Breeze Rapid (stylized as BREEZE Rapid) is a brand of
bus service with
bus rapid transit characteristics operated by
North County Transit District
The North County Transit District (typically abbreviated as NCTD) is the agency responsible for public transportation in Northern San Diego County, California. The agency manages the COASTER commuter rail service between Oceanside and San Die ...
(NCTD) in
North County, San Diego. Its first and only route (350) was introduced in 2011.
Breeze Rapid Route 350 operates in
Escondido, California
Escondido is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. Located in the North County region, it was incorporated in 1888, and is one of the oldest cities in San Diego County. It has a population of 151,038 as of the 2020 census.
Et ...
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.
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.
Service Enhancements
Breeze Rapid Route 350 includes
bus stop improvements,
queue jump lanes at congested intersections, and
transit signal priority
Bus priority or transit signal priority (TSP) is a name for various techniques to improve service and reduce delay for mass transit vehicles at intersections (or junctions) controlled by traffic signals. TSP techniques are most commonly associat ...
. Bus stops were consolidated from 31 stops to 25 stops, and received new benches, shelters and posted route information. Eight bus stops include digital message signs that indicate the next bus arrival, which is provided by using
NextBus technology.
Improvements for pedestrian safety, as well as street system modifications to improve local traffic flow, were also made. The six
New Flyer
New Flyer is a Canadian multinational bus manufacturer, specializing in the production of transit buses. New Flyer is owned by the NFI Group, a holding company for several bus manufacturers. New Flyer has several manufacturing facilities in Can ...
C40LF buses that are used on this route (2301-2306) were painted into a special Breeze Rapid
livery to distinguish them from the other New Flyer C40LF buses that are in the standard NCTD Breeze livery.
However, Breeze Rapid Route 350 does not include dedicated
right-of-way
Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another.
A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...
, 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.
Riders save up to 20%, or six minutes, as a result of the improvements.
Future
The Breeze Rapid brand is no longer present on NCTD's web site or Rider's Guide. All six Breeze Rapid buses are retired as of October 28, 2021. Regular Breeze Buses will continue to run on Rapid Route 350 until new Breeze Rapid buses are delivered.
Future rapid bus services operated by NCTD will also use the Breeze Rapid name.
The 2019 SANDAG
Regional Transportation Plan proposes a number of rapid bus projects within NCTD's service area:
Breeze Route 101 (Oceanside to
Westfield UTC via
Highway 101) was also under consideration for rapid conversion as of 2011,
but is currently not present in the plan.
See also
*
Rapid (San Diego)
Rapid is the brand name given to the bus rapid transit system in San Diego County, California. The system serves nearly half the county, operating mainly on the HOV lanes on Interstates 15 and 805, with most of the stops also served by other rou ...
References
External links
Official SANDAG web siteSANDAG.org project details
{{USBRT, state=expanded
Bus rapid transit in California
Escondido, California
Rapid transit in California
Public transportation in San Diego County, California