ROUTE 78 | BEVERAGE HILL/NEWPORT AVE - ripta

Comprehensive Route EvaluationROUTE 78 | BEVERAGE HILL/NEWPORT AVEROUTE OVERVIEWRoute 78 Beverage Hill/Newport Avenue is along circumferential route that operatesbetween the Pawtucket Transit Center andKennedy Plaza in downtown Providence viaEast Providence (see Figure 1). It serves RhodeIsland’s two largest downtowns, residentialareas in East Providence, two importantshopping centers (Narragansett Park Plazaand Wampanoag Plaza), and Providence’s EastSide and College Hill.FIGURE 1 | ROUTE MAPRoute 78 serves the following areas, activitycenters, and transit facilities:Areas• Pawtucket• East Providence• Providence/Wayland• Providence/College Hill• Downtown ProvidenceActivity Centers• PARI Independent Living Center• Memorial Hospital• Narragansett Park Plaza shoppingcenter• Wampanoag Plaza shopping center• Rumford Tower (select trips)• Blackstone Park• Brown UniversityTransit Centers• Pawtucket Transit Center• Kennedy PlazaNelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates Inc. | 1

ALIGNMENT AND SERVICE PATTERNSRoute 78 operates between the Pawtucket Transit Center and Kennedy Plaza via East Providence. Theprimary variants operate along Beverage Hill Avenue, Newport Avenue, Pawtucket Avenue and the EastSide Tunnel, as shown in Figure 1.Service generally operates along the same alignment in both directions, but with some exceptions:• Through Pawtucket, service operates inbound on School Street and outbound on Prospect Street.This is due to one way street patterns.• Inbound service operates through the Narragansett Park Plaza Shopping Center on NewportAvenue, but outbound service does not. This is so that southbound passengers do not have tocross Newport Avenue.• Through College Hill, inbound service operates via Angell Street and outbound service operatesvia Waterman Street. This is due to one-way street patterns.There are also three variants to this regular alignment:• Two weekday inbound and two weekday outbound trips make a 1.5 mile out and back deviation tothe state line along Pleasant Street.• Two weekday inbound and two weekday outbound trips make a one-half mile out and backdeviation to serve Rumford Towers, a senior assisted living community off of Newman Avenue.• One weekday inbound trip operates along New Road between Newport and Pawtucket Avenuesinstead of along Beverage Hill Road.TABLE 1| SERVICE VARIANTSTRIPS PER DAYVARIANT ORIGIN DESTINATION UNIQUE FEATURE WEEKDAY SAT SUNINBOUND 21 17 8D4V1P2 Pawtucket Kennedy Plaza 17 17 8D4V5P1 Pawtucket Kennedy PlazaVia New Rd andPleasant St State Line1 – –D5V8P1 Pawtucket Kennedy PlazaVia Pleasant St StateLine1 – –D5V9P1 Pawtucket Kennedy Plaza Via Rumford Tower 2 – –OUTBOUND 21 17 8D5V2P2 Kennedy Plaza Pawtucket 17 17 8D5V9P1 Kennedy Plaza Pawtucket Via Rumford Tower 2 – –D5V8P1 Kennedy Plaza PawtucketVia Pleasant St StateLine2 – –SIMILAR ROUTES AND TRANSFER OPPORTUNITIESRoute 78 is one of two routes that provide north-south service between Pawtucket and downtownProvidence via East Providence. The other is Route 35 Rumford, which, for the most part, operates furthereast. The two routes share a short common segment along Newport Avenue to serve the NarragansettPark Plaza shopping center, and operate along the same alignment between Six Corners in EastProvidence and downtown via College Hill. However, although the two routes operate with similar peakperiod service frequencies, the schedules of the two routes are not coordinated. This results in irregularNelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates Inc. | 2

