With over $178,000 of funding from City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo County (C/CAG), Sustainable Silicon Valley (SSV) formed a coalition of public and private stakeholders, including San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans), City of East Palo Alto and LYT, to deliver intelligent transit priority along congested arteries in transit-dependent communities. The City of East Palo Alto is a place where such improvements in transit speed and reliability are most needed and can potentially improve the quality of life for residents. The efficiency of local transit has a direct impact on transit dependent communities such as East Palo Alto, which is designated as an Equity Priority Community in part due to the number of Zero-Vehicle Households (9% have no vehicle, as compared to 6% Countywide). Without intelligent transit priority, buses stop at traffic signals 70% of the time.
The transit signal priority pilot was deployed on University Ave., which yielded a significant positive impact on several key performance indicators. The northbound intersection delays were reduced by 45%, and the southbound intersection delays dropped by 19%. These reductions translate to 18% and 7% reductions in travel time for northbound and southbound respectively. The pilot demonstrated that buses spent less time idling and got riders to their destinations faster and more efficiently.
For more project information, please contact Kaki Cheung, C/CAG Program Director, at kcheung1@smcgov.org.
Intelligent Transit Signal Priority Final Report
Intelligent Transit Signal Priority Factsheet
News Release