CHAPTER 4
Development of Case Examples

This chapter describes the development of the projectʼs case examples. It discusses how the case example agencies were selected, the topics explored in each case example, and how the case examples were conducted. Chapter 5 presents the findings of the case examples, organized by topic.

Purpose

The purpose of the case example discussions was to go through selected agenciesʼ answers to the survey to get more detail, to ask follow-up questions, and to confirm that the project team has an accurate understanding of the agenciesʼ experience with red-tinted bus lanes.

Methodology

After analyzing the survey responses and assessing the findings of the literature review, the project team identified 12 case example metro areas from the survey responses using the following criteria:

• Availability of relevant data
• Level of responsiveness to the survey (e.g., extent to which lessons learned were shared)
• Diversity of metro areas
  • Geographic location
  • Types of red-tinting treatments used
  • Length of time red-tinted bus lanes have been in place
• Willingness to participate as a case example
• Extent to which key agencies in the metro area can provide insight on specific topics of interest, including the following:
  • Decision-making processes regarding selection of red-tinting treatments and when/where they are applied
  • Enforcement challenges
  • Multi-jurisdictional coordination
  • Design standards and other in-house documentation and tools
  • Agenciesʼ future plans for red-tinted bus lanes
  • Agenciesʼ relevant informational needs

The project team interviewed agencies from the case example metro areas via web meetings. For each metro area, meeting invitees included the agencies that completed the survey as well as their key partners. After each case example web meeting was complete, the project team prepared case example profiles (i.e., summaries of survey responses and web meeting discussion) and sent each agency its profile for review and comment. As comments were received, the project team revised the profiles to respond to the agenciesʼ comments.

The following topics guided the interviews:

1. Confirmation of details about the red-tinting treatments used. This may cover the following topics:
   • Purpose of red-tinted bus lanes
   • Implementation dates
   • Types of red-tinting treatments used
   • Advantages and disadvantages of specific red-tinting treatments
   • Roles and responsibilities of partner agencies
2. Discussion of these listed features in more detail. For example: What specific concerns was red tinting intended to address? How did you make the decision to use a particular red-tinting treatment in a given location? Do you have design standards, specifications, or other documents that guide how you implement red-tinting treatments? How do you monitor the effectiveness of your red-tinting treatments? Do you inspect or maintain your red-tinting treatments as part of a general maintenance program?
3. Discussion of lessons learned and suggestions for other agencies. For example: What would you do differently the next time you implement red-tinted bus lanes? What guidance would you give to other agencies that are considering implementing red-tinted bus lanes or changing how they currently implement, operate, enforce, or maintain their red-tinted bus lanes?
4. Discussion of agenciesʼ informational needs related to red-tinted bus lanes. For example: What information would you like to see included in the synthesis report or covered in future research?

The project team also requested reports or other documents that provide information about these topics, as available. Specific reports of interest include before-and-after studies and evaluations of red-tinting materials.

Selected Case Example Metro Areas

The project team conducted case examples for the following metro areas:

1. Albuquerque, NM
2. Arlington, VA
3. Austin, TX
4. Boston, MA
5. Denver, CO
6. Indianapolis, IN
7. Los Angeles, CA
8. Minneapolis, MN
9. New York City, NY
10. Portland, OR
11. San Francisco, CA
12. Washington, DC

The case example metro areas are also listed in Table 7. Appendix C contains metro area–specific profiles that summarize the results of the projectʼs case examples.

Case Example Profiles

The information in the metro area–specific profiles in Appendix C was synthesized from survey data, case example discussions, and relevant documentation. In each profile, the following information is provided in summary tables:

• The metro area in which the red-tinted bus lanes are located
• When the red-tinted bus lanes were implemented

Long Description.

The column headers of the table are location, and case example number. The data given in the table row-wise are as follows: Row 1: Albuquerque, New Mexico; 1. Row 2: Arlington, Virginia; 2. Row 3: Austin, Texas; 3. Row 4: Boston, Massachusetts; 4. Row 5: Denver, Colorado; 5. Row 6: Indianapolis, Indiana; 6. Row 7: Los Angeles, California; 7. Row 8: Minneapolis, Minnesota; 8. Row 9: New York City, New York; 9. Row 10: Portland, Oregon; 10. Row 11: San Francisco, California; 11. Row 12: Washington, DC; 12.

• The key agencies involved in planning, implementation, operation, enforcement, and maintenance of the red-tinted bus lanes
• The purpose(s) for which the red-tinted bus lanes were implemented
• The red-tinting treatments currently in use or used in the past
• The designs of the red-tinted bus lanes
• Whether the red-tinted lanes were created by applying red tinting to existing bus lanes, by implementing red-tinted bus lanes where bus lanes did not exist before, or both
• The methods used for enforcement of the red-tinted bus lanes
• The allowed users of the red-tinted bus lanes
• Any time of day or day of week that there are restrictions on use of the red-tinted bus lanes
• The key agenciesʼ view of the overall effectiveness of the red-tinted bus lanes

Narrative following the summary tables provides more information about planning and coordination, effectiveness, impacts, key challenges, and key lessons learned relevant to successfully planning, implementing, operating, enforcing, and maintaining red-tinted bus lanes. The narrative discusses quantitative and qualitative impacts of the red-tinted bus lanes on ridership, transit reliability, transit speed or travel time, safety of transit users, safety of other roadway users, other transportation modes, lane-usage compliance, enforcement costs, and maintenance costs (where data are available).