01659993

Component

In Santiago, the decision to convert a regular bus stop into a pre-payment stop has been mainly driven by its passengers’ demand and bus frequency. However, there are no studies supporting the thresholds used in this process, and thus no guarantee that they are socially desirable. In this study, a social Cost-Benefit Analysis model is introduced, which enables to determine whether or not a pre-payment stop is socially profitable. The model considers that pre-payment stops allow dwell time savings, as passengers pay the fare once they enter the station, allowing them to board using all doors. This generates savings in cycle time of services, which brings social benefits to users, from the reduction of travel time, and to operators, from fleet and bus drivers reduction. On the other hand, pre-payment stops produce social costs such as an initial infrastructure investment and operational costs every period. The model was tested with data from Transantiago, resulting in two main results. First, the study concluded that, along with frequency and passenger demand on stop, occupancy of buses is also an important variable in the social appraisal, so it should be considered in authority’s criteria. Second, results showed that some of the actual pre-payment stops from Santiago were not socially profitable. Furthermore, over 600 new opportunities of socially profitable pre-payment stops were identified. Results from this study are expected to guide future infrastructure investment in order to improve authority’s decision-making.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AP030 Standing Committee on Public Transportation Marketing and Fare Policy. Alternate title: Social Cost–Benefit Analysis for Prepayment Bus Stops: An Application in Transantiago

18-05500

English

15p

2018

Transportation Research Board 97th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; Maps; References; Tables

Benefit cost analysis; Bus stops; Dwell time; Fare prepayment; Mathematical models; Profitability; Ridership; Social factors; Traffic queuing; Travel demand; Travel patterns; Vehicle occupancy

Transantiago

Santiago (Chile)

Economics; Operations and Traffic Management; Passenger Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Terminals and Facilities

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2018 Paper #18-05500

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Jan 8 2018 11:24AM