Texas Tech University Transportation and Parking Services retained SRF to complete the Transit Master Plan for their flagship campus in Lubbock. The university had grown significantly over the past decade and was anticipating the addition of more than 8,000 students, faculty, and staff to its campus by 2020. The purpose of the transit master plan project was to build on previous land use and development planning efforts by reviewing existing transit services and making strategic recommendations for future transit investment.
The transit master plan process had four major components. The SRF team first evaluated the structure and performance of the existing transit system by collaborating with Texas Tech University’s transit provider – Citibus – to collect and interpret operational data, reviewing financial information provided by the client, and by conducting field observations on typical transit service days. The second activity was a multi-channeled stakeholder outreach effort intended to refine the vision for the transit plan. As part of that effort, SRF conducted interviews and focus groups with university administrators, staff, and students; led a town hall meeting with 150 participants and generated an online survey that elicited feedback from 2,600 people. The third portion of the work plan involved a peer review of transit service and management strategies deployed at similar universities and the fourth component of the project was developing the plan itself.
The final plan included recommendations for transit service, governance, performance management, and funding. SRF worked with staff to craft service planning recommendations, develop performance measures to monitor ongoing operations and identify potential facility and infrastructure improvements. The plan identifies clear roles and responsibilities for financial management, marketing, and community outreach related to the transit system.
At the conclusion of the project several internal workgroups were formed by Texas Tech University to begin implementing the plan recommendations on day one, and build external and internal agency partnerships focused on transit improvements.
