Draft:ACT Bus Operations

ACT Bus Operations (ACTBO) is the bus transit division of the Aurora County Transit Authority

Aurora County Bus Operations

Founded	August 7, 2021
Headquarters	420 West 8 Street, 13th Floor Aurora, 9550
Locale	Aurora County
Service area	Aurora County and the Surrounding Areas
Service type	Local, Limited-Stop, Express, & Shuttle Buses
Routes	214
Fleet	5,838
Daily ridership	3,119,782
Fuel type	Diesel, Diesel-Electric Hybrid, CNG
Manager	MysticZeenoz

(ACT/ACTA). It was created in 2021 to control all bus operations within Aurora County. The ACT runs 198 local routes, and 16 Limited routes. Its fleet of 5,838 buses is the second largest municipal bus fleet in the United States and operates 24/7.

Operations

Bus routes are spread out across Aurora and some of the surrounding county's. The Bus System works in conjunction with other bus systems serving the surrounding county's, like CTA (Citadel Transit Authority).

Local and limited-stop service

Local and Limited bus routes usually operate near one another. While local buses make all stops along a route, limited-stop buses only make stops at busy transfer points, points of interest, and heavily used roadways. Usually, limited stop service runs the full route, while local services run only in the limited stop area, and the limited stop buses run local at the tail ends of the route not served by locals (similar to the operation of some subway services).

Most Limited-Stop buses flash "LIMITED" on the destination sign.

The following Bus routes run limited stop service:

• 1
• 6
• 18
• 19
• 32
• 47
• 73
• 82
• 94
• 101
• 113
• 115
• 116
• 117
• 120
• 122

Within a service area, bus stops are normally located every two to three city blocks apart; specific guidelines dictate that stops should be placed every 750 feet (230 m). Buses marked Limited-Stop and Express have fewer stops, and more distanced out stops. Bus stops are located curbside, usually at street intersections, identified by blue signage and shelters. Buses stop either on concrete pads, or designated bus lanes.

All bus stops are in service at all times unless otherwise indicated by signage.

Signage

Bus stops are identified by a color-coded sign showing route, stop name, and destination.

Countdown Clocks

Most bus stops feature electronic countdown clocks. These clocks are part of way-finding information kiosks. As of September 2021, a total of 1,488 bus stops had countdown clocks installed.

Bus Shelters

The current bus shelters found at many bus stops were designed by Brasco International. Most Bus Shelters are designed with a Black Steel frame and solar controlled glass, while others are designed with a Gray steel curved frame.

Late-night Request-A-Stop

Between 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m., "Request-a-Stop" service is available. If requested by a passenger, the bus operator may let off passengers at a location along the route that is not a bus stop, as long as it is considered safe. If the location is not "safe" (i.e. it will interfere with traffic flow), the bus operator will let passengers off at the nearest safe location.

Fleet

Manufacturer	Model	Year	Length	Engine Type	Notes
New Flyer	D60HF	2002	60 ft (18 m)	Diesel	Currently in Retirement
Orion Bus Industries	Orion VII OG HEV 07.501	2006-2007	40 ft (12 m)	Diesel Electric Hybrid	Currently in Retirement
	Orion VII EPA10 HEV 07.501	2011			N/A
North American Bus Industries	40-LFW HEV	2011		Diesel Electric Hybrid	N/A
New Flyer	C40LF	2011-2013		CNG	N/A
	XD40 Xcelsior			Diesel	N/A
New Flyer	XD40 Xcelsior	2014-2016	40 ft (12 m)		N/A
	XD60 Xcelsior Articulated	2016-2017	60 ft (18 m)		N/A
	XN40 Xcelsior		40 ft (12 m)	CNG	N/A
New Flyer	XN60 Xcelsior Articulated	2017-2019	60 ft (18 m)	CNG	N/A
	XN40 Xcelsior		40 ft (12 m)		N/A
Nova Bus	LFS HEV TL40102A	2021	40 ft (12 m)	Diesel Electric Hybrid	N/A
	LFS-A HEV TL60102A		62 ft (19 m)		N/A

Fares

All fares require an ACM Card, or a Contactless Bank Card, or Mobile Card. All transfers are free with payment of fare. Dollar Bills, and coins are not accepted on any ACT Buses.

