Final Report - Pima Association of Governments

High Capacity Transit System Plan - Final Report June 2009
Refined Corridor Assessment
calculated. The number of daily vehicle‐hours needed to maintain planned headways
throughout a typical weekday was also calculated.
• For all modes but CRT, the weekday daily vehicle‐hours were annualized to reflect a full
year of vehicle‐hours using an annualization factor of 310. An annualization factor of 310
was used instead of a factor of 365 days per year because less transit service is typically
provided on weekends and holidays than on weekdays. The transit service provided on
Saturdays was assumed to be 65% of that provided on weekdays, and the transit service
provided on Sundays and holidays was assumed to be 20% of that provided on weekdays.
(The annual vehicle‐hours estimate calculated in this manner reflects only the vehiclehours
needed to provide service at the planned headways.)
• For CRT, the annualization factor is 255.
• The number of annual revenue hours was multiplied by the assumed operating cost per
revenue hour to estimate annual operating costs for the alternative.
• For all modes but CRT, Sun Tran’s 2006 operating cost per revenue hour was increased by
5% per year for two years to account for increased costs and thus calculate the 2008
operating cost per revenue hour. The CRT operating cost per revenue hour is the average
cost for several CRT systems in North America as obtained from the 2006 NTD.
5.3.2 Secondary Evaluation Criteria
Consistency with Regional Plans and Programs
RTA plans were reviewed to identify planned roadway improvements that may impact the HCT
alternatives. These improvements were accounted for in the ROW availability assessment. The
planned Tucson Modern Streetcar project connecting downtown Tucson with UA and relevant
planned transit improvements included in the RTA plan were also reviewed so that the HCT
system can be implemented in concert.
Impacts on Other Transit Services
The project team identified the existing and planned transit services that run in or intersect the
HCT corridors. These services include multiple local bus routes and one planned streetcar route.
The project team also identified the transit centers, park‐and‐ride lots, and transfer points that are
in the HCT corridors.
The HCT alternatives impact existing and other planned transit services in multiple ways. One
type of impact is the result of the decision about what to do with underlying local bus service in
the HCT corridor. (Section 5.3.1 identified changes to local bus routes that were assumed for
ridership forecasting purposes.) If underlying local bus service is maintained at existing or
planned levels, it benefits riders because they will be able to choose local bus or HCT depending
on their destination. If underlying local bus service is reduced or eliminated, however, origins
and destinations located between HCT stations may not be as accessible by transit as they once
were, so riders may have to walk farther to access transit after HCT is implemented. At the same
time, reduced or eliminated local bus service in an HCT corridor can allow Sun Tran to increase
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