to view Short Range Transit Plan FY 2007/2008 - Tri Delta Transit

The orig inal eBART proposal would have operated in the median ofHighway 4 through Pittsburg, and then transitioned to an alignmentalong the Union Pacific Railroad though Antioch, Oakley and Brentwoodas shown in Fi gure 5.1. However, the UnionPacific Railroad did notagree to the terms offered by BART for the proposed right-of-waypurchase, so the eBART proposal was revised to operate in the medianof High way 4. In turn, this necessitated design changes for theproposed Highway 4 widening from 4 to 8 lanes, delayingthe start ofwidening construction and construc tion of eBART for several years.Since 2004, costs for construction materials such as concrete and steelhave also incr eased nearly 50%, necessitating reduction of eBARTstations from three to two, with stations remaining at Railroad Avenuein Pittsburg an d at Hillcrest Avenue in Antioch. At some future date, athird station w ould be built at Somersville Road or the AntiochFairgrounds.As discussed in detail in Chapter 3, Tri Delta Transit fixed routescarried about 2.5 million passengers during FY 2006-07, and ridershipis expected to grow during FY 2007-08 due to the addition of Route201, streamlining of Route 300 to better serve Brentwood, and otherservice additions. While total fixed route ridership has grown 25%since 2000, the share of total trips within the ECCTA service area hasconsistently been around 80% of all riders. This is the primary reasonthat Tri Delta Transit’s highest priority is to serve local passengers.Half of these are either senior citizens or students that are more highlydependent on public transit than the general population.Tri Delta Transit passengers travel in a complex pattern of origins anddestinations, not all of which would be better served by eBART feederservice. The remaining 20% of Tri Delta Transit riders travel todestinations outside ECCTA service area boundaries. Most connect withBART at the Pittsburg/Bay Point station, with smaller volumes travelingto Martinez, the Lawrence Livermore/Sandia Laboratories andDublin/Pleasanton BART, and via The County Connection Route 930serving Ygnacio Valley Road.Given the dominance of local passengers on the Tri Delta Transitsystem, the following principles should be incorporated into therevisions of the Tri Delta Transit fixed route network to interface withthe planned startup of the revised eBART project.Principles for Tri Delta Transit RestructuringFirst, Tri Delta Transit currently owns 69 fixed route buses, whichsupport a maximum peak vehicle requirement of 57 buses with currentspare ratio policies. MTC Resolution 3688 (Transit Capital PrioritiesProcess and Criteria) effectively precludes ECCTA from increasing thetotal fixed route fleet size for the foreseeable future. Future serviceplans should be based on a maximum 57-bus peak requirement. IfBART feeder bus funding is not continued, ECCTA would need todownsize the fixed route system to a maximum 49-bus peak.91