Evaluation of public transport: Method for application in open planning

Abstract

This paper discusses a method to evaluate scheduled, fixed-route public transport. One major evaluation criterion in the method is total travel time, subdivided into walking time, waiting time, time on vehicle, transfer time, and concealed waiting time. The other major criterion is costs incurred by a given supply of transport. In contrast with conventional methods, this method operates with real measures, i.e. real location (instead of traffic zones), real time (instead of average travel time), and real costs (instead of proxy-costs). The purpose is to produce relevant and easily understandable results suitable to open planning, for instance planning with citizen participation. Five examples of application of the method are given: (1) evaluation of changes in suburban bus services; (2) evaluation of geographical localities as regards public transport; (3) evaluation of circular bus routes; (4) evaluation of flexible work hours versus fixed work hours and, finally; (5) production of user information on transport service.

The research on evaluation of public transport was carried out in collaboration between Aalborg Municipality and the University of Aalborg 1980–1981. It was funded by the Department of Education, the University of Aarhus, Aalborg Municipality, the University of Aalborg's Data Centre and the University of Aalborg. The translation of this summary paper from Danish into English was funded and carried out by the Transport and Road Research Laboratories, Crowthorne, England.