Choosing the wrong technology: Or how to spend billions and reduce transit use

In spite of a broad consensus among transportation analysts that bus rapid transit, whether operating on exclusive rights-of-way or on uncongested high occupancy vehicle lanes or general purpose limited access facilities, provides higher performance and has significantly lower costs per passenger trip than rail transit in medium and low density cities, nearly all Sunbelt cities are building or planning heavy or light rail systems. This paper reviews previous studies of the cost-effectiveness of heavy and light rail transit with bus-rapid transit and the growing experience with busways and transitways and concludes, once again, that some form of bus rapid transit would be a far more effective way of providing improved transit in these cities than heavy or light rail transit. Not only would bus rapid transit be substantially cheaper, but it would provide a higher quality of service than light or heavy rail transit for virtually all users. Finally, the paper speculates on the reasons for the continued, “blind” commitment to rail transit by policymakers in Sunbelt cities and on the refusal of policymakers in all but a few of these cities to even consider bus rapid transit.     

Appropriate mass transit for developing cities

This paper is concerned with the majority of developing nations who lack large resources for public sector projects. It questions the basis of much mass transit planning and attempts to put forward a more efficient way of reaching decisions. It calls extensively on experience of Metro Manila, capital of the Philippines, where an innovative system of metropolitan planning and administration is throwing a new light on ‘appropriate’ investment in such developing cities.

Mass transit systems as currently conceived in such developing cities—fully segregated rail‐based systems—are unlikely to be affordable (at least for many years) and in consequence scarce resources should not be devoted to developing and evaluating them. Rather, the principal objective should be to provide low‐cost, affordable mass transit—affordable to governments and to passengers. This almost certainly points to road‐based systems, or predominantly at‐grade light rail transit (LRT) systems, which are usually regarded as ‘obviously unworkable’ in developing city environments.

This judgement is questioned and it is suggested the potential of LRT to provide appropriate low‐cost mass transit is not being realized. An approach to determining its potential applicability is proposed. If feasible it should be evaluated against road‐based systems before decisions to implement new mass transit systems are taken.

While circumstances vary between countries the central message of this paper—that public sector resources have a very high opportunity cost which make all but the lowest‐cost mass transit systems very difficult to justify—will hold in all but the higher‐income developing economies.     

Gantry crane operations to transfer containers between trains: A simulation study of a Spanish terminal

Freight transfer operations are critical in combined transport networks. In this paper a simulation model and modelling approach to the transfer of cargo between trains at rail terminals is presented. The model is used to study the Port-Bou terminal, the main intermodal terminal at the Spanish-French frontier. Four different gantry crane operation modes to interchange containers between trains are evaluated. These operation rules are tested in several scenarios to examine the critical factors of the system and the best operation rule for each situation. Latest generation software is used to develop the model that incorporates modular programming and enhanced graphic systems for output representation. It allows a dynamic display of the simulated system and, likewise, the possibility of developing modules that can be reused in other studies. The research shows how simulation can be a useful planning tool in the rail transportation context.     

山地旅游轨道交通线路规划的适应性评价

山地景区地势复杂,其发展普遍受交通所限,为了提高山地景区的运营效益、带动经济发展,国内部分景区规划和修建了山地旅游轨道交通。本文列举了山地旅游轨道交通特征及线路规划模式,从地理环境、自然环境、供需环境及与常规公交的关系四个角度分析,对应建立四个子系统,并选取具有山地旅游轨道交通特性的评价指标体系,利用层次分析法和变异系数法组合赋权重,运用灰色关联分析法的评价模型,据此判断线路规划方案适应性的优劣。     

Light rail transit in the United States

In recent years interest in light rail transit has grown substantially in the United States. The concept of LRT is increasingly viewed as a possible answer to the search for a less costly rail transit technology that could reduce America's dependency on the private automobile and put the country on the road to a more secure, self-sufficient energy future. The paper reviews recent LRT developments in four American cities, two of which have undertaken to rehabilitate and upgrade their existing surface street railway systems, and the other two have embarked upon construction of entirely new light rail systems.     

