Public Survey Results – Bus Transformation Project

The Bus Transformation Project’s public mobility survey ran between September and November 2018 and received 5,679 responses through a combination of online engagement and 20 pop-up events throughout the region. A big thank you to all of you who participated!

Survey Results

Below are some of the key findings we learned from the survey. The full report is available in the Project Documents section.

The top reasons people ride local bus:

This graph lists the top reasons survey respondents said they ride local bus. Respondents were allowed to select up to three responses, so the following percentage totals do not add up to 100 percent. Sixty-eight percent said it is the closest transit option to home or work, 43 percent said it is the most affordable option, 29 percent said it is easy to use, 21 percent said it gets me to my closest Metro station, 18 percent said it is the fastest option, 12 percent said it is my only option, 12 percent said it gets me to my destination on time and reliability, 11 percent said it comes frequently, and 11 percent said it is the most environmentally friendly option.

The top three barriers to riding local bus:

This graph shows the top reasons survey respondents said they do not ride the bus. Respondents were allowed to select up to three responses, so the following percentage totals do not add up to 100 percent. Twenty-one percent said it doesn’t come frequently enough 17 percent said it is too slow, 12 percent said it doesn’t go where I need to go, 10 percent said there is no direct service or I would have to transfer, 10 percent said it doesn’t run at the hours I need to use it, 9 percent said it doesn’t reliability get me to my destination on time, 6 percent said the bus is too crowded, 4 percent said I don’t know the routes or schedules, and 4 percent answered “other.”

Among survey respondents, more are riding the bus more frequently than they did three years ago.

This infographic shows the results of a question about whether people use the bus more frequently, about the same, or less frequently than 3 years ago. The graphic uses arrows to show that 21 percent percent of respondents use the bus less often than three years ago. Thirty-two percent of respondents use the bus about the same amount as three years ago. Thirty-seven percent of respondents use the bus more often than they did three years ago.

However, these results were not consistent among all groups of riders. Eighty (80) percent of people who ride local buses at least once per week said they are riding the bus MORE than they did three years ago, while 67 percent of those who ride less than once a week said they ride LESS than three years ago.

This graphic uses arrow to show that 80% of people who ride local buses at least once per week said they are riding the bus more than they did three years ago. However, sixty-seven percent of people who ride the bus less than once per week said they currently ride less than three years ago.

Respondents prioritized* improvements to local bus service as follows:

This graph shows the respondents’ priorities for improving local bus service. Respondents were given twenty “coins” and were asked to assign them to eight different priority areas. Twenty-three percent of the coins were dedicated to more frequent service, twenty percent were dedicated to more reliable and faster service, sixteen percent went to more direct buses and fewer transfers, ten percent were dedicated to longer hours of operation, ten percent went to affordable fares, eight percent went to safer and more secure buses, seven percent were dedicated to a better app for information and/or payment, and five percent to a less confusing system.

*Respondents were asked to prioritize improvements to local bus service by apportioning “coins” from a hypothetical budget of 20 coins to eight different categories of improvement types based on their preferences.

There was a strong consensus about the highest priorities for bus service! Respondents collectively assign about 60 percent of their preferred priority to more frequent service, more reliable and faster service, and more direct buses and fewer transfers. This was true for every demographic group and for both frequent riders and non-riders alike!

About the Respondents

Respondent Demographics

This infographic shows that sixteen percent of survey respondents are low income, which is defined as living in a household with income of less than $30,000 a year. Forty-five percent of survey respondents are non-white. Sixty six percent of survey respondents are between the ages of twenty-five and fifty-four.

Respondents' Bus Usage

This infographic uses pie charts to show how frequently survey respondents ride the bus. Fifty-six percent of respondents are frequent riders, riding buses three or more times per week. Eleven percent of respondents are occasional riders, who ride buses one to two times per week. Seventeen percent of respondents are infrequent riders, who ride buses less than once per week. Sixteen percent of respondents are non-riders, who rarely or never ride buses.

Respondents' Jurisdiction of Residence

The home locations of the survey respondents are relatively well aligned with the percent of regional bus ridership in each jurisdiction.

This map shows the percent of survey respondents living in each jurisdiction, and the percent of regional bus ridership that lives in each jurisdiction. Forty-three percent of respondents live in DC and DC residents make up thirty-seven percent of regional bus riders. Arlington County, Virginia residents make up eleven percent of survey respondents and seven percent of regional bus riders. City of Alexandria, Virginia residents made up eight percent of survey respondents and five percent of regional bus riders. City of Falls Church, Virginia residents made up one percent of survey respondents and less than one percent of regional bus ridership. Prince George’s County, Maryland residents make up nine percent of survey respondents and twelve percent of regional bus riders. Montgomery County, Maryland residents made up sixteen percent of survey respondents and make up twenty-three percent of regional bus riders. Fairfax County, Virginia residents made up sixteen percent of survey respondents and ten percent of regional bus riders. Residents of Loudoun County, Virginia made up less than one percent of survey respondents and make up less than one percent of the region’s bus riders.

About the Survey

Click here to see a demo version of the full survey, or you can download a copy of the survey questions here.