One of the innovative ideas suggested at the Transit Stop Visioning Workshop was that bus stop signs have information about frequency.

For SacRT, there is some information about frequency if one knows the numbering system. 1-99 is frequencies ranging from 12 minutes to 60 minutes. 100 series are peak hour (commuter) routes. 200 series are routes designed primarily to serve schools and arrival and dismissal times, though available to anyone to use. But routes within the 1-99 series have no information about frequency. Route 142, the airport express, is an exception in the 100 series, but it was given that number to correspond to the Yolobus Route 42 which also serves the airport.

“Frequency is freedom.”

Jarrett Walker, Human Transit

Frequency is critically important for everyone using the transit system, and so knowing frequency is also critically important. Bus stop signs need to have information about frequency.

There are some ways in which signs could indicate frequency:

• By number. The bus routes could be renumbers to indicate frequency, for example routes 1-30 would be 15 minutes or better, routes 31-60 would be 30 minutes or better, and routes 61-99 would be 60 minutes or better. This would initially confuse many people until they got used to the numbering system. The most frequent route, 51, would have a different number. Of course the numbering system would have to be proactively disseminated to riders, as many riders don’t even know the current more limited system.
• By color: Route numbers could be colored by frequency, in the same bands, 15 minutes or better, 30 or better, 60 or better, peak only. school. Part of the problem with colors, or course, is that colors at the red end of the spectrum can’t be distinguished by people with color blindness, so the colors would have to be middle to blue end of the spectrum, and that might not offer enough distinguishable colors.
• By text: The bus stop sign would actually indicate in text what the frequency of the route is. This is the most easily understood option, but the issue is that so much information is already crammed onto small bus stop signs that more information would be difficult to impossible to read for anyone with vision impairment, and not easy for others. See the sign below to see how complex bus stop signs already are.
• Separate signs: High frequency routes (15 minutes or better) would be placed on one sign, where they exist, and other routes would be on a separate sign. Peak only (commuter) routes would be placed on a separate sign. The sign design, colors, or text would be distinctive so that it is obvious that the frequent routes are on a separate sign. The word frequent at the top of the sign would go a long ways. For the example sign below, Route 30, which is 15 minute frequency, would be on its own distinctive sign, and the others would be on a separate sign. The Jibe, e-Tran, Amador Transit, and El Dorado Transit routes are peak only (commuter) and so already appropriate for a separate sign, but Yolobus 60 minutes, so should be on a sign with the other 60 minute and 30 minute routes.

These are not mutually exclusive ideas, more than one could be implemented. In fact, route renumbering should be part of the next system revision, whenever that happens.

Of course, providing frequency information on the sign requires deciding what a minimum span of service for that frequency is. All of the routes have lower frequency in the evening and weekends, and a few routes don’t run on Sundays. I would suggest that for a route to receive a 15 minute designation, it must be that frequent at least 6:00 AM to 7:00 PM on weekdays, and no less than 30 minute frequency evenings and weekends.

The current generation of bus stop signs for SacRT is more useful and readable than the old signs, with the route numbers being bigger, but even more useful signs can be designed. Legibility is the design principle here, not just in the sense of readability but in the sense of having the information people need.

Real-time arrival displays (with audible) partially solve this issue, since they indicate how long it is until the next bus arrival, but such signs will probably never be widespread, and the bus stop signs also need information in cases where a rider needs the information when approaching from a distance, or the display or audible to out.

A separate issue, which will be addressed in the amenities posts, is that the signs are often placed in a location, and are of such a size, that they can’t be seen from a distance or distinguished from the many other traffic control signs placed along streets. There has been specific feedback from vision limited people that they have a hard time finding the stops because they don’t stand out in any way. Perhaps coloring the back of the sign with a distinctive color, rather than the logo design or unpainted metal, would help. The signs could also be bigger, at least for more heavily used stops.

• transit stops