For today’s post, the Northern Waterfront will be included in the east end of the island. Significant changes include:
- Line 19 no longer running along Buena Vista (households North of Buena Vista will be more than 1200 feet from the nearest bus line). About 150 get (heading to Oakland) and 90 get off (coming from Fruitvale) and the same in the opposite directions for about 550 daily trips.
- Line 63 will no longer serve east of Park Street, so no local service along High Street or Encinal Ave. The Line O (Transbay) is proposed to take over this part of the ride, and technically you can pay a local fare for a local ride. The frequency is irregular and long, so it’s a stopgap at best and represents the largest loss of service in the city. About 125 people use this loop each day. Mostly to West Alameda/Towne Centre and back. Though 45 or so use it to get to Fruitvale BART.
- Line 63 moves from Otis to Shoreline and get actual stops. Riders along here will have an actual usable bus service that travels directly to 12th Street BART along Webster St. This should increase ridership from this part of the island beyond the project 20 additional riders being picked up on Shoreline Dr.
- Line 51 is extended to Fruitvale BART. This significantly increases service from Fruitvale BART to Park Street AND provides real, useable connection to Fruitvale for those living within a couple of blocks of Santa Clara. The possibility of large ridership gains is big. It could also help redeuce some overcrowding on the Line 51, since some riders may choose to start riding in the eastbound direction instead of to BART in Downtown Oakland.
- Line 51 will be split at Rockridge BART, this is good, it increases the frequency of Line 51 for Alameda riders, AND it gets rid of much of the part of the line that is responsible for the bunching, meaning that afternoon service could likely see bus service every 9 minutes, instead of 2-3 buses every 20 minutes.
One of the big recommendations at the public workshop should be that AC Transit needs to seriously look at some commute hour service (as existed before the Line 19 was created) to capture the 500 daily trips being lost on the Line 19.
The issue of coverage comes up, so I also created an animation of the changes in coverage for the whole city. The city has a goal of 80% of households being within 1200 feet of a bus stop, so I mapped 1200 feet off of each line. It’s an approximation. It looks like the changes maintain the minimum 80% coverage. I did not include the Line O as local coverage, because it runs less than 30 minute headways (except during peak hour when it’s 12-20 minutes, but running to Oakland (7th and Harrison) but no further into town) and using transbay buses for local services is a pain in the neck, especially with a TransLink card, which AC Transit and MTC are trying to get riders to move to.
Changes in AC Transit Local Service Coverage
It’s easy to see that the East End is losing the most coverage, though they will have Line O service running every 40-60 minutes. The North Shore, North of Buena Vista loses out, and the West End, South of Lincoln/West of Linden.
Both Shoreline, between Grand and Willow, and Bay Farm Island, along Auginbaugh, gain coverage, though some of the coverage gains on Shoreline are due to the lack of stops on Otis in the same area. Alameda Hospital and the homes along Otis lose planned coverage, but the apartments gain it, which is consistent with the past recommendations of the Transportation Commission.
In terms of coverage, these cuts represent far less than 15%. The cuts come in terms of service hours–Line 50 goes to 30 minute service (from 15 minutes)–and the loss of the 19 and half the 63-Alameda Point Loop and 63-East End Loop. With the extension of the Line 51 to Fruitvale, it will be interesting to see what the overall ridership for Alameda becomes.
Updated to correct statement about Line O service
>>> and the homes along Otis lose planned coverage
The homes along Otis were fighting the bus stops every step of the way, so I think they will be happy.
>>> which is consistent with the past recommendations of the Transportation Commission
And inconsistent with TC’s continued attempts to do exactly the opposite.
The map above doesn’t accurately depict the impacts in the west end, because Third Street is the only street between Webster and Main that connects Lincoln/Pacific with Appezzato. It’s very likely that many residents in the west end will have to walk much farther than 1200 feet to reach a bus stop, even those who live right next to Appezzato.