Full Fare	Senior/Disabled Fare	Transfer All transfers are good for 2 1/2 hours	7-day Unlimited Ride ACM Card	30-day Unlimited Ride ACM Card
$2.25	$1.00	Free to all ATC Transit modes. (Subways, Light Rail, Commuter Rail)	$28.00 $14.00 with Reduced Fare Card	$113.00 $56.60 with Reduced Fare Card

Transit Cards

The ACTA accepts payment with an ACM Card.

Contactless payments

ACM readers on buses and rail station turnstiles can accept contactless payments directly from mobile devices. Riders can pay a fare by touching mobile phones with Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay—or any contactless bankcard with the contactless wave symbol.

Service Quality

Frequency

Most bus routes provide high-frequency service during rush hours, with buses arriving at least every ten minutes. Only a quarter of routes run with headways of more than 10 minutes during rush hours.

ACTBO also has the U.S.'s second highest rates of deadhead runs, or "not-in-service" runs without passengers, with a respective 19% and 14% of trips being deadheads.

Buses running off-schedule are common, with almost one in four buses running either too early or too late to maintain a constant spacing between buses. Some routes suffer from bus bunching. Routes affected by bus bunching may not have any buses in a certain direction for prolonged periods of time, and then several buses will show up within a short time period. In 2018, nearly nine percent of routes were considered to be bunched on a regular basis.

Speed

Local buses run at average speeds of 8.3 to 11 miles per hour (13 to 18 km/h), one of the slowest of any major bus system nationwide. Limited routes had marginally faster speeds, averaging 12 miles per hour (19.3 km/h). On average, buses generally spend a little more than half of the trip (57%) in motion, while 19% of the trip is spent at bus stops and 24% is spent idling at red lights.

As a result of these slow average speeds, ACTBO has one of the highest per-mile operating cost of all city bus systems in the U.S., with a per-mile cost of $27.55. If the operating costs were closer to the U.S. average, ACTBO buses would have the highest farebox recovery ratio among U.S. cities' bus systems.

Ridership

As of December 2019, bus routes tend to be more heavily used on weekdays than on weekends. Weekday bus ridership in 2019 averaged 1.9 million, while weekend ridership averaged 1.6 million.

Bus ridership has steadily declined through the 2000s and 2010s. From 2008 to 2017, bus ridership declined by almost 100 million. Average weekday bus ridership fell 4.2%, and average weekend bus ridership fell 6.9%, from 2016 to 2017. This ridership decrease is the result of more subway, commuter, and light rail lines being constructed. Those services are usually faster than buses, so some riders have switched over to those services.

Improvements

Bus lanes

To speed up bus service, the city started installing bus lanes. The city's bus lane network is about 92 miles (148 km) long as of November 2019.

The bus lane rules are enforced by traffic cameras on gantries above the lanes; photos are taken of vehicles who violate the rules, and these motorists are then fined. Bus lanes have generally increased average bus speeds and reduced travel times where they are installed. However, double-parked vehicles and other obstructions often force buses within buses to merge out of these lanes. Some buses also have cameras on the front and sides, these cameras will take a photo of the vehicle in violations' license plate.

Bus priority signals

Traffic signal preemption is used on multiple bus corridors. Traffic signals with bus preemption allow traffic lights to display a green signal for a longer-than-normal period of time when a bus approaches the intersection. Bus routes that run through these corridors run at an average speed faster than routes that do not.

Future Improvements

Bus priority is something the ACT wants to implement in lots of other routes. Traffic Signal Priority would be implemented on more routes, and new bus lanes and queue jump lanes would be instituted.

Improvements to bus riders' experience is also something that is on the ACTA's radar. All buses delivered after April 2018, as well as 1,000 existing buses, would also receive digital information screens with automated announcements. In addition, by the end of 2018, new bus maps would be designed to make it easier to comprehend the bus network and to provide location-specific maps for neighborhoods in each neighborhood. Although the ACTA had already started installing bus stop screens with real-time information, they are working on bringing this feature to more bus stops. Starting in 2019, the ACTA's mobile app would provide real-time seat availability information on selected bus routes. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality, the agency announced its transition to a zero-emissions electric bus fleet.

Safety features and customer amenities were also installed on new and existing buses. By July 2018, audible "pedestrian turn warning" announcement systems were installed on most buses. Amenities such as USB charging ports, Wi-Fi, and digital information screens were installed on thousands of existing buses, as well as in all new buses. In addition, traffic signal priority systems and automatic passenger counters were both installed in over a thousand buses.