managing travel for planned special events - FHWA Operations ...

Shuttle bus operation contingency plansshould include alternate shuttle routes in theevent of a traffic incident occurrence. Thealternate route should traverse a completelydifferent set of streets than the preferredroute. Service operators should maintain anoperations and route detail for any parkingareas denoted as an alternate (e.g., for overflowor weather reasons) to the primary lotserved by the service. Other applicable contingencyinformation includes temporaryservice locations for bus maintenance andfueling.CostThe operation of a shuttle bus service likelywill realize greater efficiency for discreteevents compared to continuous events suchas fairs and festivals. Funding is obtainedthrough satellite parking area fees, corporatesponsorship, or general event revenues. Insome cases, parking is free, and the shuttleservice charges a nominal fare to passengers.This arrangement may cause delaysduring passenger embarking, particularly ifthe bus operator must collect fares. Shuttleusers likely will resist any fare charged forshuttle bus service from a transit station.Therefore, a fare-based shuttle service couldsignificantly impact the utility that event patronsassign to transit when consideringplanned special event travel options.Plan SpecificationsTable 6-20 lists pertinent pedestrian accessplan informational elements of interest toevent patrons and participants. A trafficflow map or traffic control plan, prepared asa traveler information tool, may containcallouts to pedestrian facilities and day-ofeventcontrol tactics. Traffic managementteam personnel will require an implementationplan tailored to each pedestrian managementinitiative.Table 6-20Pedestrian Access Plan ChecklistELEMENT• Show recommended pedestrian access routes.• Show pedestrian bridges and tunnels.• Indicate special pedestrian crossing tactics(e.g., street closure or mid-block crossings)• Show shuttle bus route, direction of travel,stop locations, and loading and unloading areas.• Show vertical connections between infrastructurelevels (e.g., stairs, escalator, elevator,ramps).• Show designated pedestrian crossings at streetuse event venues.• Indicate special regulations.• Highlight pedestrian access routes and crossingssuitable for disabled event patrons.TRAFFIC FLOW PLANOverviewThe preparation of a traffic flow plan representsa required preliminary step to the designof a traffic control plan. The trafficdemand analysis component of a feasibilitystudy indicates the freeway/arterial corridorsand local streets that event patrons will utilizeto access the venue site area. In developinga traffic flow plan, the event planningteam modifies predicted flow routes tomaximize transportation system operatingefficiency on the day-of-event while meetingpublic safety agency needs. In turn, atraffic control plan facilitates traffic flow onrecommended flow routes through serviceenhancingstrategies and tactics that handleforecasted event traffic demand on theseroutes.The advantage of developing a traffic flowplan is two-fold:• Allows the event planning team to influenceand control event patron patterns ofingress and egress. This improves transportationsystem operations and reduces6-36