01373649

Component

Transit agencies implement several strategies in order to provide an attractive transportation service. This article aims at evaluating the impact of implementing a combination of strategies, designated to improve bus transit service, on the running time and passenger satisfaction. These strategies include using smart card fare collection, introduction of a limited-stop bus service, implementation of reserved bus lane, the use of articulated buses, and implementation of transit signal priority (TSP). This study uses stop-level data collected from the Société de transport de Montréal (STM)’s automatic vehicle location (AVL) and automatic passenger count (APC) systems, in Montréal, Canada. The combination of these strategies has lead to a 10.5% decline in running time along the limited stop service compared to the regular service. The regular route running time has increased by 1% on average compared to the initial time period. The study also shows that riders are generally satisfied with the service improvements. They tend to overestimate the savings associated with the implementation of this combination of strategies by 3.5 to 6.0 minutes and by 2.5 to 4.1 minutes for the regular route and the limited stop service respectively. This study helps transit planners and policy makers in better understanding the effects of implementing a combination of strategies on running time and passenger perception.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AP050 Bus Transit Systems

01362476

12-1304

English

21p

2012

Transportation Research Board 91st Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References; Tables

Bus transit operations; Customer satisfaction; Level of service; Performance measurement; Quality of service; Running time

Montreal (Canada)

Operations and Traffic Management; Passenger Transportation; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2012 Paper #12-1304

TRIS, TRB

Feb 8 2012 5:01PM