ANNUAL REPORT 2008/09 - BC Transit

Paratransit – Serves small town and rural B.C.as well as some suburban areas using minibuses,taxis and vans for a flexible routing andschedules.Passengers per service hour – Reflect annualpassengers divided by annual total servicehours. This ratio is a primary measure of theeffectiveness of the service provided. The ratioimproves with lower average trip lengths, orhigher average speeds.Per capita – estimates use populationfiguresfrom the most recently published census,adjusted annually by B.C. Statistics andcollated for the respective Transit Service Areaby BC Transit.Performance measures – Are statistical ratioscombining system outputs, and transit servicearea statistics to benchmark performance withinthe industry and operational trends over time.Paratransit – Bus or van service in towns andrural areas where the population density doesnot warrant conventional bus service. Moreflexible than conventional fixed route transit,paratransit typically offers both custom doorto-doorand fixed route service, with a flexibletimetable to accommodate route deviation.Peak period (or Hours) – That period of timeduring a typical weekday in which the maximumamount of travel occurs. Usually a morning andevening peak are observed as a result of workand school related trips. The opposite of peakperiod is base or off peak period.Rapid transit – High quality rail and bustransportation that meets service demandbetween regional and local town centres andserves future population growth, land usedevelopment, economic development, andemployment trends.Revenue passengers – Represent transit riderswho have made one fare payment to use thetransit service. (Passengers who use a transferand board more than one bus to complete a tripare only counted once).Rides per capita – Reflect annual passengerscarried divided by regional population. This isa measure of market share and effectiveness inservices that transit markets.Service hours – Represent the total numberof hours that the transit fleet is in regularpassenger service.SMARTTooL – A web-based tool to estimateand track Government’s greenhouse gasemissions from its operations. SMARTTool hasbeen developed to ensure that estimates ofgreenhouse gas emissions are credible, exhibitcontinuous improvement, and are consistentwith the Carbon Neutral Government Regulation.Statistics – Include operational outputs andtransit service area statistics. These factors, whenused in a ratio indicate commonly comparedindustry standard performance measures.Taxi saver program – “Taxi Saver” is the nameof a discounted coupon program which providesregistered handyDART clients with up to $80of taxi coupons at half price, valid for use inlocal taxi services. BC Transit has establishedagreements with local taxi firms in more than adozen communities.Tier 1 – A conventional transit system whoseservice area population is over 50,000.Total revenue – Includes passenger andadvertising revenue. It excludes property tax andfuel tax revenue.ULSD – Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel – describesthe current standard for refining diesel fuelwith substantially lowered sulphur content. Asof October 2006, the ULSD standard is 15 partsper million, much lower than the previous LSDstandard of 500 ppm. This standard dramaticallyreduces emissions of sulphur compounds as wellas reducing oxides of nitrogen, and particulates.U-PASS – universal bus pass for post-secondaryinstitutions where all students pay a fee for abus pass.61BC TRANSIT 2008/09 ANNUAL REPORT