IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transa/v43y2009i8p722-734.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Analyzing urban bus service reliability at the stop, route, and network levels

Author

Listed:
  • Chen, Xumei
  • Yu, Lei
  • Zhang, Yushi
  • Guo, Jifu

Abstract

Improving the reliability of bus service has the potential to increase the attractiveness of public transit to current and prospective riders. An understanding of service reliability is necessary to develop strategies that help transit agencies provide better services. However, few studies have been conducted analyzing bus reliability in the metropolis of China. This paper presents an in-depth analysis of service reliability based on bus operational characteristics in Beijing. Three performance parameters, punctuality index based on routes (PIR), deviation index based on stops (DIS), and evenness index based on stops (EIS), are proposed for the evaluation of bus service reliability. Reliability involves routes, stops, punctuality, deviation, and evenness. The relationship among the three parameters is discussed using a numerical example. Subsequently, through a sampling survey of bus lines in Beijing, service reliability at the stop, route, and network levels are estimated. The effects of route length, headway, the distance from the stop to the origin terminal, and the use of exclusive bus lanes are also analyzed. The results indicate low service reliability for buses in Beijing and a high correlation between service reliability and route length, headway, distance from the stop to the origin terminal, and the provision of exclusive bus lanes.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Xumei & Yu, Lei & Zhang, Yushi & Guo, Jifu, 2009. "Analyzing urban bus service reliability at the stop, route, and network levels," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 43(8), pages 722-734, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:43:y:2009:i:8:p:722-734
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965-8564(09)00068-8
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    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. Strathman, James G. & Hopper, Janet R., 1993. "Empirical analysis of bus transit on-time performance," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 93-100, April.
    2. Lin, Jie & Wang, Peng & Barnum, Darold T., 2008. "A quality control framework for bus schedule reliability," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(6), pages 1086-1098, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Chakrabarti, Sandip & Giuliano, Genevieve, 2015. "Does service reliability determine transit patronage? Insights from the Los Angeles Metro bus system," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 12-20.
    2. Chakrabarti, Sandip, 2015. "The demand for reliable transit service: New evidence using stop level data from the Los Angeles Metro bus system," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 154-164.
    3. Yu, Bin & Yang, Zhongzhen & Li, Shan, 2012. "Real-time partway deadheading strategy based on transit service reliability assessment," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(8), pages 1265-1279.
    4. Eboli, Laura & Mazzulla, Gabriella, 2012. "Performance indicators for an objective measure of public transport service quality," European Transport \ Trasporti Europei, ISTIEE, Institute for the Study of Transport within the European Economic Integration, issue 51, pages 1-4.
    5. Zhang, Wei & (Ato) Xu, Wangtu, 2017. "Simulation-based robust optimization for the schedule of single-direction bus transit route: The design of experiment," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 203-230.
    6. Sun, Lijun & Tirachini, Alejandro & Axhausen, Kay W. & Erath, Alexander & Lee, Der-Horng, 2014. "Models of bus boarding and alighting dynamics," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 447-460.
    7. Ji, Yanjie & Gao, Liangpeng & Chen, Dandan & Ma, Xinwei & Zhang, Ruochen, 2018. "How does a static measure influence passengers’ boarding behaviors and bus dwell time? Simulated evidence from Nanjing bus stations," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 13-25.
    8. Wu, Weitiao & Liu, Ronghui & Jin, Wenzhou, 2016. "Designing robust schedule coordination scheme for transit networks with safety control margins," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 93(PA), pages 495-519.
    9. Tétreault, Paul R. & El-Geneidy, Ahmed M., 2010. "Estimating bus run times for new limited-stop service using archived AVL and APC data," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 44(6), pages 390-402, July.
    10. Pilachowski, Joshua Michael, 2009. "An Approach to Reducing Bus Bunching," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt6zc5j8xg, University of California Transportation Center.
    11. Klumpenhouwer, W. & Wirasinghe, S.C., 2018. "Optimal time point configuration of a bus route - A Markovian approach," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 117(PA), pages 209-227.
    12. Zhang Xiaoliang & Jia Limin, 2021. "Analysis of Bus Line Operation Reliability Based on Copula Function," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-15, July.
    13. Dessouky, Maged & Hall, Randolph & Zhang, Lei & Singh, Ajay, 2003. "Real-time control of buses for schedule coordination at a terminal," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 145-164, February.
    14. Dessouky, Maged & Singh, Ajay & Hall, Randolph, 1997. "Transit ITS Simulator (TRANSITS): Design Document," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt49k184rv, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    15. D T Barnum & J M Gleason & B Hemily & J Lin & P Wang, 2010. "Progressing from uncertainty to risk for DEA-based decisions," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 61(10), pages 1548-1555, October.
    16. Hong En Tan & De Wen Soh & Yong Sheng Soh & Muhamad Azfar Ramli, 2021. "Derivation of train arrival timings through correlations from individual passenger farecard data," Transportation, Springer, vol. 48(6), pages 3181-3205, December.
    17. Chen, Jingxu & Liu, Zhiyuan & Zhu, Senlai & Wang, Wei, 2015. "Design of limited-stop bus service with capacity constraint and stochastic travel time," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 1-15.
    18. Adrian Barchański & Renata Żochowska & Marcin Jacek Kłos, 2022. "A Method for the Identification of Critical Interstop Sections in Terms of Introducing Electric Buses in Public Transport," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-37, October.
    19. Hall, Randolph & Dessouky, Maged & Zhang, Lei & Singh, Ajay & Patel, Vishal, 1999. "Evaluation of ITS Technology for Bus Transit Systems," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt2nq1824t, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    20. Tisato, Peter, 1998. "Service unreliability and bus subsidy," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 423-436, August.

    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:transa:v:43:y:2009:i:8:p:722-734. 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/547/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.