require improved frequencies on routes, which benefit city residents by making the bus system more attractive to them.
Bob’s extensive experience in campus transit has allowed him to understand how to most effectively meet the needs of a large university administration’s goals, how to work collaboratively with students, and how to work within a City structure. He has been able to craft a system that meets all needs and balances the often fragile relationship between students, administrators, and city officials. This system is built on cooperative relationships that acknowledge and respect the common goals and needs of all entities involved. A variety of references from all three groups are available to attest to his skills at being sensitive to the needs of each group and helping them develop the strong relationships necessary to sustain quality transit service.
City-Wide Transit Service
In cities where there is a university bus system, the city bus system and the university system can complement each other. While university systems typically focus on student and campus needs, access throughout the community is important. This can be accomplished by exclusive city operation of off-campus routes, shared services, or financial participation of the university and students in the city system.
Student participation in the local City transit system can enhance transit services for all residents of the city when coordinated with a student/university system or integrated into one system. Off campus transit routes that serve the local community are an important part of campus transit. Working with the local transit system will reduce overall auto traffic to campus.
Bob has a comprehensive understanding about how to develop a local transit system to meet campus needs. A City transit system benefits from a good campus transit market by increased ridership, which can result in increased state and federal funding. More importantly, high student ridership can require improved frequencies on routes, which benefit city residents by making the bus system more attractive to them.
Bob’s extensive experience in campus and city transit has allowed him to understand how to most effectively meet the needs of a large university administration’s goals, how to work collaboratively with students, and how to work within a City structure. He has been able to craft a system that meets all needs and balances the often fragile relationship between students, administrators, and city officials. This system is built on cooperative relationships that acknowledge and respect the common goals and needs of all entities involved. His skills at being sensitive to the needs and goals of the university, students, and the city help them develop the strong relationships necessary to sustain quality transit service.
The benefits of good transit service are many. A well-designed transit system consists of campus circulator routes, city wide routes, and specialty services such as shopping shuttles, Safe Ride, shuttles to airports, AMTRAK, or intercity bus depots. Efficient and effective bus service connects students to class, job opportunities off campus, shopping, medical services and more.
Good bus service will reduce the transportation cost of attending school as well provide savings of Greenhouse Gas Emissions for transportation (Mother Nature thanks you for going easy on your environmental impact). A well-designed bus system will move students between their residential areas and their activities in a safe and efficient manner.
Circulator routes typically operate on campus and to destinations near campus (usually less than one mile from campus). Circulator routes allow for the efficient movement of students, faculty, staff, and visitors around campus where parking is often difficult, limited, and expensive. Circulator routes often connect a park-and-ride lot where students can park free and ride the free circulator to central campus. Circulators also may connect on campus or near campus residential areas with central campus. Circulators may also connect multiple campuses or the campuses of two or more schools that have shared class capabilities. Circulators typically operate at five- to fifteen-minute intervals during the class day and wider intervals at night.
City-wide routes may be operated by the university bus system or by the local transit agency. City-wide routes usually connect off-campus student residential areas with central campus, or connect students with employment, shopping, medical, and recreational activities within the larger community. Many cities operate buses at 30- or 60-minute intervals, but some operate extra service during the typical academic year. Buses may also operate at 10- to 15-minute intervals in corridors with high student ridership.
Specialty services include shopping shuttles, Safe Ride services and connections to airports, AMTRAK, intercity bus depots, and larger nearby cities. Shuttles to large university events such as football games and new student orientations may also be included. Specialty services typically operate a few days or evenings per week or only at the beginning and end of each semester when there are large movements of students.
Safe Ride or late evening services have many different names (Safe Ride, Safe Bus, Nite Ride, Moonlight Express) but all share the same purpose of connecting on- and/or off-campus residential areas to commercial areas where students tend to congregate. Some services operate only on Friday and Saturday nights and some operate on Wednesday and Thursday nights as well. Service usually starts some time between 9:00pm and 11:00pm and end usually between 2:00am and 4:00am.
Safe Ride services allow students to travel safely without the need for an automobile, and have prevented serious injuries, deaths, and driver’ license revocations. Safe Ride services are often viewed as the most valuable transit service that is supported by transit fees.
Examples of Safe Ride Systems:
- University of Kansas
- Stevens Point Late Night Transit (LNT)
- Iowa State University CyRide Moonlight Express
Dual Bus Systems exist in some cities with the university providing some service and the local transit provider operating other services. Typically the university system operates circulator routes on campus and to destinations near campus. Some provide longer distance services throughout the community. Usually, student fees and other university revenue support the university system and the city system is supported by traditional transit funding services.
Examples of Dual Systems:
- University of Iowa Cambus (Iowa City, IA)
- Iowa City Transit
https://www.icgov.org/city-government/departments-and-divisions/transit
- University of Georgia (Athens, GA)
- Athens Transit
- University of Kansas KU On Wheels (Lawrence, KS)
- Lawrence ‘T’
http://www.lawrencetransit.org/
Single Bus Systems are operated in other communities where there is only one system that serves the university and the general community. Student fees provide partial support of the city-wide system and may also provide funding for services primarily focused on student needs, such as shopper shuttles and Safe Ride services.
Examples of Single Systems:
- Iowa State University(Ames, IA)
- University of Wisconsin – LaCrosse(LaCrosse, WI)
http://www.cityoflacrosse.org/MTU
- Go West: Western Illinois University(Macomb, IL)
http://www.wiu.edu/student_services/go_west/
- University of Illinois(Urbana-Champaign, IL)
Each structure has advantages and disadvantages and the decision to operate one or two systems is locally determined. Effective bus service, that meets student needs, can be designed with committed student involvement and financing. If you need assistance in the development or improvement of bus service in your community, contact Bob at 515-231-1370 or bob@bournetransit.com.