Enhancing the developmental impact of rail transit

A number of forces currently at work in the United States are fostering the rebirth of urban rail transportation. In order to maximize the beneficial economic and developmental impact of future rail investment, certain procedures and techniques must be employed in the planning, design, and implementation of rail systems. The paper offers a set of guidelines and principles for transportation and land use policy makers.     

北京市轨道交通房山线功能定位分析研究

轨道交通线路功能定位对确定线路的技术标准、运营模式、系统制式等具有决定作用.房山线作为北京近期建设的轨道交通，其功能定位存在较多不确定因素，是北京线网规划阶段一个尚未完全解决的问题，也是项目可行性研究的难点之一。通过研究各层面关键因素对房山线功能的影响，对其定位进行分析，从而为该线的设计提供参考.     

Bus Rapid Transit System in Istanbul: A Success Story or Flawed Planning Decision?

Abstract

There is a growing tendency in cities around the world to invest in Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems in an attempt to improve the capacity and quality of public transport services. The appeal of BRTs is based on their ability to combine the service level of rail transit systems with the flexibility of buses at relatively lower investment costs, and this was the motivation behind the opening of such a system in the Turkish city of Istanbul in 2007. This system has attracted mixed opinions as to its performance, as while passenger ridership figures are extremely high, proving the effectiveness of the system, there is an argument that the corridor should have been developed with rail technology, and that the BRT is failing to meet the demand. The paper presents a comprehensive analysis of this system, assessing its planning and performance through a comparative analysis of a number of BRTs in the world and Istanbul's metro and tram systems. The analysis confirms the success of the system in terms of passenger statistics, but also highlights a number of problems in certain planning decisions that should be addressed, thus taking the discussion beyond a simplified comparison of bus and rail technologies.     

Analysis of light rail rider travel behavior: Impacts of individual,built environment,and crime characteristics on transit access

This paper analyzes factors that influence the mode choice for trips between home and light rail stations, an often neglected part of a person’s trip making behavior. This is important for transit planning, demand modeling, and transit oriented development. Using transit survey data describing St. Louis MetroLink riders in the United States, this study found that some of the factors associated with increased shares of walking relative to other modes were full-time student status, higher income transit riders, and trips made during the evening. It was also found that crime at stations had an impact. In particular, crime made female transit riders more likely to be picked-up/dropped-off at the station. Females are more likely to be picked-up or dropped-off at night. Bus availability and convenience showed that transit riders that have a direct bus connection to a light rail station were more likely to use the bus. Private vehicle availability was strongly associated with increased probability of drive and park, when connecting to light rail.     

Secrets of success: assessing the large increases in transit ridership achieved by Houston and San Diego transit providers

This paper summarizes and updates the findings from an earlier study by the same authors of transit systems in Houston (all bus) and San Diego (bus and light rail). Both systems achieved unusually large increases in transit ridership during a period in which most transit systems in other metropolitan areas were experiencing large losses. Based on ridership models estimated using cross section and time series data, the paper quantifies the relative contributions of policy variables and factors beyond the control of transit operators on ridership growth. It is found that large ridership increases in both areas are caused principally by large service increases and fare reductions, as well as metropolitan employment and population growth. In addition, the paper provides careful estimates of total and operating costs per passenger boarding and per passenger mile for Houston's bus operator and San Diego's bus and light rail operators. These estimates suggest that the bus systems are more cost-effective than the light rail system on the basis of total costs. Finally, the paper carries out a series of policy simulations to analyze the effects of transit funding levels and metropolitan development patterns on transit ridership and farebox recovery ratio.     

A decision support approach for condition-based maintenance of rails based on big data analysis

In this paper, a decision support approach is proposed for condition-based maintenance of rails relying on expert-based systems. The methodology takes into account both the actual conditions of the rails (using axle box acceleration measurements and rail video images) and the prior knowledge of the railway track. The approach provides an integrated estimation of the rail health conditions to support the maintenance decisions for a given time period. An expert-based system is defined to analyse interdependency between the prior knowledge of the track (defined by influential factors) and the surface defect measurements over the rail. When the rail health conditions is computed, the different track segments are prioritized, in order to facilitate grinding planning of those segments of rail that are prone to critical conditions. In this paper, real-life rail conditions measurements from the track Amersfoort-Weert in the Dutch railway network are used to show the benefits of the proposed methodology. The results support infrastructure managers to analyse the problems in their rail infrastructure and to efficiently perform a condition-based maintenance decision making.     

