The SacRT Route 51 Stockton/Broadway bus runs along Broadway between 8th/9th streets (8th Street for northbound buses and 9th Street for southbound buses), and Stockton Blvd to the east. Route 51 is one of the few high-frequency routes in the SacRT network, at 15 minutes. Route 11 Natomas/Land Park also runs on Broadway between 3rd-5th streets (3rd Street southbound and 5th Street northbound), and Riverside Drive. Route 11 is one of the few low-frequency routes, at 45 minutes.

The City of Sacramento and SacRT have expressed an intent to operate Bus Rapid Transit along Stockton Blvd. Though early planning for Broadway included an option for a bus-only lane in the Broadway Complete Streets project section (3rd Street to 24th Street), the option chosen and under construction does not have a bus-only lane.

The configuration of Broadway in this section is one lane in each direction, and a center turn lane, sometimes with medians but usually not. There are buffered bikeways along most of the sections, with a few exceptions. The design theory for this cross-section is that drivers who are not seeking destinations on Broadway will instead use X Street westbound and Y Street eastbound. These are high-capacity, three-lane streets that parallel Hwy 50. They can certainly handle additional motor vehicle traffic. The question, though, is will drivers accustomed to using Broadway shift to W and X? Traffic during construction indicates that this shift may be a slow process. Long backups in the construction zones along Broadway have been observed, while W and X are free flowing.

At one location, for the westbound bus stop just after 18th Street, it appears that parking is removed, so that a bus pulling into the curb would occupy only the bike lane. At all other locations, it appears that the bus would pull into the curb across both the bike lane and parking lane. This design encourages conflict with bicyclists. Though both bus drivers and bicyclists can learn to accommodate each other in these shared areas, it is not the best design. The best design is bus boarding islands, shown below.

The larger issue for transit, though, is that every time a bus pulls out of traffic to the curb, it must re-enter traffic. This can be very difficult, particularly during high volume times, and it also increases the chances of a crash. Dwell time, the amount of time a bus stays at a bus stop, is a critical determinant of how quickly the bus can run. This design has de-prioritized transit service by making buses pull out of and re-enter traffic. STAR’s position is that buses should not pull out of traffic except perhaps at timed stop locations where the bus may need to wait to get back on schedule, or where buses lay over at the end of routes. Instead, buses should remain in the travel lane so that they are already in traffic and don’t need to re-enter.

Will the reconfigured street with one lane in each direction, and maintaining the practice of buses pulling out of and into traffic, make Broadway untenable as a high-frequency, rapid if not BRT, bus route? We don’t know, but we are concerned.

Bus Boarding Islands

STAR has previously posted on bus boarding islands: bus stops & protected bike lanes and Transit streets on 7th & 8th, revised. Though we won’t go through the entire explanation here, it is important to remember that there is an alternative to buses pulling out of traffic, on a street with bikeways, and that is the bus boarding island, shown below. The diagram is from NACTO Transit Street Design Guide, pages 73-77 of the printed guide, Side Boarding Island Stop and Shared Cycle Track Stop. Does this require removal of parking? Yes. Probably more than the short bus stop areas that have been designed for Broadway. Does it require most street right-of-way than the current design? Perhaps.

According to the engineering design document, specifically the Signing and Striping sheets, bus stops will be located:

eastbound

• 5th, after
• 8th, after (8th is not through to the south)
• Riverside, after
• 13th, after
• 14th, after
• 18th, before
• 19th, after
• 21st, after
• 24th, after

westbound

• 24th, after
• 22nd, after
• 20th, after
• 18th, after
• 15th, after
• 10th, after
• Riverside, after
• 8th, after
• 6th, before

STAR will look more closely at each of these bus stop locations to determine how workable the stops are, and whether they could be improved by a different design.

• Broadway Complete Streets
• SacRT