10-17-2023, 11:11 PM
(10-12-2023, 03:45 PM)SF22 Wrote:(10-12-2023, 02:41 PM)ZEBuilder Wrote: GRT posted on their Instagram with news about ridership/boardings in the last month. In September there was 3.8 million boardings and 2.9 million trips both are records. These values surpass the previous records by roughly 0.8 million and 0.7 million respectively (based on the data that GRT has posted on their website).
They also state that there planning on adding 50000 new hours of service in 2024 and more information will be shared in the coming weeks.
Okay, math is not my strong suit, but follow along with me and let me know if my calculations are right:
50,000 hours / 365 days = 137 additional hours per day (averaged, not accounting for differences between weekdays and weekends)
137 daily hours / 18 operational hours (ie: 6am to midnight) = 7.6 new buses on the road per day
Does that track? Obviously these hours could appear in a number of ways, like increased frequency around rush hour, more buses during the weekdays vs weekends, but I know the 2041 long-term GRT plan intends for route frequency per hour to slowly increase between 2021 and 2041, regardless of time of day. For example, a low-frequency route that currently sees 2 buses per hour (once every 30 minutes) is supposed to step up to 2.4 buses an hour (once every 25 min) by 2026, 3 buses per hour (every 20 minutes) by 2031, 4 buses per hour (every 15 min) by 2036 and then finally 5 buses per hour, once every 12 minutes, by 2041.
How does 50,000 hours compare to the number of hours run in a year? For instance, using SF22's equation, 1,000,000 bus hours works out to 152 buses operating 18-hour days all year long. When compared to 1,000,000 hours, 50,000 is a 5% increase in service.