Staff Report #1
November 28, 2018
To All Commissioners
Re: Draft Ridership Growth Strategy
Recommendation
That the report be NOTED and FILED.
Background
The creation of a Ridership Growth Strategy was added to the 2018 Work Program at the direction of the Commission, with the intent being to identify strategies to grow LTC ridership, noting the strategies should consider fare options and discounts. The draft Ridership Growth Strategy is set out in Enclosure I.
London Transit contracted with Left Turn Right Turn (LTRT) for the creation of a Ridership Growth Strategy, giving consideration to a number of key inputs, including but not limited to:
- Current ridership trends
- The London Plan
- Smart Moves 2030 – City of London Transportation Master Plan
- London Rapid Transit Master Plan
- LTC Route Structure and Service Guideline Review
- Rapid Transit Integration Framework
In addition to these key inputs, consideration was also given to demographic profiles and best practices from peer transit agencies (York Region Transit, Brampton Transit and Kingston Transit), all of whom have experienced success in growing their ridership at rates above industry average.
A number of workshops were held with LTRT and LTC administration, first to identify possible ridership growth initiatives, then to further assess and prioritize those initiatives into a list for consideration over the next Business Planning cycle. The Draft Report, which as noted is set out in Enclosure I, includes both the initial list of 76 initiatives that were considered during the first workshop. In addition to the potential of increasing transit ridership, each of the initiatives was also assessed to determine potential impacts on overall sustainability, economic growth, poverty reduction, access to transit and accessibility. In terms of implementation, other stakeholders and dependency on other projects were identified as possible impediments to implementation. High level ridership projections and costs were also assigned to each initiative.
The second workshop provided the opportunity for further analysis and assessment of each of the options, which resulted in an initial screening score for each initiative. The initial screening score for each initiative was arrived at by combining the scores for each of the aforementioned objectives, with increased ridership and ease of implementation being weighted higher than the remaining objectives.
The result of the second workshop was a priority listing of the top 20 initiatives, based on the scoring method described above. The top 20 initiatives were arrived at based on the screening scores, however it should be noted that a number of the initiatives have a significant implementation cost, which upon further analysis, may be deemed to outweigh the benefit of the increased transit ridership. In these cases, initiatives will not proceed, but others that were not included on the top 20 may be further considered. In addition, a number of the initiatives are reliant on other initiatives listed, and as such, may be grouped into one large initiative that is rolled out over a longer period.
The next steps in the process will be to conduct a detailed assessment of each of the initiatives, which in a number of cases will include the need to consult with other stakeholders to determine both the feasibility of the initiative as well as timing for possible implementation. It is anticipated that the final Ridership Growth Strategy will be presented to the Commission in early 2019. As indicated in Staff Report #3, dated November 28, 2018, the final Ridership Growth Strategy will be a key input into the 2019-2022 Business Plan and resulting annual work plans.
Enclosure
I – Draft Ridership Growth Strategy
Recommended by:
Katie Burns, Director of Planning
Shawn Wilson, Director of Operations
Mike Gregor, Director of Finance
Concurred in by:
Kelly S. Paleczny, General Manager