Bus ridership continues to grow in Capital Region
The Capital District Transportation Authority has hired Creighton Manning Engineering to help advance work on two new Bus Rapid Transit routes, one through the Washington-Western Corridor, the Purple Line, and the other up the Hudson River Corridor, the Blue Line.
CDTA already operates the Red Line connecting Albany and Schenectady along the Route 5 corridor.
The 40 miles of new BRT routes connect areas of high-transit demand. The Red Line, called BusPlus, has seen ridership climb 30 percent over the four years it has operated.
Creighton Manning’s two-year contract includes three one-year renewals along the Purple and Blue lines, with a total mount not to exceed $7,025,195.
Detailed design of service plans, transit centers in Troy and Guilderland, the region’s first dedicated busway through the University at Albany and Harriman Office campuses are included in the contract.
The contract was announced at the transit authority’s monthly board meeting Wednesday.
Meanwhile, CDTA reported boardings rose 2 percent in April to 1.507 million from year-earlier figures, while Northway Express ridership surged 12 percent and ridership under CDTA’s Universal Access program rose 9 percent.