As you may recall from prior discussions about the DTA’s Better Bus Blueprint plan, the DTA has also planned to consolidate their bus stops as an implementation step. The DTA has dubbed this part of the plan “Bus Stop Balancing.” The reason they call it balancing is that they need to balance between speed of service (riding time) and passenger access convenience. From past plans and most recently the Blueprint, The DTA has heard from the community and their Bus Operators that bus service needs to be faster, more reliable, and that stops are too close together. The DTA’s bus stop spacing is much closer than industry standards. The DTA approved a bus stop policy in 2018 that calls for new spacing to be between 1/8 to 1/4 of a mile. However, there are a number of factors to consider for stop placement, such as hills, snow management, roadway safety concerns, major trip generators, nearby multi-family residences, senior and disabled populations, schools, grocery, and much more.
The DTA has just completed a round of internal review of the plan and will be publishing the draft plan Thursday, November 18, 2021, along with requesting public feedback. The DTA will be posting signs at every stop proposed for relocation to inform riders of the proposed changes and how they can provide feedback. The DTA has tried their best to put the best initial plan forward with the information and experience they have but there may be other circumstances or conditions they are not aware of or have overlooked, so we really need the feedback to have the most solid plan before implementing. The public will have until December 15th to submit feedback, the DTA Board will be asked to adopt the plan at their December 29 meeting, the new stops will be incorporated in the scheduling phase of the Blueprint, and will then go into effect simultaneously with the new system Summer of 2022.
In Superior, we are proposing to eliminate or move 77 bus stops. There will roughly be about 170 bus stops along the new routes as part of the Blueprint but would have around 124 after balancing.
For more information, an example of the bus stop sign, and the interactive map of the plan, visit
https://www.duluthtransit.com/home/better-dta/better-bus-stops/
