The start of our family summer holiday
this year takes me to Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, where along with the
breath-taking views of the falls there is a variety of interesting
transportation options. A stretch limo shuttle transported us from Toronto
Pearson Airport to our hotel in central Niagara Falls, this being cheaper than
four fares on a shuttle and only ten dollars more than a taxi. Upon arrival,
the brightly coloured articulated buses on the WEGO BRT system are immediately
conspicuous. WEGO, introduced in 2012 to replace the Niagara Parks’ ageing
people mover service, operates four lines all year round at varying frequencies,
using mainly articulated BRT style vehicles. Designed for tourists, the system
is fully integrated into the Niagara Adventure Pass, which includes entry to
various attractions on the network and two days of WEGO bus travel.
We purchased one of these passes each, and they were issued on an RFID enabled smartcard. Consequently the WEGO system is almost entirely cashless, with day passes being issued on single use RFID smart cards and no cash fares sold to tourists. Some hotels do issue WEGO vouchers, and local residents using the red line can pay cash, because it serves a large number of residential areas, but at least 95% of journeys are validated by smartcard. This speeds up boarding times tremendously, which is vital given that at peak times thirty or more passengers can board at each stop. The card is validated by simply swiping it on a reader, resulting in a triple beep which is audible throughout the bus and must be intensely irritating for the driver, although some passengers struggle with the concept of validating a smartcard. Each member of a particular family tried validating their card in various incorrect ways, attempting to place it into the note acceptor, showing it to the driver, waving it in the vicinity of the reader and tapping it too quickly to be registered. The 19 year old son, with a combination of embarrassment and exasperation, grabbed each card, validated it correctly and then sent his relations on their way, but it is interesting that such a simple operation could cause so many problems.
WEGO runs with a fleet of 26 Nova Bus LFX buses, 20 of which are the articulated LFX60 version. There are also 6 rigid buses of the LFX40 type, used on early morning red line services and shuttles to Niagara on the Lake and Fort Erie that WEGO run during the summer tourist season. The arrangement between the City of Niagara Falls and the Niagara Parks’ Department is fairly complex, with the City owning all the vehicles, but only operating the purple, red and blue lines, which are operated by state owned transit company Niagara Falls Transit. The green line is operated by the Niagara Parks’ with buses leased from the City for Can$1, this route being the original people mover route. There are small differences between the two operations, for example the green line calls at all stops with no need to request stops, and also carries customer service assistants, whilst stop request buttons are used elsewhere. The green line also operates with vehicles in a slightly different layout to the rest of the network.
Services operate from 0600-0100 with varying headways from 12-30 minutes. Different lines have different start and finish times, with only the red line operating in the early mornings. The network functions relatively well, and the green line is often extremely busy with tourists during the day. The purple line however is less well used, and the red and blue lines, although providing useful links to hotel accommodation, both travel round the City Centre loop in the same direction. This means that journeys from outlying hotels into the City Centre can be very long.
With freedom to alter the network, I would curtail the green line at Table Rock Transit Centre, and used the vehicles saved to increase the frequency to every ten minutes. To serve the section of route between Table Rock and Rapidsview I would extend the blue line from Marineland through the car park area and down into Table Rock as a linear service, removing its City Centre loop function. I would do the same with the red line, streamlining inbound journeys from Lundy’s Lane, and introducing a new line circling the City Centre frequently in both directions. To provide vehicles for this I would withdraw the purple line, serving the bus and rail stations by making Niagara Falls Transit routes 104/204 (Ferry and Main bus terminus to Bus Station) part of the WEGO network, extending it at each end to the rail station and Table Rock. This would provide a network more matched to demand in my opinion, whilst not increasing costs dramatically.
The 104 is Niagara Falls transits most frequent route, running every thirty minutes, but they also operate a variety of local services to more residential areas of Niagara Falls, which are frequented by fewer tourists. Overall, the quality of service on these routes was very high, and buses were generally clean and punctual with friendly drivers. My Niagara Falls adventure pass was also valid on these buses, although this was not well advertised. I did get strange looks when travelling and unsurprisingly very few tourists made use of the facility. All buses were fitted with audio visual next stop displays and live tracking information was available via the internet, but some buses did run early, and my first trip on the 104 was delayed due to a staff shortage. Some things never change! Early running is probably a result of low passenger numbers-even when travelling into Niagara in the morning peak there were fewer than ten passengers on board-but should still be stamped out, especially in areas where frequencies are low. Niagara Falls Transit also participates in Niagara Regional Transit, a partnership of regional transit authorities providing interurban journeys throughout the Niagara region. This service was poorly publicised and it was unclear where and when buses ran, or how much they charged. As a result I didn’t use it, but the vehicles I saw on it were not well patronised.
