NTRAC Final Study - Nebraska Department of Roads - State of ...

CHAPTER 6 – EXPRESS BUS PLANS
Express Bus Service Assumptions
The following assumptions and general policy parameters apply to the operation of the proposed
express bus service scenarios.
Equipment to be used will be suburban commuter buses with overhead storage racks and
bigger, more comfortable seats than urban transit bus seats. The assumed cost per coach is
$450,000.
Thirty-minute headways for the morning and evening peak trips.
Initial service will include morning and evening peak periods. A mid-day trip could be
added after the first year of operation based upon ridership levels and customer demand.
Mid-day service provides travel time flexibility when a rider’s normal schedule is
disrupted, and offers the potential to increase ridership levels by making the service more
attractive for non-work trips. An express bus rider survey is suggested after Year 1 of
operation to determine the need for a mid-day bus. During Year 1, riders will be asked to
register for the guaranteed-ride-home program. These trips are anticipated to be low in
number and provided by other fleet vehicles of the contract operator.
Fremont and Blair are bedroom communities of Omaha, and thus are home-based origin
points. The demand for service is inbound to Omaha in the AM and outbound from
Omaha in the PM. New park-and-ride facilities are provided in Fremont and Blair. Each
of these facilities would include an automatic ticket vending machine (TVM) and a layover
area for buses.
Peak work travel demand between Lincoln and Omaha is bi-directional.
There will be no weekend or holiday service, resulting in a total of 254 annual service
days.
The service will be competitively bid to a contractor to operate. A cost of $2 per mile
(including insurance, general agency administration and marketing) is based on prices paid
today for similar services 1 . The cost of the lease of a layover facility in Lincoln (assumed
at $1,000 per month) is additive to the $2-per-mile operating and maintenance cost and is
included in the total operating cost estimate.
The contract operator will provide a centrally located maintenance facility in the Omaha
area. Buses will layover overnight at new park-and-ride facilities in Fremont and Blair. In
Lincoln, buses will layover mid-day and overnight at a facility leased for the service.
Rolling stock (buses) will be provided by the State to the contractor. The contractor will
operate and maintain the equipment and be responsible for providing a maintenance
facility. Thus no costs for an Omaha bus maintenance facility are included in the capital
cost estimate for any of the three scenarios.
1 The California Department of Transportation’s Rail Division today pays its contractor $1.50 per mile for its connecting
intercity bus services. The Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) reportedly pays about $1.75 per mile. The $2-per-mile
assumption, though higher, is a reasonable estimate of the likely cost for this service, which will include administrative costs
borne either the Department of Roads or another agency sponsoring the service.
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NEBRASKA TRANSIT CORRIDORS STUDY
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WILBUR SMITH ASSOCIATES