Transit takeaways from APTA TRANSform 2024

17 October 2024, Anaheim, USA

Big ideas from APTA TRANSform

The site of APTA TRANSform 2024 sits alongside one of the most heavily visited places on earth. People of all ages wear round, exaggerated ears while extended families sport matching shirts. The full gamut of humanity is on display: peacefully sleeping babies, crying toddlers, excited children, bemused teenagers, and the adults–at least the ones with kids in tow–looking exhausted.

Welcome to Anaheim.

As ubiquitous as the mouse ears are, so are the buses.

Public transportation cleanly and efficiently shuttles tourists throughout the region’s resorts. While across the street, the US public transit industry convened to discuss the big topics during APTA TRANSform 2024: funding, workforce, and technology.

Transit tourism that makes magic

The throngs visiting Disney arrive in suburban Orange County and, largely, experience urban density and mobility. For a couple of days, they live in a walkable city with distinct “neighborhoods” that are connected with transit.

Sound familiar?

The Disney denizens are car free (and living carefree) during their vacation. They walk everywhere (easily putting tens of thousands of steps on their fitness tracker) and take multiple modes of transit (including buses and the monorail). For many–especially children–this might be the first time taking public transit.

And that is important. A key memory from “the happiest place on earth” is participating in public transit. While the Disney experience wasn’t explicitly a lesson to be learned, there are a lot of important takeaways from the tourists that don’t normally ride transit: they will take a bus when it is clean, reliable, convenient, and accessible.

The possibility of transit that does all those things for when the tourists set aside their mouse ears is compelling and, yes, challenging.

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Car-free living in Tempe

In some places that opportunity is becoming a reality.

Culdesac is a new type of residential development that builds on the transit-oriented development model. It does it by giving away free monthly passes, incentivizing micromobility, and limiting car use.

Built within walking distance of Valley Metro’s Smith-Martin/Apache Blvd station on the light rail, Culdesac is in the development business. But it is also in the urban planning business. They accomplished this in a very wonkish way–by walking away from parking minimums. Policy can dictate direction.

Parking minimums increase development costs. Cities enforce minimums to avoid disrupting the balance of neighborhoods. Too many cars and too few parking spots equal congestion. At least that was the premise when introduced decades ago. In truth, the parking minimums equation makes for less dense builds and decreases the availability of on-street retail.

Often touted as anti-car in the media, Culdesac has no parking spots on the complex (and prohibits on-street parking within two blocks of the apartment complex). The result has been (so far) a stronger community that relies on public transportation for trips to Phoenix or Sky Harbor International Airport, uses bike and scooter share for short treks, and TNC for everything in between.

Increasingly, car-free can be seen as a positive both in quality of life and on the bank account. The annual cost of car ownership (including car payments, car insurance, depreciation, maintenance, and gas) is $12,000. For two-car households that’s a significant economic impact.

Quick hits from APTA TRANSform

Disney and TODs weren’t the only topics for discussion There was a lot seen and heard during TRANSform. Here is a quick list of items of interest.

• Award-winning actress Mira Sorvino delivered a devastating keynote. The brutal reality of trafficking, the work necessary to stop it, and how to (potentially) heal from it was covered by the UN Goodwill Ambassador.
• The need to differentiate “Real-BRT”–with dedicated lanes and platform boarding–from merely BRT-lite options in the US and Canada. Still, increased service/headways and on-platform payment (ahem, Vix can help you out with that) are iterative changes that build advocacy for the “real” thing. 
• The role of transit ambassadors in supporting passenger experience enhancements through wayfinding, fare information, and safety. The proof is in the customer sentiment improvement. 
• Autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence still dominate the conversation. AV and AI are exciting elements of technology that can support returning ridership. They are also in nascent stages. The role of the bus operator goes beyond driving, they provide a sense of safety on board. AI and, more often, machine learning, represent a future of automation that assists the workforce and streamlines technology.
• Fiscal cliff and the importance of continued service. The flywheel of less funding that leads to less service that leads to less riders that results in, you guessed it, less funding is a dangerous game. Funding cuts can just be the beginning.

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Conclusion

Anaheim offers a persuasive vision of urban mobility that is an essential part of the Disney experience. Of course, what happens en route to Fantasyland doesn’t always transform into reality when the tourists settle back in at home. Change happens incrementally, like when you set aside parking minimums and offer residents free monthly passes. The future isn’t magic, it is iterative.