Overall Niagara Falls has a very efficient visitor transportation system, but for the locals the bus truly is the transport of last resort. Most are firmly wedded to their cars, and although the large number of roads means traffic jams were uncommon, the amount of City Centre real estate devoted to car parking was staggering. Better integration between the three networks within the city, all three of which Niagara Falls Transit have interests in, would reduce duplication and better match demand to supply, whilst increased frequencies could lead to higher passenger numbers and less car use.
We purchased one of these passes each, and they were issued on an RFID enabled smartcard. Consequently the WEGO system is almost entirely cashless, with day passes being issued on single use RFID smart cards and no cash fares sold to tourists. Some hotels do issue WEGO vouchers, and local residents using the red line can pay cash, because it serves a large number of residential areas, but at least 95% of journeys are validated by smartcard. This speeds up boarding times tremendously, which is vital given that at peak times thirty or more passengers can board at each stop. The card is validated by simply swiping it on a reader, resulting in a triple beep which is audible throughout the bus and must be intensely irritating for the driver, although some passengers struggle with the concept of validating a smartcard. Each member of a particular family tried validating their card in various incorrect ways, attempting to place it into the note acceptor, showing it to the driver, waving it in the vicinity of the reader and tapping it too quickly to be registered. The 19 year old son, with a combination of embarrassment and exasperation, grabbed each card, validated it correctly and then sent his relations on their way, but it is interesting that such a simple operation could cause so many problems.
WEGO runs with a fleet of 26 Nova Bus LFX buses, 20 of which are the articulated LFX60 version. There are also 6 rigid buses of the LFX40 type, used on early morning red line services and shuttles to Niagara on the Lake and Fort Erie that WEGO run during the summer tourist season. The arrangement between the City of Niagara Falls and the Niagara Parks’ Department is fairly complex, with the City owning all the vehicles, but only operating the purple, red and blue lines, which are operated by state owned transit company Niagara Falls Transit. The green line is operated by the Niagara Parks’ with buses leased from the City for Can$1, this route being the original people mover route. There are small differences between the two operations, for example the green line calls at all stops with no need to request stops, and also carries customer service assistants, whilst stop request buttons are used elsewhere. The green line also operates with vehicles in a slightly different layout to the rest of the network.
Services operate from 0600-0100 with varying headways from 12-30 minutes. Different lines have different start and finish times, with only the red line operating in the early mornings. The network functions relatively well, and the green line is often extremely busy with tourists during the day. The purple line however is less well used, and the red and blue lines, although providing useful links to hotel accommodation, both travel round the City Centre loop in the same direction. This means that journeys from outlying hotels into the City Centre can be very long.
With freedom to alter the network, I would curtail the green line at Table Rock Transit Centre, and used the vehicles saved to increase the frequency to every ten minutes. To serve the section of route between Table Rock and Rapidsview I would extend the blue line from Marineland through the car park area and down into Table Rock as a linear service, removing its City Centre loop function. I would do the same with the red line, streamlining inbound journeys from Lundy’s Lane, and introducing a new line circling the City Centre frequently in both directions. To provide vehicles for this I would withdraw the purple line, serving the bus and rail stations by making Niagara Falls Transit routes 104/204 (Ferry and Main bus terminus to Bus Station) part of the WEGO network, extending it at each end to the rail station and Table Rock. This would provide a network more matched to demand in my opinion, whilst not increasing costs dramatically.
The 104 is Niagara Falls transits most frequent route, running every thirty minutes, but they also operate a variety of local services to more residential areas of Niagara Falls, which are frequented by fewer tourists. Overall, the quality of service on these routes was very high, and buses were generally clean and punctual with friendly drivers. My Niagara Falls adventure pass was also valid on these buses, although this was not well advertised. I did get strange looks when travelling and unsurprisingly very few tourists made use of the facility. All buses were fitted with audio visual next stop displays and live tracking information was available via the internet, but some buses did run early, and my first trip on the 104 was delayed due to a staff shortage. Some things never change! Early running is probably a result of low passenger numbers-even when travelling into Niagara in the morning peak there were fewer than ten passengers on board-but should still be stamped out, especially in areas where frequencies are low. Niagara Falls Transit also participates in Niagara Regional Transit, a partnership of regional transit authorities providing interurban journeys throughout the Niagara region. This service was poorly publicised and it was unclear where and when buses ran, or how much they charged. As a result I didn’t use it, but the vehicles I saw on it were not well patronised.
Overall Niagara Falls has a very efficient visitor transportation system, but for the locals the bus truly is the transport of last resort. Most are firmly wedded to their cars, and although the large number of roads means traffic jams were uncommon, the amount of City Centre real estate devoted to car parking was staggering. Better integration between the three networks within the city, all three of which Niagara Falls Transit have interests in, would reduce duplication and better match demand to supply, whilst increased frequencies could lead to higher passenger numbers and less car use.
No comments:
Post a Comment