Expansion Priorities

Following the choice of priorities for improvements to the existing transit system, groups spent the remainder of their playing time choosing system or network expansion improvements, and assigning costs to them based on the Dots & Dashes cost framework. The table below summarizes the number of projects identified by groups for various project categories.

As this table indicates, “Multimodal Transportation Center” (a “dot” improvement) was the project-type with the highest number of individual projects proposed by groups. Participants identified more rapid bus routes than rail line investments, although this is reversed when rail extensions are combined with new rail lines. This result reflects a telling preference for rail, as rapid bus routes were significantly less expensive under the Dots & Dashes cost framework. The “Rail / BRT (tie)” category includes one project/corridor for which an equal number of groups proposed rail and BRT.

In order to identify the projects/corridors with the highest level of participant support, DVRPC erred on the side of aggregation. For example, a number of groups proposed some variation of rapid transit in Northeast Philadelphia. Some groups elected to extend the Broad Street Subway, some elected to extend the Market-Frankford Elevated Line, and two proposed BRT routes along similar alignments. Additionally, the terminus for individual proposals often varied. In order to identify the broad support for some form of rapid transit in Northeast Philadelphia, however, all such proposals were aggregated under the “Northeast Philadelphia Rapid Transit Line” umbrella.

Projects/corridors with both bus/BRT and rail proposals were also aggregated so that the priority of the corridor itself could be identified. Where one mode was identified far more frequently than the other, that mode was assigned to the aggregated project. The Northeast Philadelphia Rapid Transit Line, for example, was assigned a “Rail Line Extension” project type, as rail proposals outnumbered BRT proposals 15-2 for that project/corridor.

The table below summarizes the Top-30 expansion projects identified by participants (this includes every project identified by more than one group).

Among the projects identified here, there is a clear separation for the Top-5 “dash” or corridor projects projects, along with the Top-3 “dot” or node projects. In combination, these projects (shaded in yellow and blue, respectively, in the table above) are the specific capital priorities resulting from Dots & Dashes. These priorities will help to inform the transit policies and guide project selection for the new Long Range Plan - Connections: The Regional Plan for a Sustainable Future.