headways between Six Corners and downtown Providence and increases berth space requirements atKennedy Plaza.Kennedy Plaza in downtown Providence and Pawtucket Transit Center are central transfer points for mostRIPTA services. Connections can also be made with the following routes:• Route 42 Hope St and 92 Green Line Trolley at Thayer Street (East Side Tunnel portal).• Routes 33 Riverside and 34 East Providence at Wampanoag Plaza in East Providence.• Route 35 Rumford on Newport Avenue between Beverage Hill Avenue and Pawtucket Avenue.SCHEDULERoute 78 operates seven days per week. Weekday service begins at 5:21 AM inbound and at 6:00 AMoutbound. The last inbound trip departs Pawtucket Transit Center at 10:06 PM and the last outbound tripdeparts Kennedy Plaza at 10:45 PM. Weekday service runs every 45 to 52 minutes.Saturday service starts at 6:32 AM and the last trip departs at 10:43 PM. Saturday service frequency variesfrom 40 to 60 minutes but generally runs about every 52 minutes. Sunday service starts at 6:50 AM andthe last trip departs at 6:35 PM. Sunday service generally runs every 95 minutes.TABLE 2 | SCHEDULE SUMMARYSERVICE DAY SPAN OF SERVICE ONE-WAY TRIPS HEADWAYIB OB (MIN)WEEKDAY 5:21 AM – 10:45 PM 21 21 45-52Early AM 5:21 AM – 6:59 AM 3 2 52AM Peak 7:00 AM – 8:59 AM 2 2 51-52Midday 9:00 AM – 2:59 PM 7 7 52PM Peak 3:00 PM – 5:59 PM 3 3 52Night 6:00 PM – 10:45 PM 6 7 45-50SATURDAY 6:32 AM – 10:43 PM 17 17 40-60SUNDAY 6:50 AM – 6:35 PM 8 8 95Data is based on RIPTA schedules current to May 2012. Span of service indicates the span from thedeparture time of the first scheduled trip to the departure time of the last scheduled trip.RIDERSHIPRoute 78 falls in the middle of RIPTA routes in terms of daily ridership, but has the highest ridership ofthe six eastern Pawtucket/northern East Providence routes. Route 78 carries approximately 1,000 ridersper weekday (ranked 25 th out of 54 routes), 800 riders per Saturday, and 300 riders per Sunday. Weekdayservice carries 24.1 riders, which is nearly matched by Saturday service, at 23.2 riders per trip. Sunday islower, carrying 19.6 riders per trip.Route 78’s weekday ridership is fairly evenly distributed between inbound and outbound trips throughoutthe day. Throughout the day, ridership is lower in the early AM and AM peak than during the midday andPM peak. Ridership per trip gradually increases throughout the day, starting at a low of 20 riders per tripin the Early AM and peaking at 34.1 riders per trip in the PM peak.Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates Inc. | 3

TABLE 3 | RIDERSHIP BY TIME PERIODSERVICE DAY RIDERSHIP RIDERSHIP PER TRIP RIDERSHIP PER TIME PERIOD HOURIB OB TOTAL IB OB AVG IB OB TOTALWEEKDAY 510 506 1016 24.0 24.1 24.1 30 29 57Early AM 65 40 105 20.0 19.9 20.0 40 41 64AM Peak 52 44 96 25.9 22.1 24.0 26 22 48Midday 211 191 402 30.0 27.3 28.7 35 32 67PM Peak 97 108 205 32.4 35.8 34.1 33 36 69Night 85 123 208 14.2 17.6 16.0 18 23 39SATURDAY 378 409 787 22.3 24.1 23.2 23 25 47SUNDAY 154 159 313 19.3 19.9 19.6 13 14 25Performance information is based on data from RIPTA.RIDERSHIP BY STOPFIGURE 2 | RIDERSHIP BY STOP MAPBy stop, the heaviest boarding and alightingactivity is at the two ends of the route, whichattests to the importance of the terminal transitcenters (see Figure 2 and Figure 3). On inbound(southbound) trips, and from north to south, stopswith the highest levels of activity include:• The Pawtucket Transit Center, with 173boardings.• Beverage Hill Avenue at Fred Street (nearProspect Street), with 32 boardings and 31alightings.• Narragansett Park Drive at Bally’s Fitness,with 21 boardings and 24 alightings. Thisstop also serves the Narragansett ParkPlaza shopping center and a nearbymobile home park. Boarding and alightingactivity is also high at other stops in thisarea (Beverage Hill Avenue at NewportRoad and Newport Road at New Road).• The stop in front of Stop & Shop atWampanoag Mall shopping center, whichhas the highest ridership activity of anyinterim stop on the route, at 37 boardingsand 48 alightings.• The eastern portal of the bus tunnel atThayer Street, with 44 boardings.• The three stops in downtown Providenceoutside of Kennedy Plaza, which all havehigh alighting activity.• Kennedy Plaza, with 200 alightings.Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates Inc. | 4

