IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/retrec/v59y2016icp11-25.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A historical overview of enhanced bus services in Australian cities: What has been tried, what has worked?

Author

Listed:
  • Clifton, Geoffrey T.
  • Mulley, Corinne

Abstract

Enhanced bus services that aim to attract potential car users by offering qualities of services more closely aligned with those offered by the private car tend to emphasise frequency, connectivity, speed and travel time reliability. “Full” Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is one end of the spectrum of such services that requires substantial investment in dedicated infrastructure to provide fast services but examples of enhanced services that do not require such infrastructure are more common in Australia and Europe than full BRT. This paper uses historical evidence to provide an overview of the development of these services in Australia and documents the existing evidence for the success of these initiatives taking into account the trade-offs that naturally occur as a result of the inherent constraints of network design with limited financial resources. This paper uses the concept of the passenger supply chain to describe which service attributes were targeted by the implementation of the enhanced service. It adds to the bus service literature by looking at aspects of quality of service rather than how the vehicles traverse the physical infrastructure.

Suggested Citation

  • Clifton, Geoffrey T. & Mulley, Corinne, 2016. "A historical overview of enhanced bus services in Australian cities: What has been tried, what has worked?," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 11-25.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:retrec:v:59:y:2016:i:c:p:11-25
    DOI: 10.1016/j.retrec.2016.07.009
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0739885915300500
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.retrec.2016.07.009?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mohring, Herbert, 1972. "Optimization and Scale Economies in Urban Bus Transportation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(4), pages 591-604, September.
    2. Walker, Jarrett, 2008. "Purpose-driven public transport: creating a clear conversation about public transport goals," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 436-442.
    3. Ho, Chinh & Mulley, Corinne, 2014. "Metrobuses in Sydney: How high capacity and high frequency services are benefiting the Metropolitan fringe," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 339-348.
    4. Casello, Jeffrey M., 2007. "Transit competitiveness in polycentric metropolitan regions," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 19-40, January.
    5. Mulley, Corinne & Ma, Liang & Clifton, Geoffrey & Yen, Barbara & Burke, Matthew, 2016. "Residential property value impacts of proximity to transport infrastructure: An investigation of bus rapid transit and heavy rail networks in Brisbane, Australia," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 41-52.
    6. David Hensher & Corinne Mulley & Norhayati Yahya, 2010. "Passenger experience with quality-enhanced bus service: the tyne and wear ‘superoute’ services," Transportation, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 239-256, March.
    7. Clifton, Geoffrey T. & Mulley, Corinne & Hensher, David A., 2014. "Bus Rapid Transit versus Heavy Rail in suburban Sydney – Comparing successive iterations of a proposed heavy rail line project to the pre-existing BRT network," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 126-141.
    8. Jain, Juliet & Lyons, Glenn, 2008. "The gift of travel time," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 81-89.
    9. David A. Hensher, 2001. "Measurement of the Valuation of Travel Time Savings," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 35(1), pages 71-98, January.
    10. Currie, Graham & Delbosc, Alexa, 2011. "Understanding bus rapid transit route ridership drivers: An empirical study of Australian BRT systems," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 755-764, September.
    11. Clifton, Geoffrey T. & Rose, John M., 2013. "A simulation of the simple Mohring model to predict patronage and value of resources consumed for enhanced bus services," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 259-269.
    12. David Hensher, 2001. "The valuation of commuter travel time savings for car drivers: evaluating alternative model specifications," Transportation, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 101-118, May.
    13. Abrantes, Pedro A.L. & Wardman, Mark R., 2011. "Meta-analysis of UK values of travel time: An update," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 1-17, January.
    14. Loader, Chris & Stanley, John, 2009. "Growing bus patronage and addressing transport disadvantage--The Melbourne experience," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 106-114, July.
    15. Hensher, David A. & Rose, John M., 2007. "Development of commuter and non-commuter mode choice models for the assessment of new public transport infrastructure projects: A case study," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 428-443, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Clifton, Geoffrey & Mulley, Corinne, 2018. "Barriers and facilitators of integration between buses with a higher level of service and rail: An Australian case study," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 39-50.
