Episode 31: Optimizing Transit — For the Pandemic and Community
Hear about the factors involved in one transit agency’s response to COVID-19 and their efforts to improve the quality of the transit experience for their riders, with David Huffaker, Chief Development Officer for the Port Authority of Allegheny County.
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In this episode, part of a series focused on health and transit-oriented communities, David Huffaker describes service adjustments in response to the pandemic. Rather than simply going to a weekend schedule, Port Authority focused on routes serving major medical facilities and other essential employers, as well as on cleanliness and rider and employee safety. The agency already had a pandemic response plan, created for Ebola and revised for Covid-19.
Huffaker talks about an on-going project to make bus stops better by matching high traffic stops with more amenities. He describes the three Es – Equity, Efficiency, Effectiveness – that guide service planning and his sense of how transit will integrate with modes and streets in the future. One of his goals is to create a more nimble, flexible and responsive system, with higher frequency and integration with different modes and development, so that neighborhood residents have “a safe connection to service.”
Prior to the pandemic, the Port Authority launched outreach for a new long range plan. As perhaps with transit agencies across the country, COVID-19 has shifted priorities. The data from long range planning, Huffaker says, is an opportunity to shift thinking. “Before we were doing the same things as thirty years ago. Now, there’s an opportunity to take data and look at things in a slightly different way . . . We can rearrange our service to provide daily connections for communities we have underserved in the past.”
“Nine months ago, if you’d have asked what we’re going be talking about [for the long range plan] it would be a train to the airport or some shiny new toy. We may still do something like that but we are seeing the need to serve everyone on a daily basis . . . We can pivot to providing some of that additional local connection that we maybe we were not thinking about as clearly as we should have six to eight months ago. Now the recognition is that some of those local connections are incredibly important.” – David Huffaker
This episode is the second in a series focused on health and equitable transit-oriented communities. Also see Episode 30, with Dr. Georges Benjamin, Executive Director of the American Public Health Association.
Photo credit: Port Authority of Allegheny County