Ms. Amy Datz, Program Manager, Public Transit Office, Florida Department of Transportation, 850-414-4539

FSU’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning produced for the Public Transit Office at FDOT the handbook, Accessing Transit: Design Guidelines for Florida’s Transit Agencies. This document, prepared by Professors Harrison Higgins and Ivonne Audirac and graduate research assistants from the Florida Planning and Development Lab, provides advice on designing bus passenger facilities, siting them, accommodating different operational plans, and providing for transit- and pedestrian-friendly design both within the roadway and adjacent to it.

 “Accessing Transit” deals with urban design, transit planning, transit operations, capital improvements, roadway design, the principles of sustainable development and construction, land use and interagency cooperation.  It also provides a comprehensive annotated bibliography and literature review of bus-passenger-facility planning, siting and design. The literature covers a variety of topics including pedestrian and bicycle access, transit facility design guidelines, transit oriented development and funding and marketing of bus transit.

(The following text is taken from the manual)

The handbook is divided into four chapters:

1.         Curb-Side Guidelines

This chapter presents guidelines for improving the accessibility to buses and bus mobility in the right of way.  It is appropriate information for transit planners, for transit agency officials involved in shelter siting and advertising programs, and for transportation and civil engineers and architects who provide for bus passenger facility site layouts and circulation in the right of way and on private property.

2.         Streetside Guidelines for Bus Passenger Facility Elements

This chapter presents guidelines for improving the bus passenger experience at the street level including the configuration of bus stops and the coordination of bus stop elements like seating and shelter, way finding, safety and security, connections to pedestrian and bicycle circulation, landscaping, and the design of bus stops. It is appropriate information for transit planners, transportation and civil engineers and architects who provide for bus passenger facility site layout and circulation in the right of way and on private property. Developers responsible for iniTIAl site selections, programming and project development, and agency staff involved with local jurisdictions who review such proposals to ensure transit needs are being met are also a prospective audience for this chapter.  Individual property owners already accommodating transit and wishing to improve conditions on their site will also find this chapter useful.

3.         Facility Prototypes

Bus passenger facilities meet different operational and passenger needs, come in an array of sizes, and are located on both private and public land.  Yet all facilities share the important function of providing access to and from the bus transit network and to and from other modes of transportation.  This section provides prototypical designs of bus passenger facilities in development contexts that are typical for Florida.  The facilities considered include:

• On-line Bus Stops
• Primary Stops
• Transit Malls
• Transfer Centers
• Park-and-Rides

Each type of facility is accompanied by development guidelines for location, required site areas, pedestrian connections and connections to other modes of transportation, and an inventory of the individual design elements that are combined to create that facility.

This chapter also contains appropriate information for transit planners, transportation and civil engineers, and architects who provide for bus passenger facility site layouts and circulation in the right of way and on private property. Developers responsible for initial site selections, programming and project development, and agency staff involved in local jurisdictions who review such proposals to ensure transit needs are being met are also the prospective audience for this chapter.  Individual property owners already accommodating transit and wishing to improve conditions on their site will also find this chapter useful.

4.         Land Use Guidelines

This chapter describes methods for creating transit supportive development. Different examples are provided for typical types of development and development standards supportive of transit and a multi-modal transportation network are provided. This chapter is appropriate for elected officials, land use planners, growth management planners and transit planners as a reminder of key issues and relationship between different disciplines that will result in a stronger transit environment.