    2. Chinnawat Hoonsiri & Vasin Kiattikomol & Siriluk Chiarakorn, 2020. "Energy Saving and CO 2 Reduction Potential from Partial Bus Routes Reduction Model in Bangkok Urban Fringe," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-18, November.
    3. Magalhães, David José Ahouagi Vaz de & Rivera-Gonzalez, Carlos, 2021. "Car users’ attitudes towards an enhanced bus system to mitigate urban congestion in a developing country," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 452-464.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Clifton, Geoffrey & Mulley, Corinne, 2018. "Barriers and facilitators of integration between buses with a higher level of service and rail: An Australian case study," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 39-50.
    2. Sandberg Hanssen, Thor-Erik & Larsen, Berner, 2020. "The influence of waiting time on the value of headway time on a ferry service in Norway," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    3. Bliemer, Michiel C.J. & Rose, John M., 2011. "Experimental design influences on stated choice outputs: An empirical study in air travel choice," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 63-79, January.
    4. Basu, Debasis & Hunt, John Douglas, 2012. "Valuing of attributes influencing the attractiveness of suburban train service in Mumbai city: A stated preference approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(9), pages 1465-1476.
    5. Mokonyama, Mathetha & Venter, Christo, 2018. "How worthwhile is it to maximise customer satisfaction in public transport service contracts with a large captive user base? The case of South Africa," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 180-186.
    6. Redman, Lauren & Friman, Margareta & Gärling, Tommy & Hartig, Terry, 2013. "Quality attributes of public transport that attract car users: A research review," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 119-127.
    7. Carrion, Carlos & Levinson, David, 2012. "Value of travel time reliability: A review of current evidence," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 720-741.
    8. Krčál, Ondřej & Peer, Stefanie & Staněk, Rostislav & Karlínová, Bára, 2019. "Real consequences matter: Why hypothetical biases in the valuation of time persist even in controlled lab experiments," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).
    9. Schakenbos, Rik & Paix, Lissy La & Nijenstein, Sandra & Geurs, Karst T., 2016. "Valuation of a transfer in a multimodal public transport trip," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 72-81.
    10. Bliemer, Michiel C.J. & Rose, John M. & Hensher, David A., 2009. "Efficient stated choice experiments for estimating nested logit models," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 19-35, January.
    11. Hess, Stephane & Bierlaire, Michel & Polak, John W., 2005. "Estimation of value of travel-time savings using mixed logit models," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 39(2-3), pages 221-236.
    12. Börjesson, Maria & Fosgerau, Mogens & Algers, Staffan, 2012. "On the income elasticity of the value of travel time," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 368-377.
    13. Carse, Andrew, 2011. "Assessment of transport quality of life as an alternative transport appraisal technique," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 1037-1045.
    14. Arentze, Theo A. & Molin, Eric J.E., 2013. "Travelers’ preferences in multimodal networks: Design and results of a comprehensive series of choice experiments," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 15-28.
    15. Poudel, Niranjan & Singleton, Patrick A., 2024. "Willingness to pay for changes in travel time and work time: A stated choice experiment of US commuters," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    16. Yu, Jie & Goos, Peter & Vandebroek, Martina, 2010. "Comparing different sampling schemes for approximating the integrals involved in the efficient design of stated choice experiments," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 44(10), pages 1268-1289, December.
    17. Clifton, Geoffrey T. & Mulley, Corinne & Hensher, David A., 2014. "Bus Rapid Transit versus Heavy Rail in suburban Sydney – Comparing successive iterations of a proposed heavy rail line project to the pre-existing BRT network," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 126-141.
    18. Hensher, David A. & Goodwin, Phil, 2004. "Using values of travel time savings for toll roads: avoiding some common errors," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 171-181, April.
    19. Urbanek, Anna, 2021. "Potential of modal shift from private cars to public transport: A survey on the commuters’ attitudes and willingness to switch – A case study of Silesia Province, Poland," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    20. Binsuwadan, Jawaher & Wardman, Mark & de Jong, Gerard & Batley, Richard & Wheat, Phill, 2023. "The income elasticity of the value of travel time savings: A meta-analysis," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 126-136.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bus; Buses with a high level of service; Passenger value chain; Travel time; Frequency; Connectivity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R41 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise
    • R48 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government Pricing and Policy
    • R49 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Other

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:retrec:v:59:y:2016:i:c:p:11-25. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/620614/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.