The ABCs of Scheduling and Service Planning: Coverage Service

Scheduling 202

The ABCs of Scheduling and Service Planning

A slight change in gears from this point on, as this blog will examine transit industry terms and definitions and what they mean in the scheduling and service planning world. Prior posts discussed headways, span of service, and deadheads. It will continue on the same vein in the hopes of better understanding for riders and advocates. 

The first term discussed is called Coverage Service. MTA defines it as a bus route designed to provide service to those who need it, such as households that do not own vehicles, even if demand is low. 

These are routes that usually service areas with little to no connecting services or neighborhoods with a moderate density of residents. For BaltimoreLink, there are several lines that fit this description. 

The first example is the 34, which operates between Westview Mall and Falls Road Light Rail Station and Greenspring Station on weekdays. In this map, the 34 serves several "remote" areas along the route. Forest Park Avenue, Gwynn Oak Avenue, Glen Avenue, Fallstaff Road, Smith Avenue, and Falls Road. Its main job is to connect those areas to the Metro, Light Rail, and other lines in the area, and outside of rush hour, runs hourly.

The 57, known as the Belair-Edison Circulator, serves the Parkside Shopping Center, the Erdman Shopping Center, and connects the Mannasota and Bowleys Lane area with routes like the 22, 28, 30, 59, Brown, and Pink. This line is also limited in service, mainly because of the small streets it operates on, as well as the hours the shopping center operates.

One of the more complicated coverage service routes, the 75, wines its way from Patapsco Light Rail Station at the edge of Baltimore City to Parkway Center (Weekdays Only) in Howard County, and Arundel Mills in Anne Arundel County. The line serves the Nursery Road business corridor, the BWI Tech park, Hotel District, BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, MARC Train Station, Mathison Way, Candlewood Road, Dorsey Road, and ending at Arundel Mills or Parkway Center. On nights and before the Light Rail opens, it extends into Downtown Baltimore, ending at the UM Medical Center.

It usually takes about an hour end to end and 72 minutes to Parkway Center. Since a lot of what the 75 covers is businesses, it is a 24 hour route with the emphasis of getting workers to BWI before 5am. Outside of those shift hours, the line operates every 60-70 minutes.

The 82 is a coverage service route that never leaves Northwest Baltimore. Starting at the Monte Verde Senior Complex, it serves Park Circle, Mondawmin, Hanlon Park, West Coldspring Metro, Rogers Avenue Metro, the Seton Business Park, and finally Reisterstown Plaza Station. The lines acts more of a metro connectors for several neighborhoods, or which it is the only line in the area. The full ride takes between 40-45 minutes and operates on a 30-35 minute headway during the day, and 35 minutes on weekends. 

Even Express buses can be coverage service routes, such as the 115. Other express lines that run on heavy corridors, terminates at places shared by other routes. Besides the 115, the 150 & 164 are the other exceptions to that rule. Although it operates on Belair Road, the line ends in Perry Hall, which no other local route serves, which makes it a coverage service. Now the difference between the definition of coverage service and what the 115 does, is that most who ride it from Perry Hall to Overlea, owns an automobile, but chooses to ride the service instead.  

   

Although limited in their actions, these coverage service routes still provide an important service to the system. 

Next up: Cycle Time