FIGURE 3 | WEEKDAY RIDERSHIP BY STOPOns and Offs by Stop250200150100Weekday InboundProspect /New RoadRumford TowerPleasant StreetState LineOnOffsLoad330264198132506600Roosevelt @ Transit CenterMain @ 100 MainSchool Opposite 123 SchoolSchool Opposite PondSchool Opposite RosewoodSchool Opposite EnglewoodSchool @ Riverview TerraceSchool @ Boys And GirlsSchool Opposite MarylandBeverage Hill @ Slater Dye CoBeverage Hill Opposite RidcoBeverage Hill Near Side CharltonBeverage Hill Near Side DodgeProspect Opposite FredPawtucket Ave Near Side New RdNew Rd Opposite LesterNewport Ave Opposite New RdNewport Ave @ McdonaldsNewport Ave @ FriendlysBeverage Hill Near Side FredBeverage Hill Near Side Glen MeadowsBeverage Hill Near Side Green LakeBeverage Hill Near Side JonesBeverage Hill Near Side NewportNarragansett Park Far Side Newport AveNarragansett Park Near Side BallysNewport Ave @ 24 NewportNewport Ave Near Side VermontNewport Ave Far Side MooreNewport Ave Opposite TaylorNewport Ave Far Side FerrisNewport Ave Near Side Roger WilliamsNewport Ave Near Side DeerNewport Ave Opposite ElmwoodPawtucket Ave Opposite BowenPawtucket Ave Opposite WeedenPawtucket Ave Near Side NewmanPawtucket Ave Opposite Saint MargaretPawtucket Ave @ Rumford TowersPawtucket Ave Opposite KentonPawtucket Ave Opposite KentonPawtucket Ave @ 1315 PawtucketPawtucket Ave Near Side GreenwoodPleasant Near Side JudkinsPleasant Near Side WestwoodPleasant @ State LinePawtucket Ave Near Side BlythePawtucket Ave Near Side CentrePawtucket Ave Opposite Baseball FieldPawtucket Ave Near Side Office PkwayPawtucket Ave Near Side TauntonPawtucket Ave @ 1925 Pawtucket AvenueTaunton Opposite Shoppers Town MallTaunton Far Side 550 TauntonTaunton Midblock 525 TauntonTaunton Near Side GoldsmithTaunton Near Side IrvingTaunton Opposite CoraTaunton Opposite Bubble Car WashTaunton Near Side N BroadwayWaterman @ 314 WatermanWaterman Near Side JohnWaterman Opposite GreeneWaterman Far Side JamesWaterman Opposite VineWaterman Opposite WalnutMassasoit Near Side CurtisMassasoit Far Side SuttonMassasoit Far Side WoodwardMassasoit Near Side Henderson RampS Angell @ 120 AngelS Angell Far Side ButlerAngell Far Side WaylandAngell Far Side ElmgroveAngell Far Side TaberAngell Opposite IvesAngell Far Side StimsonAngell Near Side HopeAngell @ Prescott Library The Wheeler SchoolBus Tunnel Far Side ThayerBus Tunnel Near Side South Main StreetSteeple Far Side MemorialExchange Terrace Far Side Exchange StKennedy Plaza @ Berth MLoad: Passengers On-Board Between StopsNelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates Inc. | 5

