Marin Transit plans for priority projects to reduce delays

Marin Transit is looking to make its travel times more efficient.

The agency unveiled some of its “transit priority” projects at its board meeting on Monday. Transit priority includes physical or policy changes to road design, operations and traffic enforcement that help reduce delays.

The focus areas include high-ridership bus corridors in San Rafael and Novato, and changes that could reduce travel times and limit buses getting stuck in traffic congestion.

Robert Betts, director of operations for the agency, said it was awarded a $2 million grant in 2022 to study three corridors: Fourth Street in San Rafael, Lincoln Avenue in San Rafael and South Novato Boulevard in Novato.

“Those corridors, not only are they high-ridership corridors and they have a good density of service, but we also felt like there was real opportunity there not only to improve travel times but to improve service reliability in those corridors,” Betts said.

He said the agency is looking to make improvements to popular bus stops.

“The goal is to keep transit vehicles free of congestion and to have them spend less time at red lights and just have them move predictably along the roads,” said Britt Tanner, a traffic engineer with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

Tanner said some common tools include having dedicated bus-only lanes or high occupancy lanes with hours that correspond with high traffic hours; transit signal priority, a technology where emitters on a bus communicate with traffic signals to turn the light green sooner; queue jump lanes that let buses bypass other cars at traffic lights; stop enhancements like “bus bulbs” that extend the sidewalk into the parking lane so the bus does not have to pull in and out of the stop; strategically placed stop signs; and adjustments in traffic and parking regulations.

“When you see transit priority, you might think really big capital projects,” said Tanner. “It doesn’t have to be like that. You can have smaller, lower-cost changes that you can instill in the street.”

Eliminating delays can reduce travel times for riders and improve reliability, and also can lower annual operating costs due to shorter travel times. For example, Tanner said, a bus that takes 74 minutes to complete its route costs $5 million a year to operate, assuming the bus costs $200 per hour to run. With a one-hour route, the cost is around $4 million.

Betts said the agency is hoping to make bus stop improvements by enhancing passenger amenities and lowering the time buses take to pull in and out of stops.

He said some transit signal priority work has already happened, with the Marin Transit board approving the onboarding hardware needed for the technology earlier this year. He said transit signal priority technology should be operational in San Rafael by mid- to late 2025.

Betts said the agency hopes to have planning for all three areas completed by early 2025, which he believed the $2 million will cover. However, he said, the agency will have to apply for funding to design and implement the plans, with construction happening around 2026 to 2027.

Marin County Supervisor Mary Sackett, a member of the Marin Transit board, asked how these improvements would be implemented in areas where the agency does not have authority.

Tanner said regionally, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission is building a transit priority policy that will help with coordination. It could be adopted early next year.

Betts said staff will update the board over the winter.