What determines rail transit passenger volume? Implications for transit oriented development planning

Transit oriented development (TOD) has been an important topic for urban transportation planning research and practice. This paper is aimed at empirically examining the effect of rail transit station-based TOD on daily station passenger volume. Using integrated circuit (IC) card data on metro passenger volumes and cellular signaling data on the spatial distribution of human activities in Shanghai, the research identifies variations in ridership among rail transit stations. Then, regression analysis is performed using passenger volume in each station as the dependent variable. Explanatory variables include station area employment and population, residents’ commuting distances, metro network accessibility, status as interchange station, and coupling with commercial activity centers. The main findings are: (1) Passenger volume is positively associated with employment density and residents’ commuting distance around station; (2) stations with earlier opening dates and serving as transfer nodes tend to have positive association with passenger volumes; (3) metro stations better integrated with nearby commercial development tend to have larger passenger volumes. Several implications are drawn for TOD planning: (1) TOD planning should be integrated with rail transit network planning; (2) location of metro stations should be coupled with commercial development; (3) high employment densities should be especially encouraged as a key TOD feature; and (4) interchange stations should be more strategically positioned in the planning for rail transit network.     

Suburban service in North America today—Which way will we go?

The current situation of suburban rail services is reviewed. Differences between seemingly similar services—urban transit, commuter service, suburban rail service and regional rail -are discussed. The suburban rail commuter is described as the true intermodal traveler. Differences of the political backgrounds of the inner-city compared to the suburbs complicate implementation of programs to improve service and suggest deep problems over the long term. Because the transition of suburban rail service from the private to public sector has been so recent, it is difficult for many to recognize that the profit of the service is in the lower total transportation costs for the community as compared to a cash dividend. Existing railroad lines in many cities have the potential of being a cost-effective solution to traffic problems, although the specific solutions vary widely, ranging from the operation of new commuter trains over the lines of a heavy duty railroad (Toronto) to a completely new light rail system (San Diego).     

Long-term planning for ring-radial urban rail transit networks

Extensive work exists on regular rail network planning. However, few studies exist on the planning and design of ring-radial rail transit systems. With more ring transit lines being planned and built in Asia, Europe and the America's, a detailed study on ring transit lines is timely. An analytical model to find the optimal number of radial lines in a city for any demand distribution is first introduced. Secondly, passenger route choice for different rail networks is analyzed, for a many-to-many Origin-Destination (OD) demand distribution, based on a total travel time cost per passenger basis. The routes considered are: (1) radial lines only; (2) ring line only or radial lines and ring line combined; or (3) direct access to a destination without using the rail system. Mathematica and Matlab are used to code the route choice model. A cost-benefit optimization model to identify the feasibility and optimality of a ring line is proposed. Unlike simulations and agent-based models, this model is shown to be easily transferable to many ring-radial transit networks. The City of Calgary is used as an example to illustrate the applicability of each model. The existing urban rail network and trip distribution are major influencing factors in judging the feasibility and optimal location of the ring line. This study shows the potential net benefit of introducing a ring line by assessing changes in passengers’ costs. The changes in passenger cost parameters, such as ride cost and access cost, are shown to greatly influence the feasibility of a ring line.     

Comparative environmental impacts of different modes

While modern railway systems in general are considered to have comparatively low environmental impacts, high speed rail systems require special attention to ecological appraisal. Two case studies are presented - the new rail lines of the West German Federal Railways, and the European high speed rail project Paris-Brussels-Cologne/Amsterdam — which show that environmental compatibility can be costly and time-consuming. However, it would seem that the environment would not be a main issue for the proposed Amsterdam-Groningen-Hamburg connection if it primarily used existing rail lines.     

