Syracuse residents might have a better bus riding experience in the near future. The city is improving its public transit in collaboration with the state and Central New York Regional Transportation Authority.

Syracuse Metropolitan Transportation Council conducted the Syracuse Metropolitan Area Regional Transit Study Phase 1 in 2015, on behalf of Centro, to pursue a balanced transportation system that supports economic growth and improves quality of life for Syracuse residents, according to the project’s website.

James D’Agostino, director for SMTC, said after the New York state Department of Transportation’s analysis, two corridors have been chosen for further evaluation in the study. The two routes selected have the highest transit ridership: the Destiny USA/Regional Transportation Center to Syracuse University and Eastwood to Onondaga Community College corridors.

The city of Syracuse recently abandoned a proposal to build a light rail or street car system because of cost, according to Syracuse.com. It is estimated that $400 million would be required for the potential project.

Steven Koegel, vice president of communications and business planning for Centro, said the chosen corridors reflected a previous study that was performed as part of the I-81 Challenge.

“After assessing the current Centro bus system, these two corridors exhibited the greatest potential for an enhanced transit feasibility study,” Koegel said. “One of the qualifying factors is ridership, and these corridors are among the busiest in the Centro system — each exceeds 3,000 riders per weekday.”

The report recommended two new transit modes, existing service improvements, bus rapid transit mixed traffic and BRT bus lanes for each corridor. The BRT mixed traffic option would create a new BRT route in mixed traffic along the Eastwood-OCC corridor and the RTC-SU corridor.

“Each provides a different layer of transit enhancements ranging from simply providing unique buses and shelters and limited stop service on the existing bus routes, to providing buses with ways to move through streets and intersections quicker than general traffic, to having a dedicated bus lane on some city streets,” Koegel said.

The overall goal of the project is to provide a service that’s more enticing than the existing system and attract more riders, he said.

Mario Colone, SMTC’s program manager, said each alternative has its own benefits and improvements.

“All three alternatives are suggested to bring about improvement, efficiency, reducing travel times and consolidating the number of stops along two corridors,” Colone said.

D’Agostino said Syracuse’s public transit system has a low mode-share — the percentage of travelers using a particular type of transportation — because most people choose to drive rather than riding public transportation.

“We do not maintain the development in a pattern that makes transit a very viable option for many people in our community.” he said.

Koegel said Centro currently provides millions of rides each year across central New York and the Mohawk Valley, pointing out that the existing system is “very healthy.”

Centro has enhanced its services to improve the customer experience such as installing Wi-Fi to the buses and a GPS tracking system, which allows customers to track buses, he said.

“However, you must always look for ways to improve your existing service,” Koegel said.

With the project, the city hopes to build an enhanced transit system in the RTC-SU and Eastwood-OCC corridors. It aims to provide faster and more direct, frequent and reliable transit service between major residential areas and activity centers in the Syracuse metropolitan area at a reasonable cost, according to the report.

“The result could be one or two bus lines that offer more frequent service and better compete with the automobile,” Koegel said. “That could attract more people to use public transit and in return reduce the number of cars on our roads.”

D’Agostino said they anticipate that the SMART 1 project will be completed around summer 2017.

Focus group and public meetings will be held throughout 2017 to discuss how enhanced transit service may impact businesses with the two corridors.

Published on November 29, 2016 at 11:20 pm

Contact Chieh: chchen@syr.edu