Foursquare ITP led the development of the Fall 2021 Annual Service Plan, as well as created a series of prioritized recommendations for the next five years, known as the Short Range Transit Plan. These two plans began with an existing conditions analysis which looked at existing and future transit markets, evaluated route performance, and reviewed the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on core bus ridership, travel patterns, and bus operations. This information was compiled into technical memorandums and into interactive route profiles where project staff could explore data at the regional, route, trip, and stop level. Foursquare ITP then developed series of recommendations to address both performance issues in the system and recovery from the pandemic. Recommendations were organized into immediate and future proposals, with the most pressing recommendations slated for the Fall 2021 Service Plan. Foursquare ITP assisted MDOT MTA in developing outreach materials for hearings. The project team took the remaining recommendations and prioritized them into a one to five year program for system improvements, based on a new “Equity Evaluation Framework.”
Solutions and Outcomes
- Updated services to address operator shortages.
- Maintained access to essential sites and matched schedules to demand.
- Developed an “essential transit network.”