Mr. Irick presided over a strategic plan to comprehensively improve bus services, referred to as a “Buses Action Plan” part of an agency-wide Fast Forward Initiative. Completed and delivered to the large transit agency’s Board of Directors and the public in under six months, the plan identified specific recommended initiatives, with milestones and timelines in several strategic areas:
- Increasing bus speeds with more bus-only lanes. A signature bus-only street project 1 mile in length 7has resulted in a 17% increase in bus ridership and 30% reduction in travel time in 2020 over 2019. Many other bus priority lanes were implemented throughout the city with significant improvements in bus speeds.
- Strategic reduction in bus stops to increase average speeds while maintaining accessibility;
- Introducing all-door boarding in conjunction with new proximity card fare collection;
- Comprehensive bus network redesign to simplify network structure and focus on improved mobility over a frequent service network of priority corridors.
Both the network redesign and bus-lane initiatives included extensive inter-agency cooperation with the city’s traffic and transportation department in designing and communicating these new initiatives, along with public design workshops.
