The Middlesex County

Community Shuttle System

An New Public Transit for the Suburbs

CTAA Expo

May 2012

Middlesex County at a Glance

310 square miles

805,000 population

Two cities of over 40,000

Three commuter rail lines and Amtrak

High density commuter bus service

Limited local bus (seven routes)

Early System History 1975: Title XX funded system began as

Area Wide Transportation System (AWTS)

1984- Casino Revenue Tax funding begins

1993- Federal grant to NJDOL for

employment transportation for PWD

2004- First peak period shuttle for

employment transportation

2005- Creation of Middlesex County DOT

and AWTS become Middlesex County

Area Transit (MCAT)

MCAT Mission Expand mobility opportunities for

transportation dependent residents

Integrate the operations of MCAT services with NJ Transit and other traditional transit providers where appropriate

Improve coordination with contiguous county, municipal and human service agency transportation providers

Work with regional agencies to create services to address unmet needs

Why Community Shuttle? Smaller, more efficient buses sized to

demand

Scheduled service that can perform route deviations and increase productivity

Combining traditional paratransit customers with traditional public transit customers

Extend the reach of traditional public bus and rail into lower density suburban areas

NJ Transit does not have the funding to create new suburban intrastate bus routes

Basic Principles for Effectively

Serving Suburbs Link a wide variety of residential origins

and destinations

Blend a variety of funding sources

Use clock headways and timed transfer to promote transit integration

Aggressively market services via timetable distribution to key residential origins and destinations

Provide extra recovery time to allow minor route deviations

The MCAT Community Shuttle

System

Funding

JARC (M1 and M2)

Casino Revenue (M2)

New Freedom (M3 and M6)

County/Municipal (M4 and M5)

CMAQ (M7)

Suggested $1 Fare (generated over

$100,000 in 2011)

Route Total Daily

PT

Total Daily

Work PT

Key Work

Destination

M1 320 120 Warehouse

M2 62 12 Mall

M3 74 10 Mall

M4 432 86 Rail Connect

M5 173 34 Downtown

M6 71 56 Rail Connect

M7 68 14 Retail Shop

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

MCAT ANNUAL SHUTTLE RIDERSHIP

251,392

474,577

0

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

MCAT ANNUAL RIDERSHIP

2005 - 2009PASSENGERTRIPS

2 0 0 5 2 0 0 9

285,000

290,000

295,000

300,000

305,000

310,000

315,000

320,000

325,000

2010 2011

324,729

359,129

MCAT Shuttle Ridership Today

MCAT Total Ridership Today

20112010

487,300502,197

SYSTEM COST PER TRIP- 2005-

2011

$11.61 $10.09

$0

$5

$10

$15

SYSTEM TRIPS PER HOUR:

2005-2011

2.20

4.09

0

1

2

3

4

2005 2011

Future Potential

Continue to serve as incubator for

traditional bus transit routes

Consider swapping poorly performing NJ

Transit routes with growing MCAT routes

(NJT 811, M1)

Operate larger capacity vehicles as

passenger volumes grow with minimal

marginal cost

Conclusions

Community Shuttles are a more efficient

application of human service grant funding

Shuttles bring riders to traditional transit,

taking advantage of existing public

investment

Shuttles can be a cost-efficient mode for

serving suburban employment

destinations