Bus rapid transit systems: a comparative assessment

There is renewed interest in many developing and developed countries in finding ways of providing efficient and effective public transport that does not come with a high price tag. An increasing number of nations are asking the question—what type of public transport system can deliver value for money? Although light rail has often been promoted as a popular ‘solution’, there has been progressively emerging an attractive alternative in the form of bus rapid transit (BRT). BRT is a system operating on its own right-of-way either as a full BRT with high quality interchanges, integrated smart card fare payment and efficient throughput of passengers alighting and boarding at bus stations; or as a system with some amount of dedicated right-of-way (light BRT) and lesser integration of service and fares. The notion that buses essentially operate in a constrained service environment under a mixed traffic regime and that trains have privileged dedicated right-of-way, is no longer the only sustainable and valid proposition. This paper evaluates the status of 44 BRT systems in operation throughout the world as a way of identifying the capability of moving substantial numbers of passengers, using infrastructure whose costs overall and per kilometre are extremely attractive. When ongoing lifecycle costs (operations and maintenance) are taken into account, the costs of providing high capacity integrated BRT systems are an attractive option in many contexts.     

Refining light rapid transit typology: a UK perspective

Abstract

Recent developments in the light rapid transit sector have introduced transit modes that are attempting to imitate the performance of others, e.g. buses with tram-like characteristics. The boundaries between existing definitions of what is a bus, tram or train are becoming blurred. For transport studies and practice this requires a review of how we define modes. This is not just a matter of semantics, but has safety and competition regulation implications for system operators. This paper proposes a structure to produce rail- and bus-based transit mode definitions and typology that are appropriate for modern use. A decision tree is used to classify and define the transit modes as guided-bus, trolley-bus, light rail and tram-train and is provided with example systems. The paper provides a robust definitional framework that allows transit system promoters, operators and other interested parties to have a consistent basis of reference when specifying and comparing rapid transit systems.     

Modeling a rail transit alignment considering different objectives

An optimization model for station locations for an on-ground rail transit line is developed using different objective functions of demand and cost as both influence the planning of a rail transit alignment. A microscopic analysis is performed to develop a rail transit alignment in a given corridor considering a many-to-one travel demand pattern. A variable demand case is considered as it replicates a realistic scenario for planning a rail transit line. A Genetic Algorithm (GA) based on a Geographical Information System (GIS) database is developed to optimize the station locations for a rail transit alignment. The first objective is to minimize the total system cost per person, which is a function of user cost, operator cost, and location cost. The second objective is to maximize the ridership or the service coverage of the rail transit alignment. The user cost per person is minimized separately as the third objective because the user cost is one of the most important decision-making factors for planning a transit system from the users’ perspective. A transit planner can make an informed decision between various alternatives based on the results obtained using different objective functions. The model is applied in a case study in the Washington, DC area. The optimal locations and sequence of stations obtained using the three objective functions are presented and a comparative study between the results obtained is shown in the paper. In future works we will develop a combinatorial optimization problem using the aforementioned objectives for the rail transit alignment planning and design problem.     

Mapping minibuses in Maputo and Nairobi: engaging paratransit in transportation planning in African cities

ABSTRACT

Often called paratransit because of their flexible stops, schedules and routes, minibuses make up the bulk of public transport in African cities. Despite their ubiquity and importance, these systems are poorly understood by transportation planners who tend to focus on large-scale urban infrastructure projects such as highways, commuter rail or bus rapid transit systems. The assumption within much of this planning is that these minibus systems are barriers to change and will become at most secondary “feeder” buses within large-scale projects, but structured plans detailing this vision are lacking. This paper argues that frequent failure to collect data and value important paratransit systems as a critical part of transportation in their own right is deeply problematic from the point of view of equity, access and inclusive and effective planning. We ask whether the growing number of bottom up mapping projects of minibus systems can disrupt this status quo. By comparing two mapping projects, Digital Matatus in Nairobi and the Mapa Dos Chapas in Maputo, we find that inclusive, collaborative mapping can help render these minibuses more visible in planning and provoke more grounded and inclusive “planning conversations” on multi-modal integration, passenger information and minibus upgrading, all key but relatively marginalised aspects of creating accessible, low emission, high quality and safe public transport in African cities.