HomeMy WebLinkAbout02 Introduction_20200901 - sentIOWA CITY AREA TRANSIT STUDY | FINAL REPORT
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2 INTRODUCTION
This Final Report of the Iowa City Area Transit Study (ICATS) documents the current conditions
of transit service in the Iowa City area, analyzes the results of outreach conducted during the
study, and describes the Preferred Alternative of recommended changes to CAMBUS, Coralville
Transit, and Iowa City Transit systems. Early, context-setting chapters of the report review the
existing transportation and land use planning context in the area, review historic operating data
for CAMBUS, Coralville Transit, and Iowa City Transit, and assess potential transit demand in
Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty, University Heights, and outlying areas. Later chapters of the
report describe ICATS outreach, the initial service scenarios that were shared with the public, and
the recommended Preferred Alternative for transit service in the Iowa City area. The final
chapters in the report includes area-wide recommendations for improvements to transit
infrastructure, and a description of the ICATS long-range ‘Vision for Transit’.
PROJECT GOALS
The overall goal of the ICATS is to provide practical and sustainable recommendations to improve
the productivity and reliability of all three public transit systems operating in the Iowa City area .
Specific goals and objectives established at the outset of the ICATS are:
• Increase ridership to help reduce Iowa City area residents’ dependence on personal
autos, and to complement pedestrian and bicycling modes of transportation
• Work together across agencies to most efficiently serve the community, and to
provide a streamlined experience for riders—particularly those that may use more than
one agency’s services
• Improve communications to riders so they have complete and up-to-date
information on routes, fares, stops, and service alerts
• Take a regional approach and look to see if there are options for expanding service
outside of the study agencies’ current footprint
IOWA CITY AREA TRANSIT STUDY | FINAL REPORT
Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates, Inc. | 2-2
REPORT ORGANIZATION
This report assesses fixed-route transit in the four municipalities in the service area of CAMBUS,
Coralville Transit, and Iowa City Transit: Coralville, Iowa City, North Liberty, and University
Heights. This report also assesses the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the
service area, as well as transit system characteristics and performance. The document consists of
11 chapters, including this introduction, and three appendices, which are summarized below:
▪ Chapter 1 is a high-level summary of the ICATS that communicates the most important
findings from the report.
▪ Chapter 2 is this chapter, which introduces the ICATS Final Report.
▪ Chapter 3 considers local planning efforts in the study area.
▪ Chapter 4 evaluates socioeconomic and demographic conditions within the study area
to better understand transit demand and service gaps.
▪ Chapter 5 reviews trends for CAMBUS, Coralville Transit, and Iowa City Transit’s fixed-
route service, including recent operational and performance data.
▪ Chapter 6 provides detailed information for existing CAMBUS, Coralville Transit, and
Iowa City Transit routes.
▪ Chapter 7 summarizes the service scenario development process and identifies the
preliminary service concepts that were shared with the public.
▪ Chapter 8 summarizes the public outreach and stakeholder engagement processes that
occurred over the course of the ICATS.
▪ Chapter 9 describes the Preferred Alternative that was developed based on public
feedback to the preliminary service concepts. This chapter also details recommended
changes in service and alignment for individual routes in the CAMBUS, Coralville Transit,
and Iowa City Transit systems.
▪ Chapter 10 describes best practices for stop bus stop location and infrastructure, speed
and reliability improvements, and zero-emission transit vehicle planning. This chapter
also makes planning-level recommendations for improvements to bus stops and transit
corridor infrastructure in the Iowa City area.
▪ Chapter 11 describes the ICATS ‘Vision for Transit’, which is a series of unfunded service
improvements that the ICATS public outreach process uncovered as desired by the
community. This chapter describes the Vision for Transit and estimates its capital and
operating costs.
▪ Appendix A includes route maps for every study route, showing the alignment, bus stop
locations, and average daily weekday boardings and alightings in the inbound and
outbound direction.
▪ Appendix B provides route summary tables and charts that give insight into passenger
loads, boardings, and alightings.
▪ Appendix C includes the English and Spanish onboard survey instrument used during
outreach.
▪ Appendix D is the ICATS Fare Study, which was conducted during the ICATS as a set of
analyses complementing existing conditions and service development work. The Fare
Study examines various potential changes to transit fares in the Iowa City area and makes
recommendations for improving and integrating fares to achieve study goals.