SEPTA and DVRPC looking into bus stop design standards

SEPTA is looking to standardize where bus stops go and how they connect riders to destinations.

The authority has asked the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission to help it draw up a set of design standards, which will address things like bus stop location, the placement of bus shelters and pedestrian linkages to bus stops.

The standards will also address technical concerns, like ensuring buses have enough room to turn and that stops meet federal accessibility requirements.

Though NJ Transit has a similar set of design standards, SEPTA has heretofore gone without ― meaning that some bus stops, primarily in the suburbs, don’t connect well with surrounding sidewalk networks, according to Greg Krykewycz, a senior transportation planner at DVRPC.

If the planning project is approved by the DVRPC Board ― it’s one of many included in a draft proposal of DVRPC planning work for fiscal year 2012 ― a working committee including the Streets Department, SEPTA, DVRPC and representatives from the surrounding suburban counties would develop the guidelines.

The SEPTA Board would then vote on whether to adopt the standards, and the authority would make them available on its website.

“People were surprised that SEPTA didn’t already have something like this,” Krykewycz said. The project is slated to cost $70,000.

Also included in the planning project proposal ― which numbers over 300 pages ― is a feasibility study to extend regional rail service along the Paoli/Thorndale Line to Atglen.

The $60,000 study would develop a feasibility plan for the station, which would be the first step toward extending the line and would include cost estimates for various parts of the project.

DVRPC staff have also proposed a $104,000 planning effort to assist the Delaware River Waterfront Corp. in developing a transportation model for the Central Delaware. The proposal says the planning organization will look at interchange reconfigurations and signal optimizations to help deal with projected increases in traffic, as well as improved bus service to the area and the potential of creating a light rail line for the corridor.

And DVRPC staff is proposing to continue an innovative project looking at the region’s food distribution system, its use of the transportation network, agricultural preservation efforts and regional food security issues.

The DVRPC is accepting public comment on these and other projects before they go up for approval by the group’s board.

Comments should be addressed to DVRPC contracts manager John Griffies at jgriffies@dvrpc.org and must be received no later than 5 p.m. Jan. 14.

A PDF of the full work program proposal can be found here.

Contact the reporter at acampisi@planphilly.com

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