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

• Patronage Potential - The special servicemust be evaluated on its potentialridership.• Service That Could Be Provided By Others- Consideration is given as towhether or not the service can be providedby others, which includes charterbus operations, taxis, carpools, vanpools,and other dial-up services. Included inthese considerations are the possibilitythat larger buses may be needed basedon cost, geographic limitations, and potentialmarket penetration.• Partnership Building - Tri-Met’s goalsinclude partnership building in thecommunity. This helps to enhance Tri-Met’s role as a community partner andas a facilitator of mobility.In areas where service overlaps involve twoor more agencies, inter-agency coordinationis very critical especially on issues of fares,transfers, and scheduled service hours. Onepitfall to avoid, especially for non-regularriders, is forcing riders to use several differentfare instruments. In other words, transfersmay not be allowed unless the riderpays a new fare. This obstacle should beeliminated through inter-agency coordination.Express Bus ServiceStakeholders managing travel for a particularevent may discourage event patrons fromdriving their private vehicles to the eventsite due to expected site parking deficienciesand anticipated roadway congestion. Thesespectators would likely utilize an expressbus service, originating from a permanentpark and ride facility or other vacant parkingarea (e.g., regional mall overflow parkingarea), if the service provides a higher levelof service to event patrons compared to thedrive-alone option. An express bus wouldfurnish direct service to the event venue. Inorder for an express bus service to operatesuccessfully, the express bus stations (e.g.,park and ride areas) must be strategicallylocated to intercept spectator traffic as it approachesthe event. In determining appropriateexpress bus station locations, theevent planning team should review the resultsof a feasibility study market areaanalysis.Six successful examples of express bus serviceinclude:• A successful public transit and expressbus campaign was utilized during the2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City,Utah. (2) During the event, over 2.5 millionpassenger trips were recorded on theSalt Lake City public transit system foran average of about 150,000 per day.TRAX (Salt Lake City’s light rail system)carried two-thirds of the passengersand park and ride express buses carriedthe remaining third.• Another successful implementation ofexpress bus service involves footballgames at Husky Stadium on the campusof the University of Washington in Seattle.(1) Football game attendees were encouragedto take public transportation tothe stadium. All football ticket holderswere able to ride King County Metrobuses for free to the stadium via specialservice routes from park and ride lots inthe region. Event parking revenues subsidizedthe cost of the express bus service.• In addition to the plan implemented forUniversity of Washington footballgames, a similar plan was implementedfor Seattle Seahawks football games duringthe 2000-2001 season, when theSeahawks were forced to use Husky Stadiumfor home games. The Seahawks7EVENT PROFILE POST-EVENT ACTIVITIES DAY-OF-EVENT ACTIVITIES ADVANCE PLANNINGOVERVIEW7-11