Breeze Rapid
Breeze Rapid is brand of bus service with bus rapid transit characteristics operated by North County Transit District in North County, San Diego. Its first and only route was introduced in 2011.
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.
History
The project was initiated by the San Diego Association of Governments 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
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. 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. 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. The six buses with special livery are no longer exclusive on this route, however they were re-painted in the same livery in 2019.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:
| Existing Breeze route | Proposed rapid route | Description | Headway | Capital cost |
| -- | 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 was also under consideration for rapid conversion as of 2011, but is not present in the plan.