Welcome to the Concepts!
The concepts below can help you think about your goals and priorities for transit service in South Bend and Mishawaka.
To help you think about that, we’ve drawn two contrasting images of how the network could look, depending on what is most important to people and what the public’s priorities are. Both concepts assume that we can run the same amount of bus service as it did in late 2019, just before the pandemic. We can’t add more service, so we have to make some hard decisions about what’s most important.
We've also drawn up two concepts that show what's possible with increased funding towards transit. We want to know how much investment you would be willing to provide into transit and the results you could get.
Whether you ride transit or not, your taxes help pay for bus service, so everyone's thoughts and opinions matter. Public engagement on these concepts is now complete, but you can still provide feedback to the project team.
How Should We Design the Region's Bus Network?
It depends.
Imagine we are designing a transit network for this fictional city. The lines are roads and the dots are people and jobs.
Places with more dots close together are dense with activity. More people want to travel to and from those places. That dense activity is concentrated along the main roads.
The buses in the image are all the resources we have to run transit.
RIDERSHIP
If our goal is to get the most ridership from our system, we would concentrate transit resources where most people and jobs are close together. We can then provide high-frequency service that is very convenient and encourages people to ride transit in those areas.
COVERAGE
If our goal is to get transit coverage in as many areas as possible, we will have to spread transit resources out. Routes cannot be as frequent, and so not many people would find transit useful and convenient. However, there would be some transit coverage in as many areas as possible.
Both goals are important, but within a limited budget shifting towards one means shifting away from the other.
The Ridership and Coverage Concepts
These concepts are NOT PROPOSALS. We will be developing the final plan later this year with your input.
Ridership Concept
This concept connects the busiest parts of the region with the best possible bus service (every 15 minutes or better). On average, more people can get to more places sooner with this concept, so ridership will be higher, but it doesn't cover as many people.
Coverage Concept
This concept expands the network to cover more area, but because there are so many routes, frequencies are low. Ridership is lower because people may not want to wait as long.
Red lines arrive every 15 minutes or less
Blue lines arrive every 30 minutes
Green lines arrive every 60 minutes
Tan lines are peak-only or have a limited schedule
Red lines arrive every 15 minutes or less
Blue lines arrive every 30 minutes
Green lines arrive every 60 minutes
Tan lines are peak-only or have a limited schedule
Outcomes
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The average resident can reach 21% more jobs by transit in 45 minutes
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These numbers are probably similar for other destinations, like school, shopping, etc.
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64% of residents are within a 1/2 mile walk of any transit service, compared to 78% now.
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59% of all residents are within a 1/2 mile walk of transit service that comes every 30 minutes or better, compared to 55% now
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This concept would increase the number of jobs the average person could reach in 45 minutes by walking and transit compared to the Existing Network.
Outcomes
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The average resident can reach 12% fewer jobs by transit in 45 minutes
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These numbers are probably similar for other destinations, like school, shopping, etc.
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79% of residents are within a 1/2 mile walk of any transit service, compared to 78% now.
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30% of all residents are within a 1/2 mile walk of transit service that comes every 30 minutes or better, compared to 55% now
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This concept would reduce the number of jobs the average person could reach in 45 minutes by walking and transit compared to the Existing Network.
Change in Access
Where can you be soon? Answering that question tells us a great deal about how useful a transit system is. The images below compare how far you can get from South Street Station, Downtown Mishawaka, or other key destinations in 45 minutes in the Ridership and Coverage concepts.
Should the Region Invest More in Transit?
In the Choices Report, we looked at some peers for Transpo and the Interurban Trolley (operated by MACOG) and saw that both Transpo and Interurban Trolley provide less service compared to most of their peers and therefore get out less in terms of ridership and productivity compared to other transit agencies. Given these realities, there is a key value question about whether the region should invest more in transit to improve access to opportunity and increase ridership.
In this process, we've also drawn up two concepts that increase the amount of investment put into transit:
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the Growth concept, which provides a moderate increase in investment, equal to the Ridership and Coverage concepts combined, and;
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the Vision concept, which maximizes investment to maximize progress towards important community goals such as economic development, access to opportunity, air quality, and other goals.
The Growth and Vision Concepts
These concepts are NOT PROPOSALS. We will be developing the final plan later this year with your input.
Growth Concept
This concept provides both the frequency of the Ridership Concept and the additional places and neighborhoods served by the Coverage Concept. The additional service dramatically increases how many useful destinations an average resident can reach in a given amount of time, while also maintain and expanding coverage.
Vision Concept
The Vision Concept is a vastly improved network that would provide far more frequent service along most of the major corridors in South Bend and Mishawaka. It would also begin to introduce grid-like elements to better serve trips that begin and end outside of downtown.
Dark red lines arrive every 10 minutes or less
Red lines arrive every 15 minutes
Blue lines arrive every 30 minutes
Green lines arrive every 60 minutes
Tan lines are peak-only or have a limited schedule
Dark red lines arrive every 10 minutes or less
Red lines arrive every 15 minutes
Blue lines arrive every 30 minutes
Green lines arrive every 60 minutes
Tan lines are peak-only or have a limited schedule
Yellow boxes are demand-response zones
Outcomes
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The average resident can reach 27% more jobs by transit in 45 minutes
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These numbers are probably similar for other destinations, like school, shopping, etc.
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79% of residents are within a 1/2 mile walk of any transit service, compared to 78% now.
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17% of all residents are within a 1/2 mile walk of transit service that comes every 15 minutes or better, compared to 0% now*
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This concept represents a 60% increase in service compared to the Existing Network
Outcomes
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The average resident can reach 126% more jobs by transit in 45 minutes
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These numbers are probably similar for other destinations, like school, shopping, etc.
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81% of residents are within a 1/2 mile walk of any transit service, compared to 78% now.
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50% of all residents are within a 1/2 mile walk of transit service that comes every 15 minutes or better, compared to 0% now*
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This concept represents a 360% increase in service compared to the Existing Network
*The Existing Network does not have service that is every 15 minutes or better on any route.
Change in Access
Where can you be soon? Answering that question tells us a great deal about how useful a transit system is. The images below compare how far you can get from South Street Station, Downtown Mishawaka, or other key destinations in 45 minutes in the Growth and Vision concepts.