In addition, although volumes at individual stops are lower than those described above, there is asignificant amount of collective ridership activity along School Street, and along Angell Street in thevicinity of Elmgrove Avenue.As is the case on many other routes, the variant services have very low ridership:• The one trip that operates along New Road in Providence instead of along Beverage Hill Avenueserves only one passenger.• The three mile long deviation along Pleasant Street to the state line (1.5 miles each way), servesonly one passenger.• The one mile long deviation to Rumford Towers (0.5 miles each way), serves only two riders.Outbound ridership by stop is generally the reverse of inbound ridership, including similar ridershiplevels on each street on the one-way couplet pairs of School Street/Prospect Street and AngellStreet/Waterman Street.RIDERSHIP BY TRIPWeekday Ridership by TripRidership per trip is fairly steady between 6:00 AM to 2:00 PM. A stronger PM peak occurs from 2:30 PMto 6:00 PM (see Figure 4). Ridership per trip is slightly higher inbound in the AM and outbound in thePM, which is an indication that this route serves the downtown (Providence) commute market. Evenhigher ridership around 3:00 PM indicates that the route also serves significant student ridership. Inmore detail:FIGURE 4 | WEEKDAY RIDERSHIP PER TRIP50454035WeekdayInboundOutbound30Riders per Trip25201510505:216:006:076:526:597:447:528:368:419:289:3610:2010:2811:1211:1712:0412:1212:5613:0413:4813:5614:4014:4815:3215:4216:2616:3417:1817:2618:1018:2119:0019:0619:4519:5120:3020:3621:1521:2122:0022:0622:45• In the AM peak, ridership per trip is slightly higher inbound; all trips carry over 20 passengers.• AM peak ridership levels are maintained through the midday period. Ridership per trip begins togradually increase towards the end of the period, with the final trips carrying over 35 passengers.• Afternoon ridership peaks at school dismissal times. These trips carry the highest ridership of theday and generally carry from 35 to 45 passengers.• PM peak trips generally carry 25 to over 40 passengers per trip.Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates Inc. | 6

• Ridership per trip drops sharply after 5:00 PM and levels off at about 10 to 15 passengers per tripfrom 8:00 PM through the end of service.Ridership turnover on Route 78 is high. As a result, maximum loads per trip, which are typically less than60% of total ridership. Maximum loads are below 20 passengers on most trips, and below 30 on all trips(see Figure 5).FIGURE 5 | WEEKDAY MAXIMUM LOAD PER TRIP504540WeekdayInboundOutboundMaximum Load per Trip353025201510505:216:006:076:526:597:447:528:368:419:289:3610:2010:2811:1211:1712:0412:1212:5613:0413:4813:5614:4014:4815:3215:4216:2616:3417:1817:2618:1018:2119:0019:0619:4519:5120:3020:3621:1521:2122:0022:0622:45Saturday Ridership by TripSimilar to weekday activity, Saturday ridership per trip gradually increases throughout the morning andmidday and reaches a peak at about 4:00 PM (see Figure 6). After that time, ridership per trip fallsgradually through the end of service. Ridership is generally balanced between inbound and outbound tripsfor most of the day. However, after 6:00 PM inbound trips carry fewer riders than outbound trips, similarto weekdays.FIGURE 6 | SATURDAY RIDERSHIP PER TRIP5045403530SaturdayInboundOutboundRiders per Trip25201510506:327:157:248:078:168:599:089:5110:0010:4210:4311:2511:4412:2712:3613:1913:2814:1114:2015:0215:0315:4516:0416:4716:5617:3917:4818:3118:4019:2320:2021:0322:0022:43Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates Inc. | 7

Sunday Ridership by TripMost Sunday trips carry 20 to 25 passengers (see Figure 7). The first several trips of the day before 9:00AM carry fewer than 10 passengers. Ridership is generally balanced between inbound and outbound trips,though Sunday exhibits a drop in inbound ridership during the evening (and this drop in evening inboundridership is evident across all service days).FIGURE 7 | SUNDAY RIDERSHIP PER TRIP5045403530SundayInboundOutboundRiders per Trip25201510506:507:308:259:0510:0010:4011:3512:1513:1013:5014:4515:2516:2017:0017:5518:35PERFORMANCERoute 78 is the best performing north-south route east of the Seekonk River. However, by most measures,it performs close to, but slightly below, average:• The route’s operating cost per passenger, at $3.43, is 10% higher than the system average.• The route carries 11% fewer passengers per revenue hour (29.5) than the system average.• The number of bus stops per mile is only slightly higher than average. However, stop spacingsvary considerably along the route and many areas have stops very closely spaced. For example,the School Street/Prospect Street pairs have over nine stops per mile.TABLE 4| PERFORMANCE MEASURESPERFORMANCE MEASURE ROUTE 78 SYSTEMAVERAGEOperating Cost per Passenger $3.43 $3.12Passengers per Revenue Vehicle Hour 29.5 33.2Passengers per Revenue Vehicle Mile 1.9 2.5Total Vehicle Hours per Revenue Vehicle Hour 1.03 1.1Average Speed (mph) 15.2 13.4Bus Stops per Mile 5.9 5.6Performance data is from RIPTA.Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates Inc. | 8

