RTS is proposing big changes in Rochester's bus service. How will they affect you?

Imagine a city bus schedule that runs every 15 minutes, includes crosstown routes and incorporates ride-sharing, vanpools and other options.

Those are among the proposed changes in a draft plan to overhaul, simplify and streamline the Regional Transit Service that officials detailed Friday.

But there also are significant changes and unknowns, with many suburban bus routes eliminated, including — in the draft — service to Rochester Institute of Technology. What is envisioned is a network, no longer dependent on 40-foot-buses but incorporating many transportation options for a more nimble, in some cases on-demand, system.

“Until you put a network like this together, where you can do spontaneous travel — where you can get where you want to go when you want to go — it's really not public transportation,” said RTS chief executive Bill Carpenter.

What it ultimately looks like beyond the urban core is a major piece of the discussion yet to come.

An intense public input phase has begun and will continue for the next month. A final plan is due in August, but it won't be until sometime next year that funding and other details are known. No significant changes are likely until at least 2020.

All this is part of the multiphase "Reimagine RTS" project launched last year.

Backgrounder: RTS looks at overhaul of transit system in Monroe County

The draft shows 10 "frequent" routes with buses arriving every 15 minutes along key, high-density corridors like East Main Street, Lake and Lyell avenues. Other routes would run every 30 to 60 minutes — including new east-west and north-south crosstown routes. Those would track along Ridge Road and Culver/Goodman/West Henrietta and, with the more regulated bus schedule, ease street-corner transfers.

The last bus would depart the downtown transit center at midnight, rather than 1 a.m. Upward of 20 routes could be eliminated, though Carpenter said before-and-after comparisons are difficult as routes will change. Many of the routes proposed to be eliminated have infrequent schedules and minimal ridership.

The current RTS system numbers roughly 48 routes, where the proposed network would have 30 — eliminating traditional bus service to much of the suburbs. But officials say what that really means is no longer servicing those areas with 40-foot-long buses.

RTS might become a provider or coordinator of other transportation options reaching routes outside of the urban core. Connection hubs could be built at spots like The Marketplace Mall and BayTowne Plaza, where riders join up with the fixed-route system. What to do about the roughly 70 partnership agreements with employers, including RIT, would be determined on a case-by-case basis.

In RIT's case, Carpenter expects that there might be limited service to accommodate employees but said RIT no longer plans to subsidize — and RTS does not intend to provide — student busing to and from popular apartment destinations like Rustic Village Apartments. RIT determined it could provide needed service for commuter students using its own shuttles, school spokeswoman Ellen Rosen said.

The proposed changes do not affect public school trips.

Under the draft plan, an estimated 5 percent of riders would have more than a 10-minute walk to a bus stop. But the 15-minute, all-day weekdays "frequent" routes cover one-third of all employers in Monroe County and nearly a quarter of the population. Sixty-four percent of county riders would access a frequent route as part of their regular travel, according to RTS consultant Transportation Management & Design (TMD).

The current system is complicated, and complicated to use, said Russ Chisholm, president and founder of the California-based TMD, touting the proposed network as simplified — though in need of refinement, which will come through dozens of employee and public input sessions planned over the next month.

"You move from people being comfortable riding the route, to people feeling comfortable riding the network," he said, estimating the average wait time along the frequent routes could be 7½ minutes. "They know this is going to work better so they are going to try new things. And the market for trips that are made spontaneously is huge …. We are opening up the system to people who don’t use transit today."

Other measures aimed at speeding travel include bypass lanes and traffic signal adjustments to prioritize buses.

While Chisholm told board members the plan was achievable with current funding levels, there are capital expenses (such as the connection hubs) and the "community mobility zones" requiring alternative transit options are unfunded in the plan.

BDSHARP@Gannett.com