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Title:

Express Bus Versus Rail Transit: How a Marriage of Mode and Mission Affects Transit Performance

Accession Number:

01129868

Record Type:

Component

Availability:

Transportation Research Board Business Office

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States
Order URL: http://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/Transit_2009_Volume_1_162658.aspx

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Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/9780309126267

Abstract:

There is debate about the relative merits of investing in rail or express bus modes to improve regional transit performance. The debate largely assumes that both modes serve a single function of providing higher-speed service to the central business district (CBD) over relatively long travel distances. The debate generally overlooks other functions that might be served by express bus and rail transit modes and thus ignores that the two modes may perform differently depending on the service mission they are assigned. Performance of the two modes is examined in four metropolitan areas with different strategies for providing high-quality, regional transit service: a CBD-focused strategy, a hybrid strategy that serves the CBD and a few other destinations, and a multidestination strategy that serves a widely dispersed set of destinations. With a combination of route and system performance statistics and qualitative insights derived from key contact interviews, the performance of the express bus and rail transit modes in each metropolitan area, and among the set of metropolitan areas, was evaluated while the service mission to which each mode has been applied was considered. It was found that the combination of a rail transit backbone and a multidestination service strategy leads to better performance than any other marriage of mode and mission.

Monograph Title:

Transit 2009, Volume 1

Monograph Accession #:

01145890

Report/Paper Numbers:

09-0015

Language:

English

Authors:

Brown, Jeffrey R
Thompson, Gregory Lee

Pagination:

pp 45-54

Publication Date:

2009

Serial:

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board

Issue Number: 2110
Publisher: Transportation Research Board
ISSN: 0361-1981

ISBN:

9780309126267

Media Type:

Print

Features:

Maps (6) ; References (20) ; Tables (2)

Uncontrolled Terms:

Multiple destinations

Subject Areas:

Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Files:

TRIS, TRB

Created Date:

Jan 30 2009 4:18PM

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