CE 6511:

Transportation Planning
Public Transportation Planning: Bus
Annesha Enam, PhD
annesha@ce.buet.ac.bd
Public Transportation: Introduction
❑Operating on a fixed route and schedule and on a scheduled fare

❑Often provide integration with high volume transport such as

suburban rail and rapid rail transit

❑The crews (drivers/conductors) are usually recruited by the

organizations operating the service

❑Can operate on intra-urban network or as commuter system

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Public Transportation: Operation
❑Usually operating speeds are low: 16 to 20 km per hour (kph)

❑Can be as low as 8 to 16 kph during congested hours

❑Headway generally depends on demand and can vary from 5 to 60

minutes

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Public Transportation: Service Type
❑Bus service types
• City service
✓ Local service versus express service (can be limited stop, point to point or bus rapid
transit (BRT))
• Intercity service
• Rural service
✓ Usually for connecting nearby cities and central terminals
✓ Should have provision for luggage
• Minibus Operation
✓ Usually used where demands are low
✓ Streets are narrow
✓ As feeder services to metro
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 Public Transportation: Agencies(1)
• Government Agencies in Dhaka (Ministry of road
transport and bridges)

• BRTA (Bangladesh road Transport Authority)

• Provides route permit, licensing, registration
of vehicles

• DTCA (Dhaka Transportation Coordination

Authority)
• Overall coordination for projects for grater
Dhaka (Dhaka District, Gazipur District,
Manikganj District, Munshiganj District,
Narayanganj District )
• Provides STP (strategic transport plan)/RSTP
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 Public Transportation: Agencies(2)
• Government Agencies in Dhaka (Ministry of road transport
and bridges)

• City corporation authorities (Dhaka South, Dhaka

North, Gazipur)
• e.g., Bus route rationalization

• BRT Company
• BRT service operation/maintenance, fare collection

• MRT Company
• MRT service operation/maintenance, fare collection 34 private
bus
• Government Bus Operator: BRTC (Bangladesh Road operators in
Transport Corporation) addition to
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Public Transportation: Types of Buses (1)

• Allows 0.3 m2 per seating passenger and 0.2 m2 per standing passenger

• These buses can use different fuel types such as diesel (preferred due to
flexibility and low operating cost), petrol, compressed natural gas (CNG), and
electricity

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Public Transportation: Types of Buses (2)

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Public Transportation: Bus Stop
❑Local bus stop spacing: 400 to 800 m
❑Limited bus stop spacing: 800 m to 1.5 km
❑Urban express bus stop spacing: 1.5 km to 3.0 km
❑Bus travel time increases but the access time to stop decreases
with the decrease in bus stop spacing
❑Ideally should be located at the major traffic generators or at the
major road intersections
❑Stops can be either curb side or bus bay (safest but needs planning)

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Transit Management
❑Involves acquisition, allocation and control of resources (human,
physical, financial, and informational)

❑Need to balance the efficiency and productivity in the transit system

❑Transit management system can either be government or private

company (e.g., London, Singapore, Hong kong)

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Components of Transit Management

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 Components of Transit Management
RHD: Roads and Highways Department

LGED: Local Government engineering

Department

BBA: Bangladesh Bridge Authority

RHD, LGED, Police

BBA

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Typical Organizational Structure

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Typical Estimation of Fleet Size (1)
❑Number of buses required depends on
• Population of the city
• Standard of living
• Travel habits of the residents
• Availability and utilization of other modes
• Condition of road infrastructure and
• Degree of congestion on the roads.

