Breeze Rapid

Breeze Rapid (stylized as BREEZE Rapid) is brand of bus service with bus rapid transit characteristics operated by North County Transit District (NCTD) in North County, San Diego. Its first and only route (350) was introduced in 2011.

Parent	North County Transit District
Founded	June 7, 2011
Locale	Escondido, California
Routes	1
Stops	25 (1 at Escondido Transit Center and 12 stops in each direction)[1]
Hubs	Escondido Transit Center Del Lago Transit Station
Fleet	6 New Flyer C40LF low floor buses[1]
Daily ridership	2500 average weekday riders
Fuel type	CNG
Operator	North County Transit District
System map Sprinter to Oceanside Transit Center Escondido Transit Center Valley Pkwy & Escondido Bl 2nd Av & City Centre Pkwy Escondido Bl & 2nd Av Escondido Bl & 6th Av Escondido Bl & 9th Av Escondido Bl & 13th Av Escondido Bl & 15th Av Escondido Bl. & Felicita Ave. Sunset Dr. & Escondido Bl Sunset Dr. & Royal Crest Dr Bear Valley Pkwy. & Las Palmas Bear Valley Pkwy. & Kit Carson Pk. North County Fair Del Lago Transit Station

Breeze Rapid route 350 operates in Escondido, California between Escondido Transit Center and Del Lago Transit Center, primarily along Escondido Boulevard and Bear Valley Parkway. Breeze Rapid enhanced the previous Breeze route 350 service with dedicated buses, branded stops, and faster, more frequent service.[2]

History

The project was initiated by the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) in June 2005, in cooperation with the City of Escondido and NCTD. The purpose of the project was to identify improvements to a rapid bus connection between the Sprinter at Escondido Transit Center, downtown and south Escondido, the Westfield North County mall, and the forthcoming MTS Rapid 235. The previous service was prone to bus bunching, heavy boardings near schools on the south end of the route, and traffic congestion in key locations during the morning and evening commute periods.[3]

Service enhancements

The route includes bus stop improvements, queue jump lanes at congested intersections, and transit signal priority. Bus stops were consolidated from 31 stops to 25 stops, and received new benches, shelters and posted route information. Eight stops include digital message signs that indicate next bus arrival, provided using NextBus technology.[3] Improvements for pedestrian safety, and street system modifications to improve local traffic flow were also made. Six buses used on this route were rebranded in special livery, but are the standard New Flyer Industries C40LF's common in the rest of the fleet.

However, the route does not include dedicated right-of-way, off-board fare collection or platform-level boarding. It does not adhere to the BRT Standard and may be a symptom of BRT Creep.

The cost for the route upgrade was $4,300,000 and the route was projected to have 2,500 riders at opening.[4] Riders save up to 20%, or six minutes, as a result of the improvements.[5]

Future

The Breeze Rapid brand is no longer present on NCTD's web site or Rider's Guide.[6][7] The six buses with special livery are no longer exclusive on this route, however they were re-painted in the same livery in 2019.[8]

Future rapid bus services operated by NCTD will also use the Breeze Rapid name.[1] The 2019 SANDAG Regional Transportation Plan proposes a number of rapid bus projects within NCTD's service area:[9]

Existing Breeze route	Proposed rapid route	Description	Headway (min.)	Capital cost (mil. USD 2019)
--	103	Solana Beach to Sabre Springs Rapid station via Carmel Valley	15	$91
445	440	Carlsbad to Escondido Transit Center via Palomar Airport Rd	10	$140
355/357/388	471	Downtown Escondido to East Escondido via Valley Pkwy	10	$46
303	474	Oceanside to Vista via Mission Ave/Santa Fe Rd Corridor	10	$99
315	477	Camp Pendleton to Carlsbad Village via College Blvd, Plaza Camino Real	10	$109

Breeze route 101 (Oceanside to Westfield UTC via Highway 101) was also under consideration for rapid conversion as of 2011,[4] but is not present in the plan.

See also

• Rapid (San Diego)

References

1. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-03-03. Retrieved 2011-08-28.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
2. "the rEgion: SANDAG's Electronic Newsletter". Sandag.org. 2011-06-07. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-01-28.
3. "ESCONDIDO RAPID BUS TRANSIT PRIORITY CONCEPT STUDY" (PDF). Sandag.org. Retrieved 2016-01-28.
4. "ESCONDIDO: City will showcase convenient 'rapid' buses". Archived from the original on March 18, 2011. Retrieved August 28, 2011.
5. "Escondido BREEZE Rapid Service Launch Event - June 7, 2011". Facebook. 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2016-01-28.
6. "Search for "rapid"". GoNCTD.com. NCTD. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
7. Rider's Guide (PDF). North County Transit District. 10 Oct 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
8. "Check out our newly wrapped BREEZE buses that will be on the streets soon!". Facebook. NCTD. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
9. "San Diego Forward: The 2019 Federal Regional Transportation Plan" (PDF). San Diego Association of Governments. Retrieved 8 June 2020.

External links

• Official SANDAG web site
• SANDAG.org project details