Student Transit Service & Policy Checklist Quiz
The Check List below provides a sample of the activities that students should be involved in to create and maintain a robust transit system that serves the university community as well as the general population. Add up your “Yes” answers to determine how effective your transit system is today.
Service
Do students ride fare free on campus circulators? | Yes | No |
Do students ride fare free city-wide on the local transit system? | Yes | No |
Do the campus circulators operate at a 10-minute or less frequency? | Yes | No |
Do city routes operate at 15-minute or less frequency on some routes that have high student ridership potential? |
Yes | No |
Do you have Safe Ride service on Fri. and Sat. nights? | Yes | No |
Do you have Safe Ride service on Wed. and/or Thu nights? | Yes | No |
Does Safe Ride operate at 20-minute or less frequency? | Yes | No |
Are there connections to airports, AMTRAK, or intercity bus? | Yes | No |
Are bus stops marked and in safe locations? | Yes | No |
Is real-time bus schedule information available on your cell phone? | Yes | No |
Policy
Is there a student transit director position in student government? | Yes | No |
Do students have one voting position on the transit policy board? | Yes | No |
Do students have two voting positions on the transit policy board? | Yes | No |
Is there a student or university representative on the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) policy board? |
Yes | No |
Are Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funds used to pay for up to 80% of the cost of new buses? |
Yes | No |
Does the transit system receive funding from your state transit funding program? |
Yes | No |
Does the transit system receive FTA operating funds? (for cities less than 200,000 population) |
Yes | No |
Is there a contractual agreement between student government, the university, and the local transit system? |
Yes | No |
Add up your score here…
Service
8 – 10 | You have a high-functioning, progressive transit system, keep up the good work! |
5 – 7 | Your transit system is developing; keep pushing for more service. |
1 – 4 | Hopefully, you are just getting started and can identify lots of opportunity for improvement. |
Zero | Time to create some proactive initiatives for transit service! |
Policy
8 – 10 | Your transit system is maximizing state, local, and federal funding and you probably have a very cost-effective system that minimizes student fees while providing the most service. |
5 – 7 | You have a good transit system that probably meets many of the transit needs of the university community. |
1 – 4 | There are many opportunities to develop improved relationships with your local transit system. |
Zero | Time to create some proactive initiatives for transit service! |
If your scores fell into the lower ranges, consider giving Bob a call or e-mail to help you identify how to improve your college or university transit system. He can be reached at 515-233-2232 or bob@bournetransit.com.
Transit Funding
Federal Transit Funding:
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) provides a variety of funding programs for transit systems.
Funding is based on population levels. Smaller cities (by federal definition) between 50,000 and 200,000 populations, have formula funding (Sec. 5307) and incentive funding (Small Transit Intensive Cities). Student involvement in accessing the STIC funding can make a significant difference in transit service levels. The tables listed on the FTA Web site can be confusing because some of them only show a partial-year allocation and should be used cautiously when projecting FTA funding. Additional information is available from you regional FTA office, your local transit provider or on the FTA Web site:http://www.fta.dot.gov/grants_financing.html
State Transit Funding:
State transit funding varies widely among states. Some states—for example, Illinois—will support 65% of the cost of operation, while other states provide almost no funding. Each state has a Department of Transportation and there is at least one person in each state who works for the state DOT that is familiar with that state’s transit funding program. Go to your local state DOT and search for transit and you should find a contact person who is knowledgeable about your state funding.
Local Transit Funding:
Local transit funding from your city or county also varies widely from location to location. There is usually a ceiling on local transit funding imposed by the state government depending on the mechanism that is allowed for transit funding. Property taxes are common and sales taxes are also frequently used for local transit funding. The best person to visit with regarding local transit funding is your mayor.
Transit Planning
Transit Development Plans
Bob partners with several engineering firms that have the ability to analyze the large amount of data available for transit planning for Transit Development Plans (TDP) or Comprehensive Operations Analysis (COA). Typically, a TDP will focus primarily on routes and schedules to connect residents with jobs and essential services. Job and residential densities as well as other socio-economic data are mapped to show areas where there is high transit propensity and how well the current system meets those needs. Conversations with supervisors, drivers, management, and passengers are an integral part of this analysis.
A COA will include the route and schedule analysis, but will also look at a larger perspective for the transit system. Short term and long term capital needs are analyzed. Service delivery including training, operating policies, optimum staffing levels, maintenance, and other issues that support the delivery off transit service are analyzed.
Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Report #100 – Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual – standards are used to document the current Level of Service and identify areas that may need improvement.
As cities grow and traffic congestion increases, bus schedules may become too difficult to maintain. Average scheduled speeds are examined as well as operating policies that ensure service reliability. Bus stop locations and standards for bus stop spacing are often an important component of this analysis. TCRP Report #19 – Guidelines for Bus Stop Placement and Easter Seals Booklet – Toolkit For The Assessment Of Bus Stop Accessibility And Safety are used in bus stop analysis.
The analysis will provide the transit system with a variety of options for service changes. The social effects of the changes on current passengers can also be documented and will assist in the decision making process of the transit manager and the transit board.
Multiple options are presented to the policy making board usually with a growth option, existing system improvement option, and a contraction option. The marginal cost of each option is presented along with a discussion on the social impacts on passengers.
Route and Schedule Analysis
Bob also provides smaller scale consulting service for route and schedule analysis on a route by route level to solve minor problems that develop. Many cities need only a minor examination of their service and he provides that type of management assistance without the assistance of the large engineering firms required for TDP and COA services.