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Typical Estimation of Fleet Size (2)
❑Typical Data Required ❑Typical Calculation
• Population = 4.28 million • Total trips per day = 4.28 x 1.5 = 6.42
• Per capita trip rate = 1.5 million
• Share of bus trips in overall trips = • Bus trips = 6.42 x 0.5 = 3.21 million
50% • Average daily passenger-km = 3.21 x
• Average trip length = 8.2 km 8.2 = 26.32 million
• Distance travelled by bus per day = • Passenger-km per bus = 67 x 230 x
230 km 0.8 = 12328
• Capacity of bus = 67 passengers • Number of buses required =
• Average occupancy = 0.8 26320000/12328 = 2135
• Expected fleet utilization = 85% • Providing for 85% fleet utilization,
• Total number of buses required =
2135/0.85 = 2512

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Bus Route Planning (1)
❑Objective is efficient, reliable, fast and profitable bus operation
between two trip ends

❑Specific Objectives
• To maximize the utility of the existing fleet;
• To enhance the efficiency of the existing route network;
• For extension or modification of the existing routes due to additional
development; and
• For a new town under development

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Bus Route Planning (2)
❑Functions of the bus routes are
• Collection of passengers from dispersed residential areas, shopping areas, and
work places;
• Provision of suitable alignment for line haul between origin and destination;
and
• Dispersal of passengers to work places, shopping areas, and residential areas.

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Types of Bus Routes (1)

Atlanta Transit Network

Manhattan
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Types of Bus Routes (2) Chicago Transit Map

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Bus Route Planning Process
❑Bus route planning process should consider the following things
• Demand for route, bus stops, and origin-destination of each route;
• Supply in terms of number of buses including spare buses and their capacities;
• Temporal variation of demand;
• Demand with reference to locations;
• Expected overcrowding along certain stretches;
• Waiting time and unserved passengers at various bus stops; and
• Characteristics of passengers

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Typical Distribution of Bus Transit Trips

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Performance Indicator of Bus Operation (1)
❑Operational Performance Indicator
• Occupancy ratio (ratio of seat-km to passenger-km, 0.8 is desirable)
• Fleet utilization (proportion of fleets running peak period, 90% desirable) and
• Average distance traveled per bus (Total revenue journey distance divided by
number of buses)
• Breakdowns in service, fuel consumption, staff-bus ratio, accident rate and
dead-km (Should be limited to 2%).

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Performance Indicator of Bus Operation (2)
❑Financial Performance Indicator
• Operational ratio (Total revenue to total cost, should be over 1)
• Other measures
✓ Earning per km of bus operation (EPKM)
✓ Cost per km of bus operation (CPKM) and
✓ Cost per passenger-km (CPPKM).
• EPKM > CPKM
• Usual cost distribution (assuming no fixed guideway)
✓ 55% for personnel
✓ 20% for fuel
✓ 25% other
• The higher the operating speed the lower will be operating cost

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Performance Indicator of Bus Operation (1)
❑Quality of Service Indicator
• Passenger waiting time (5 to 15 minutes, ± 5 minutes of the scheduled time)
• Walking distance to the bus stops (5 minutes)
• Passenger journey time (excessive if 6 km door to door trip takes more than 40
minutes or journey speed less than 12 km per hour)
• The need to interchange between routes and services (transfer)
• Reliability as evidenced by punctuality of service, and
• Passenger travel expenditure and affordability.

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Typical Example for Determining No. of
Buses (1)
❑Average speed of bus in traffic 18 kph
❑Peak hour trips in one direction 4000 Given
Data
❑Peak period 7 to 10 AM and 5 to 8 PM (17 to 20 hrs)
❑Capacity of bus in crowd load condition 90
❑Number of buses required in peak hour 4000/90 = 4.44 say 5
❑Minimum 5 trips are required per peak hour
❑Minimum peak hour headway = 60/5 = 12 minutes

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Typical Example for Determining No. of
Buses (2)
❑Being an important route 20 minute headway is proposed for non-
peak hours.
❑Journey time for a single trip = 12km x 60/18kph = 40 minutes
❑Shed/terminal time = 5% of 40 minutes = 2 minutes
❑Turn round time = 2 x 40 + 2 + 2 = 84 minutes
❑Number of buses required during peak hours = 84/12 = 7 numbers
❑Number of buses required during off-peak hours = 84/ 20 = 4.2 Say
minimum 5 buses.

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