During our preliminary research & review our transit planners identified some key issues in the downtown area that need to be addressed by the plan.

• Low Parking and driving costs lead to a high number of personal vehicles in Downtown

• Unsafe activity including vehicles driving around buses at stops

• Highways act as barriers

• Bus route grouping on Liberty Ave. is an asset

• Better parade detour is needed

• Better wayfinding needed so people can better access stops and navigate the system

Learn more about our research on our Storymap

The goals of the first round of public engagement were to educate the public about the project and the impacts of the BRT project on Downtown bus patterns and collect feedback from transit riders about current experiences taking transit in Downtown.

The project team talked to over 400 people in the summer of 2022, there were 5 main issue identified;

Service Reliability: Buses are not on time or are often clustered together with inconsistent frequency.

Route Simplicity: The length and location of route looping can cause lengthy delays in trips while trying to exit Downtown.

Station and Stop Amenities: Many bus stops Downtown lack basic amenities such as shelters and seating.

Safety: There are safety concerns related to pedestrian and bicycle safety at many intersections within Downtown. In addition, many riders feel unsafe while waiting at certain bus stops due to a lack of lighting, basic amenities, and overcrowding.

Wayfinding: While frequent transit riders know where they are going, many occasional riders and visitors need better on-street wayfinding signage to help them understand the transit network, particularly the bus routes.

Thank you to everyone who participated in our surveys, meetings, and pop-ups and don’t forget to continue to provide your input throughout the plan process!

PRT, in cooperation with its consultant team, developed two service scenarios based on feedback from the public, stakeholders, agency partners, and PRT staff. Each scenario meets the key service design objectives outlined below, though each has a different approach to the location and connectivity between key routes, such as the busways (P1 and G2), light rail stations, and the Oakland BRT.

Key Service Design Objectives:

Reduce the number of unique loops for buses from the current 27

Achieve operational efficiency, cost savings, and travel time improvements

All bus routes will be within a 5 minute walk of the center of downtown (Kaufmann’s Clock)

Thank you to everyone who participated on our route scenario survey and visted our downtown pop-up!

We hosted our second round of public engagement in February and March 2023. Methods included online meetings, online surveys, and in-person pop-up events. We heard from almost 400 people and received hundreds of comments. This input will be used to evaluate the two preliminary re-routing scenarios and develop a final draft re-routing plan.

We will announce the final round of public input in May where we will present the final draft re-routing plan and recommendations. So stop back to learn how you can participate!