Goal

Promote the use of public transit and carpools in communities by dedicating existing facilities to those uses, upgrading existing lanes, or providing new transit and high occupancy vehicle (HOV) facilities.

Sustainability Linkage

Promoting transit and HOV use supports all of the triple bottom line sustainability principles by expanding modal choices while reducing traffic congestion, commuting costs, and emissions.

Background & Scoring Requirements

Scoring Requirements

To meet any of the requirements below, the transit and HOV facilities installed shall be consistent with the need, purpose, and appropriateness for transit and HOV facilities within the project footprint. To receive points for this criterion, the project must include contextually appropriate transit and/or HOV facilities that go beyond minimum design standards and requirements, and strive to create safe, versatile, attractive, and convenient transit and HOV networks that are integrated with pedestrian and bicycling networks.

Requirement PD-12.1

1–5 points. Install Transit Features

Achieve the requirements within the project footprint listed in Table PD-12.1,A, which is roughly based on the Federal Transit Authority (FTA) criteria from Characteristics of Bus Rapid Transit for Decision-Making (CBRT)¹, FTA’s TCRP 90, Bus Rapid Transit², and AASHTO’s Guide for High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) Facilities³.

Points are not cumulative; rather the highest point value achieved should be used.

TABLE PD-12.1.A AVAILABLE POINTS FOR TRANSIT AND HOV ACCESS FEATURES

 

Requirement	No. Points	Requirement Description
PD-12.1a	1	Any of one the following: Enhance at least 50 percent of transit station or stop amenities (such as lighting, trash/recycling bins, benches, bike parking, pay phones, heating and/or cooling, etc.) Improve at least 50 percent of the transit and HOV facility signage (related to transit and HOV) and vehicular access (beyond basic ADA requirements) Provide transit shelters at more than 50 percent of the corridor stations/stops Provide seamless pedestrian access within at least a half-mile and/or seamless bicycle access within at least three miles of a public transportation stop or park and ride lot. (see the Federal Register’s Final Policy Statement on the Eligibility of Pedestrian and Bicycle Improvements Under Federal Transit Law4. Provide park and ride lot(s) in strategic locations.
PD-12.1c	2	Any one of the following: Implement two or more of the improvements from PD-12.1a. Implement physical or constructed changes to the roadway structure, dimensions, or form that provide for future HOV access or minor dedicated transit access within the right-of-way (ROW), such as a carpool lane for HOV vehicle, queue jump lanes for transit vehicles, shoulder-running buses, on-street bus lane, bus rapid transit, or an expressway bus lane.
PD-12.1d	3	Implement physical or constructed changes to the roadway structure, dimensions, or form that provide HOV access or minor dedicated transit access within the ROW, such as a carpool lane for HOV vehicles, queue jump lanes for transit vehicles, or shoulder-running buses.
PD-12.1e	4	Implement physical or constructed changes to the roadway structure, dimensions, or form that provide dedicated transit access within the ROW, such as an on-street bus lane, bus rapid transit, or an expressway bus lane.
PD-12.1f	5	Implement physical or constructed changes to the roadway structure, dimensions, or form that provide exclusive mass transit access within the ROW, such as at-grade or grade-separated transit-ways or transit served park-and-ride lots.

 

Resources

Above-Referenced Resources

The following resources are referenced in this criterion and consolidated here:

1. FTA, from Characteristics of Bus Rapid Transit for Decision‐Making (CBRT),  https://www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta.dot.gov/files/docs/CBRT.pdf
2. Diaz and Hinebaugh, TCRP 90, Bus Rapid Transit, 2009, http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/tcrp/tcrp_rpt_90v1fm.pdf
3. AASHTO, Guide for High‐Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) Facilities, 3rd Edition, 2004, https://bookstore.transportation.org/item_details.aspx?ID=114

Additional Resources

The following resources provide information on this criterion topic in addition to the sources directly referenced:

4. NACTO, Transit Street Design Guide (2016), https://nacto.org/publication/transit-street-design-guide/

Case Studies & Criterion Examples

Scoring Sources

The project is considered to have met this criterion if the requirements above can be reasonably substantiated through the existence of one or more of the following documentation sources (or equal where not available):

1. Purpose and need for transit and HOV access on the roadway project, including how it fits with existing land uses and/or existing General and Transportation Plans.
2. Contract plans and specifications showing project improvements.
3. Total cost associated with new or improved transit and HOV facilities.
4. Contract specifications and budget items addressing transit and HOV.