RTC's 'Rapid' service a step toward rapid transit vision

The Regional Transportation Commission this week takes the first baby steps toward its vision of dramatically improving faster transit along South Virginia Street.

The Rapid service launched by RTC this week between Meadowood Mall and its downtown station on Fourth Street looks to move passengers more quickly through a reduced number of stops.

Seven stops will serve the approximately four-mile route, compared with 23 stops served by traditional RTC bus service on South Virginia Street.

The two dozen local stops will continue to be linked by a new service called RTC Connect.

By the autumn of 2010, RTC expects to be rolling 60-foot articulated buses along the route. Those vehicles will boost capacity by more than 60 percent over the current bus fleet, says Howard Riedl, a project manager for the transportation agency.

And those diesel-hybrid buses probably will be outfitted with technology that communicates with traffic lights, giving a little more green light to buses that are behind schedule.

Riders on the Rapid a year from now, meanwhile, are likely to be leaving from newly constructed stops that will include digital displays detailing the expected arrival of the next bus.

Buses on the Virginia Street corridor carry about 150,000 passengers a month. During morning and evening rush hours in the past, some commuters were left standing at stops because buses were too full to take on riders.

"We're getting overwhelmed," Riedl says.

The new articulated buses that are on order will have three doors to get passengers on and off more quickly passengers will need to buy tickets in advance and the new buses will allow bicyclists to bring two-wheelers on board with them.

The concept of bus rapid transit sometimes dubbed "light rail on rubber wheels" has been kicked around by RTC planners since 2002 as they look at the South Virginia corridor.

While some cities have dedicated traffic lanes for use by bus rapid transit systems, that hasn't been possible on the narrow stretches of Virginia Street near downtown.

The city government, however, might someday ban on-street parking in the area, opening traffic lanes for buses, Riedl says.

For the past few weeks, however, RTC staffers have been concerned with a mundane job getting riders familiar with the service provided by the green-clad RTC Rapid buses.

Fares on the new Rapid service $2 for adults, for instance are the same as those traditional bus service.