Link Transit Revamps Its Planning in the Heart of Apple Country
Link Transit is a small, progressive agency connecting the urban and rural areas of Chelan and Douglas Counties in the state of Washington. Though a smaller, rural network with a service area of nearly 200 square miles, Link understands that their community is constantly evolving — and that transit should evolve along with it.
By the numbers:
- Time designing detours for Wenatchee’s famous annual Apple Blossom Festival dropped from 1 day (8 hours) to 2 hours (4x improvement).
- When planning a shuttle route from Link’s new Leavenworth transit center, Remix runtime estimates came within 20 seconds of actual runtime.
Transit Planning Challenges in the Heart of Apple Country
True to its nickname of “the Apple Capital of the World,” the city of Wenatchee, WA, is surrounded in every direction by apple orchards. And while the small city of about 40,000 is no stranger to moving apples around, the city’s tight budgets and large service area make it challenging for Link Transit to do the same for its residents. That’s why Bruce Phillips, Planning Officer at Link Transit, needs a platform to help him plan quickly, communicate effectively with the community, and proactively manage their transit system.
“We’re small, but we’re proactive. We’re constantly looking at the performance levels of all of our routes, and doing as much as we can to get them to perform better.”
Small Agencies Do Change: Wenatchee’s Constant Quest to Improve
Phillips knows not every small agency is as progressive or as receptive to change as Link Transit, and he takes pride in challenging the status quo in the spirit of improvement. “We’re small, but we’re proactive,” Phillips explains. “We’re constantly looking at the performance levels of all of our routes, and doing as much as we can to get them to perform better.” And in their constant quest to improve, they’ve seen the fruits of their labor.
Tackling Downtown Detours in 25% of the Time
Phillips runs a lean team of three, and he and his team do everything — from designing bus routes, down to ensuring there’s signage at every bus stop. For such a lean team, being able to do things quickly and easily is a must.
Every year when the Apple Blossom Festival comes through town, this type of speed and ease is in high demand. The Apple Blossom parade closes downtown, effectively splitting Wenatchee in half. With the bus network’s main arteries clogged with apple-themed floats, planning detours during the festival is a challenge, especially when Phillips has a full time job.
Thankfully Phillips has found a way to remove the pain from drawing detours. “In the past, it took a full day to do all of the routes to build out the detours in GIS,” Phillips explains. “I did it in about two hours in Remix. It’s faster to do it in Remix than to even boot up GIS!” Link is now using the time they’re saving to focus on fieldwork and bettering their system.
Moving Beyond Trial and Error: Exploring All “What Ifs” in Minutes
When it comes to planning fixed routes, Phillips admits his task rarely involves the blank canvas he might want. Instead, his brand of planning is typically a game of optimizing against the agency’s severely constrained resources. “Funding is one of our biggest challenges,” Phillips says. “Money is really the thing that determines what’s on our streets.”
In the past, the Link Transit team would build out routes largely based on trial and error. The team knew they were within their budget, but they could never be sure whether their bus network had the right combination of headways, route lengths, and vehicles. Understanding vehicle requirements for the bus network was a particular shot in the dark.
With Remix, Link Transit can quickly explore all of the “what ifs” and make decisions accordingly. “In Remix, we can change the frequencies for our fixed routes from 30 minutes down to 20 or 10 and see how many vehicles we would need for each scenario,” Phillips explains. “It really helps us stay grounded.” Now Phillips can be confident the combination of inputs will get him the best possible routes his budget can afford him.
Eliminating the Unknown: Within 20 Seconds’ Accuracy When Testing New Routes
Much like its namesake fruit, Wenatchee has a dense core surrounded by a less dense but very important outlying area. This urban-rural relationship means it’s necessary for Wenatchee to understand how its network is distributed across all landscapes of the county. “One of our main challenges is determining whether transit in rural areas is justified,” Phillips explains. People within the city limits need mobility, but so too do the people in the outlying areas, and Phillips’ mind is never far from the trees that put Wenatchee on the map.
Using the data layers in Remix, Link Transit can easily see the dense pockets outside of the urban area that would be best served by transit, and how much it would cost to service those areas. What’s more, when Phillips and a colleague tested out a new route in Leavenworth, by driving it, “Remix came within 20 seconds’ accuracy! It’s great to be able to have such confidence in the tools you’re using.”
Easily Speaking “Planner” with Non-Planners
Wenatchee is sometimes a transit-averse place. Public hearings run the spectrum from residents lobbying against transit in their neighborhoods to strong criticisms of transit in general. Remix has been instrumental in turning these sentiments around during public outreach meetings.
Link Transit has used Remix to show the implications of the public’s suggestions in real time. “At one public hearing, someone wanted service diverted away from her house, and we were able to show on the screen how that would affect the overall network,” Phillips recalls. “Remix has helped people understand the challenges we face as planners and the delicate balance we have to strike while doing our jobs.” Being able to clearly show the impact of such changes has made Remix a central part of Link Transit’s communication plan.
“Remix is one of the best transit investments we’ve made as an agency.”
Using Remix Every Day
Despite tight budgets, rural setting, and large service area, Link Transit continues to use Remix to tackle its challenges head-on. Perhaps taking a cue from the old maxim about apples and doctors, Phillips says, “using Remix is a daily occurrence.” And true to the saying, doing so has helped Link Transit keep the bus network in healthy, working order.
Phillips puts it plainly: “Remix is one of the best transit investments we’ve made as an agency.”
