Search

The paper reports an investigation on the requirement of fare increment for achieving the operational viability of private buses in the context of an emerging country. Taking an existing route in Kolkata city which is served by private buses, several scenarios were investigated to achieve the viability of service through interventions in fare, design of service, and supply of buses. A simulation framework was used for the evaluation of various scenarios. The study brings out new evidences to question the conventional approach of increasing the bus fare to satisfy the operational viability. It is shown that the fare and the revenue requirements are distorted due to the oversupply of buses and non-optimal service. The analysis shows that even with the present fare, it is possible to resolve the viability issue by optimizing the service and supply. The results presented in the paper are case specific but are likely to encourage policy makers to carry out similar investigations in other cities in India as well as in other developing countries to improve urban bus service without putting an additional burden on the users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Propose a multimodal dynamic user equilibrium model with MFD traffic dynamics. • Derive the optimal bus fare and service frequency for given space allocation in steady state. • Discover the counter-intuitive properties of traffic equilibrium and optimal bus service. • Examine the interaction between managing authority and service operators under responsive bus service. • Explore the optimal space allocation strategies in dynamic cases with different economic objectives. Abstract A smart design of transport systems involves efficient use and allocation of the limited urban road capacity in the multimodal environment. This paper intends to understand the system-wide effect of dividing the road space to the private and public transport modes and how the public transport service provider responds to the space changes. To this end, the bimodal dynamic user equilibrium is formulated for separated road space. The Macroscopic Fundamental Diagram (MFD) model is employed to depict the dynamics of the automobile traffic for its state-dependent feature, its inclusion of hypercongestion, and its advantage of capturing network topology. The delay of a bus trip depends on the running speed which is in turn affected by bus lane capacity and ridership. Within the proposed bimodal framework, the steady-state equilibrium traffic characteristics and the optimal bus fare and service frequency are analytically derived. The counter-intuitive properties of traffic condition, modal split, and behavior of bus operator in the hypercongestion are identified. To understand the interaction between the transport authority (for system benefit maximization) and the bus operator (for its own benefit maximization), we examine how the bus operator responds to space changes and how the system benefit is influenced with the road space allocation. With responsive bus service, the condition, under which expanding bus lane capacity is beneficial to the system as a whole, has been analytically established. Then the model is applied to the dynamic framework where the space allocation changes with varying demand and demand-responsive bus service. We compare the optimal bus services under different economic objectives, evaluate the system performance of the bimodal network, and explore the dynamic space allocation strategy for the sake of social welfare maximization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a multimodal urban system equilibrium model to address cordon toll pricing and bus service design issues in a two-dimensional monocentric city. Commuters are assumed to travel by auto or bus from their home locations to their workplace located in the city center through a ring-radial routing system. Auto users must pay tolls when passing through the cordons installed on the radial major roads. The multimodal two-dimensional urban system equilibrium is first formulated and its properties are analytically explored. A social welfare maximization model that simultaneously determines the optimal cordon toll location, toll level, bus service frequency and fare on each radial major road is then proposed. The effects of different tolling schemes (uniform and differential cordon-based, first-best, and no toll) on the multimodal urban system are also examined and compared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many public transport services are heavily subsidized. One of the main justifications is the expected beneficial effect on road congestion. Stockholm introduced congestion pricing in 2006 and the effects on car and public transport demand were carefully monitored. The change in prices provides unique estimates on price- and cross-price elasticities. This paper uses these data to model how the optimal pricing, frequency, bus size and number of bus lanes for a corridor depends on the presence of congestion pricing for cars. Results show that the presence of road pricing makes the current subsidies for peak bus trips too high. However, the major welfare benefits of re-optimizing the current bus supply stem from a decrease in frequencies during the off-peak period and the use of larger buses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Public transit structure is traditionally designed to contain fixed bus routes and predetermined bus stations. This paper presents an alternative flexible-route transit system, in which each bus is allowed to travel across a predetermined area to serve passengers, while these bus service areas collectively form a hybrid “grand” structure that resembles hub-and-spoke and grid networks. We analyze the agency and user cost components of this proposed system in idealized square cities and seek the optimum network layout, service area of each bus, and bus headway, to minimize the total system cost. We compare the performance of the proposed transit system with those of comparable systems (e.g., fixed-route transit network and taxi service), and show how each system is advantageous under certain passenger demand levels. It is found out that under low-to-moderate demand levels, the proposed flexible-route system tends to have the lowest system cost. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]