Presentation Outline

1. Integrated Public Transportation in Santo Domingo:An Educational InvestmentCarl Allen5/02/10 A presentation based on researchfor COPDES, GFDD/FUNGLODE and OPRETTowards completion of aMasters in Public Policy and Urban Planning (MPP/UP) from theHarvard Kennedy SchoolCambridge, MA

2. Presentation Outline • Research Objectives • Methods • Background • Passenger and Student Surveys • Metro Benefits • Potential Benefits of Feeder Bus Integration • Conclusion

3. Research Objectives • Evaluate the performance of Metro Line 1 in Santo Domingo • Assess the potential benefits and risks of feeder bus system integration • Offer recommendations on implementation of feeder bus system • SPECIAL EMPHASIS: Student population

4. Methods • Literature Review • World Bank, UN, UKDfT, IDB, TRB and others • Case Study Analysis • Bogotá, Mexico City, Santiago de Chile and São Paulo • Review of Dominican media (newspapers and websites) • Interviews with experts, government officials, journalists and others • Surveys of 100 Metro riders during the morning and afternoon peak hours • Surveys of 69 students at Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD) who ride the Metro • Surveys of 47 businesses located near Metro stations • Estimations of ridership through counting passengers– at all 16 stations, inbound and outbound directions and during different time periods • Observations made through more than 40 hours spent in the system and more than 3 months in Santo Domingo

6. Transport in Santo Domingo • Population growth (2.4%), economic growth (9%) and physical sprawl have contributed to increased motorization (8.3%) and private vehicles (4.5%) • “Rapid motorization and insufficient investments in urban-transport planning, traffic management and infrastructure…create increasing problems in terms of accidents…health, noise, congestion and loss of productivity…” – Agenda 21, Chapter 7 • Maximo-Gomez corridor is at 15,000 pass/hr/dir in the inbound peak and is at capacity

7. A Sustainable Solution?

8. Real and Potential Benefits • Quality of Life Improvements and Poverty Alleviation • Accessibility and Mobility • Time-savings • Environmental Sustainability • Potential reduced local and atmospheric emissions • Potential improved local health and global climate • Improved efficiency (emissions/trip or emissions/unit GDP) • Indirect Secondary Benefits • Economic agglomeration • Technology transfer • Economies of scope

9. Focus on Students • Metro Line 1 has five universities and 27 public schools along its route (OPRET, 2006) • Most notably among these is Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo (UASD), with over 100,000 students – 10% of which already ride the Metro (OPRET, 2009) • Inaccessibility to schools is a function of transportation cost, distance, convenience and time • Student performance is a function of school attendance

10. Metro Ridership • 2009 passenger counting estimate: 50,000 – 60,000 pass-trips/day • Current ridership is 65,000 and could increase 2-5% per year in base scenario – could be even higher with buses and more trunk lines – “network effects” • Metro can physically accommodate maximum of 25,000 – 36,000 pass/hr/dir and 250,000 passenger trips per day

11. Metro Passenger Surveys • Surveyed 100 passengers • Said they saved an average of 48+ minutes EACH TRIP • Travel time variability also decreased • Average Metro passenger spends 4% of income on Metro fare • Metro minimum wage passengers paid an average of 20% • Average S.D. resident spends 25% of income on transport • 20% of Metro passenger survey respondents said school was their primary reason for riding the train.

12. Metro Student Surveys • Surveyed 69 students • Averaged 9 trips/wk, 9.3 km/trip • Average income = $RD 0 – 5,000 per month • Said they saved an average of 47 minutes EACH TRIP • Students said they used saved time for study, sleep, exercise, extra curricular activities, spend time with friends and family

13. Metro Benefit/Cost Analysis • Estimated Annual Passenger Time Savings: $US 16.5 million • Estimated Annual Road-User Time Savings: $US 14.7 – 27.6 million • Positive 40-year Benefit/Cost Ratio under optimistic assumptions of trip growth • Not including environmental benefits or other “hard to quantify” or speculative benefits • Depends on system integration

14. Critical Next Step: The Feeder Routes

15. Feeder Bus System Analysis • Feeder Bus Potential Added Benefits • Feeder routes WILLextend deep into poor neighborhoods and could provide better quality service than current buses with more comfort – MORE access for STUDENTS! • Could generate ridership increases – BUT this depends on fare integration, convenience, service quality • Could further reduce pollution and congestion – BUT this depend on OPRET’s ability to restrict existing operators from competing • Drivers under new integrated bus system WILL benefit - regular hours, better working conditions pay and benefits – BUT cutting a deal with drivers in existing system will be difficult

16. Conclusions • Metro currently offers substantial accessibility and time-savings benefits for passengers – especially STUDENTS! • The Metro has reduced congestion, thereby generating time savings for road users – including students and others who don’t ride the Metro! • Integration of the feeder bus system has great potential to enhance all these benefits if planning and implementation are done well.

17. Thank You.