OVERALL ASSESSMENTRoute 78 provides important north-south service through Pawtucket and East Providence, and performsfairly well. The route overlaps Route 35 Rumford along Newport Avenue in East Providence, but this is toserve the Narragansett Park Plaza shopping center, which is a major area activity center. The two routesalso run along the same alignment between Six Corners in East Providence and downtown Providence. Inthis area, the overall amount of service that the two routes provide appears warranted (an average ofapproximately every 25 minutes during peak periods). However, the schedules of the two routes are notcoordinated, and thus the benefits of the combined service frequencies are not fully realized.The route serves the major shopping areas in East Providence and the southeastern side of Pawtucket,which produces a somewhat indirect routing. However, ridership to and from these shopping centers ishigh and thus the existing alignment is appropriate.Although the route performs well overall, it does have two significant weaknesses. First, the deviations toPleasant Street and Rumford Towers, and the service via New Road serve virtually no riders,inconvenience many riders, produce gaps in the regular schedule, and prevent the scheduling of service atregular headways. Second, the route performs fairly well in spite of its infrequent service frequencies(every 45 to 52 minutes during peak periods). Relatively strong ridership levels in spite of infrequentservice indicates that more frequent service may be appropriate.SERVICE OPTIONSThere are a number of changes that could improve service and productivity:• Discontinue Underutilized Variant Services: As described above, Route 78 operates withthree variant services that carry few riders and undermine the overall effectiveness of the route.The elimination of these variants could provide more convenient service to most existing ridersand provide the ability to improve schedules, which would benefit existing riders and attract newriders:− Pleasant Street, which serves only one rider per weekday) and inconveniences theoverwhelming majority of riders who ride through the deviation.− Rumford Towers, which serves only one rider per weekday and inconveniences theoverwhelming majority of riders who ride through the stop. The low ridership activity doesnot justify the deviation and it could be discontinued.− Service via New Road, which serves only two riders per weekday and adds unnecessarycomplexity to the schedule.• Operate Weekday Service with Consistent Service Frequencies: On weekdays, servicelargely operates with consistent headways, but with exceptions. With the elimination of the lowridership variant services, weekday service could be provided consistently every 45 minutes(compared to every 45 to 52 minutes at present).• Interline Route 35 Rumford and 78 Peak Period Service: During peak periods, Routes35 and 78 operate with similar but different schedule (approximately every 50 minutes) but withslightly different schedules. The interlining of the two routes would allow regular headways to beprovided between Six Corners and Kennedy Plaza, and would likely reduce berth requirements atKennedy Plaza.• Operate Saturday Service with Consistent Service Frequencies: Saturday servicecurrently operates every 42 to 60 minutes. Service could be made more convenient by providingconsistent 45 minute headways throughout the day.Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates Inc. | 9

• Provide Additional Weekday Service: Route 78’s service levels are very low, but ridership isstill fairly strong. This indicates that there is likely demand for more frequent service. With a 90minute cycle time, service levels could be improved to every 30 minutes during peak periods andevery 45 minutes during off-peak periods. (This increase would likely be essential if Route 35Rumford where to be shortened to operate to and from Wampanoag Plaza, which is an option forthat route (see Route 35 route evaluation).)• Begin Sunday Service at 9:00 AM: Sunday ridership before 9:00 AM averages ninepassengers per trip, which is low. The start of Sunday service could be delayed until 9:00 AM toprovide resources that could partially fund weekday improvements.• Operate through Narragansett Park Plaza in Both Directions: Route 78 operatesthrough Narragansett Park Plaza inbound (southbound) but not outbound (northbound). This isso that inbound passengers do not have to cross Newport Avenue. Narragansett Park Plaza is oneof Route 78’s most important stops, and it may be appropriate to operate service into theshopping center in both directions.• Consolidate Stops to Improve Running Times. Route 78 has an average of 5.9 stops permile, though clusters of these stops are spaced much closer together than the average–some areashave a stop every 500 feet. This stop spacing is closer than desirable, and the consolidation ofstops would make service faster and more reliable.Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates Inc. | 10