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April 9, 1982
Transportation Advisory Committee
Annual Report on Lexpress
1981-82 has been the third successful year of Lexpress operation Ridership
increased after the drop of the second year which was caused by increased
fares and loss of novelty Minor route changes were made on Routes 1 & 2,
while routes 4 & 6 were extended to Middle St and Winter St respectively,
except during adverse conditions More snow was experienced than during
both previous years combined, which caused slipped schedules Service con-
tinued through every storm until the April 6 blizzard when 3 buses continued
until 5 P.M to get people home Driver no-shows caused a number of missed
runs, particularly between Sept and Jan The buses continued to get older,
raising reliability problems Inspections by Lexington's D P W in the Fall
and Winter uncovered numerous vehicle deficiencies which were rapidly repaired
However, one bus, shortly after returning to operation following a trans-
mission replacement, caught fire and was totally destroyed Quick action by
the driver and passengers prevented any injuries Excess ridership on the
3 P.M Route 2, which covers the Bowman-Franklin-Clark schools, continues to
be a problem, solutions to which are being discussed with the Hayden and the
School Committee Concerns over collection of fares were addressed and
corrected Design of a suitable safety barrier at Depot Square is being dis-
cussed with the D P W
In a departure from past reports, in order to clarify Lexpress operation,
statistics will be
presented as a series of charts instead of tables
Figures 1 & 2 give an historical perspective, while figures 3-4 give financial
information for this year (Yearly figures are for April 1981 thru March 1982)
Figures 5-7 show operations information
Figure 1 shows the Lexpress budgets, past, present and future The gross costs
have shown only a gradual increase, particularly in face of the more than
doubling in fuel costs over the past three years However the Lexington sub-
sidy has increased rapidly, mainly due to the termination of financial support
from the MBTA Revenues have increased only slightly even after the 40% fare
hike in Sept 1980
Figure 2 shows the monthly Lexpress ridership rates The ridership is remark-
ably repetitive from year to year, showing marked seasonal variations This
year has shown a gradual increase in ridership The original 1979 Lexpress
proposal projected a ridership rate of 16 riders per vehicle hour, while the
present rates are averaging close to 20 Other successful suburban bus
systems typically have ridership rates of near 13 riders per vehicle hour
2
Figures 3 & 4 give a breakdown of the 1981/82 costs and income
"Administration" includes the transportation coordinator's salary, phone,
marketing, etc 'Miscellaneous" income is the net profit, (after marketing,
printing, and mailing costs) for the Lexpress map advertising and on-bus
advertising
Figures 5 & 6 show typical ridership by time-of-day and by route These
distributions have remained stable over the past three years Ridership to
Burlington Mall has been separately estimated to be about 9% of the total
weekday ridership
Lastly, figure 7 illustrates the increasing problem of vehicle reliability
While even this year's number of missed runs are low given a total of
13,000 vehicle hours per year, we are extremely concerned about the safety
of the vehicles, as well as the possibility of losing the Lexpress reputa-
tion for reliability Our goal is to have the most reliable bus system in
the country, and therefore find the present amount of downtime unacceptable
Our most pressing current concern is to address the reliability problem
within reasonable financial constraints
In summary, in April 1982 Lexpress is showing the successes and problems
of a maturing transportation system
Submitted by
The Transportation Advisory Committee
Fred Rosenberg, Chairman
Sally Castleman, Co-Chairman
Larry Chait
Elaine Dratch
Joyce Hals
Webb Sussman
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82/83 PROPOSED, INCLUDING CHAIRCAR
FIGURE 1
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FIGURE 2
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FIGURE 4
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LEXPRjx i Hifi':
WEEKDAY RIDERSHIP BY TIME-OF-DAY SEPT 1981
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6 8 10 12 14 16 18
TIME OF DAY
FIGURE 5
LEXPRESS
WEEKDAY RIDERSHIP BY ROUTE
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Legend 7
141 ILA miscellaneous
PCA mechanical
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1980 1981
FIGURE 7