Improper Stopping of Buses at Curbside Bus Stops: Reasons and Implications

Abstract

Although curbside bus stops facilitate the boarding and alighting of buses, they create temporary bottlenecks by reducing vehicular speed and roadway capacity. Further, they cause substantial delays to other vehicles and force them to change lanes. This problem is more severe in developing countries like India, where bus drivers often face difficulties in stopping buses closer to their designated bus stops. In this study, the reasons for the improper stopping of buses and their implications are elaborately discussed by analysing traffic data at two urban arterial sections in New Delhi, India. Both the sections have bus stopping areas marked and no on-street parking is allowed in the curb lane. The reasons for improper stopping include passengers waiting for the bus on the roadway instead of using the bus stop platform, insufficient bus handling capacity of bus stops, standing vehicles in the curb lane (especially auto-rickshaws), etc. Due to the improper stopping of buses, forced lane changes increased and traffic stream speed decreased. Moreover, improper stopping resulted in vehicles queuing behind stopped buses and overtaking buses through the gap between the bus stop and the stopped bus. Such vehicles pose serious safety concerns to the boarding and alighting passengers. This aspect has also been discussed. The current study will be helpful to policy makers, particularly in developing countries in making suitable changes in the regulatory system and bus stop design to reduce the events of improper bus stopping.