EVALUATION OF THE DENVER RTD ROUTE RESTRUCTURING PROJECT

In February 1978, the Denver Regional Transit District (RTD) eliminated the 25 cent off-peak fare and retained a 50 cent peak hour fare for bus boardings duing the morning two-hour rush period and evening two-hour rush period. The experiment in innovative transit pricing continued for one year as a Federally-assisted demonstration project to determine the effects of free off-peak transit in a major urban area. During the demonstration, RTD also undertook a complete transformation of its network of bus routes and schedules. Following two years of planning, in September 1978, RTD accomplished the restructuring of its transit services from a network of mostly historic radial routes serving the old central business district to one more closely conformed to a grid system. This report summarizes the evaluation of the route restructuring project in Denver with respect to the implementation requirements of a major redesign of fixed-route transit services and its effects on: 1) travel behavior ; 2) bus operations; 3) quality of service; 4) costs and revenues; 5) secondary effects on the environment; and 6) public support for transit services and improvements. The extensive data collection activities conducted by RTD as part of the demonstration, included transit operations monitoring, surveys of transit users onboard, and follow-up telephone. General population surveys are documented and their results analyzed. Principal findings of the evaluation are reported and their implications for transit operations and service planning are discussed. Both the short-term effects of implementing major changes in existing transit service, as well as the long-term supply and demand characteristic of the grid concept applied to transit operations in Denver are addressed. Evaluation of the off-peak free fare experiment is provided in an earlier report of this project: "Denver Off-Peak Free Fare Public Transit Experiment - Interim Report", May 1979 (PB 298-783, A04). (FHWA)

• Corporate Authors:

  De Leuw, Cather and Company

  120 Howard Street
  San Francisco, CA  United States  94120

  Urban Mass Transportation Administration

  400 7th Street, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Donnelly, R M
  • Ong, P M
• Publication Date: 1981-7

Media Info

• Pagination: 234 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bus transit; Data collection; Demonstration projects; Fixed routes; Free fares; Level of service; Networks; Off peak periods; Operating costs; Regional transportation; Revenues; Routing; Scheduling; Surveys; Transportation planning; Travel behavior
• Geographic Terms: Denver (Colorado)
• Old TRIS Terms: Bus transportation (Intracity); Free transportation; Off-peak
• Subject Areas: Finance; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00345107
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: UMTA-CO-06-0010-80-1Final Rpt., DOT-TSC-UMTA-81-45
• Contract Numbers: DOT-1409-15
• Files: TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Jan 29 1982 12:00AM