Count on Metro

Improvements that help buses run faster and stay on schedule are some of the best investments Metro can make.

They make our service better for customers, attract new riders, and save long-term operating costs, freeing up funds for new service. Because they save us time, these investments actually pay for themselves.

Metro Connects proposes to significantly expand resources to keep buses moving through growing congestion. Over the next 25 years Metro will create strong partnerships with cities and stakeholders to build transit priority features on 600 miles of transit corridors. These investments will help all types of transit—RapidRide, frequent, express and local.

 

RapidRide bus stop

 

While our investments will make all of our services faster and more on-time, we’ll focus the highest levels of investment where service is most frequent and roads are most congested.

 

 

RapidRide corridors exemplify the kind of improvements that help buses keep moving. These include bus lanes, transit signal priority, and ORCA readers that let customers pay before boarding and get on at any door.

 



Speed and reliability toolkit. Metro’s toolkit for helping buses run faster and more reliably includes things like faster fare payment, more transit lanes, and better systems to manage buses out on the roads.



Improvements to reduce the time buses spend at stops

  • Faster fare payment through off-board payment, all-door boarding, increasing ORCA use, mobile ticketing
  • Actively managed bus spacing to even out the number of people getting on at stops
  • Improved incident response to keep buses moving
  • Buses designed to easily and quickly accommodate people using wheelchairs, bicycles, strollers and baggage


Improvements to reduce travel time

  • Queue jumps that let buses stopped at intersections get a head start
  • Bus-only lanes
  • Transit signal priority
  • Optimized signal timing
  • Configuration of lanes approaching ntersections
  • Bus bulbs or curb extensions that let buses pick-up and drop off passengers without pulling out and into traffic
  • Removal of parking spaces that slow down buses
  • Stops placed where most people go
  • Prohibiting turns at certain times of day
  • Major capital projects