IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/transp/v39y2012i6p1209-1221.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ridership drivers of bus rapid transit systems

Author

Listed:
  • David Hensher
  • Zheng Li

Abstract

We have collected information on 46 bus rapid transit (BRT) systems throughout the world to investigate the potential patronage drivers. From a large number of candidate explanatory variables (quantitative and qualitative), 11 sources of systematic variation are identified which have a statistically significant impact on daily passenger-trip numbers. These sources are fare, headway, the length of the BRT network, the number of corridors, average distance between stations; whether there is: an integrated network of routes and corridors, modal integration at BRT stations, pre-board fare collection and fare verification, quality control oversight from an independent agency, at-level boarding and alighting, as well as the location of BRT. The findings of this paper offer important insights into features of BRT systems that are positive contributors to growing patronage and hence should be taken into account in designing and planning BRT systems. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. 2012

Suggested Citation

  • David Hensher & Zheng Li, 2012. "Ridership drivers of bus rapid transit systems," Transportation, Springer, vol. 39(6), pages 1209-1221, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:transp:v:39:y:2012:i:6:p:1209-1221
    DOI: 10.1007/s11116-012-9392-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11116-012-9392-y
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11116-012-9392-y?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. Tirachini, Alejandro & Hensher, David A., 2011. "Bus congestion, optimal infrastructure investment and the choice of a fare collection system in dedicated bus corridors," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 45(5), pages 828-844, June.
    2. Hensher, David A., 2008. "Assessing systematic sources of variation in public transport elasticities: Some comparative warnings," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 42(7), pages 1031-1042, August.
    3. Holmgren, Johan, 2007. "Meta-analysis of public transport demand," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 41(10), pages 1021-1035, December.
    4. David Hensher & Thomas Golob, 2008. "Bus rapid transit systems: a comparative assessment," Transportation, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 501-518, July.
    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. Currie, Graham & Delbosc, Alexa, 2014. "Assessing Bus Rapid Transit system performance in Australasia," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 142-151.
    2. Cleary, Brendan & Duffy, Aidan & Bach, Bjarne & Vitina, Aisma & O’Connor, Alan & Conlon, Michael, 2016. "Estimating the electricity prices, generation costs and CO2 emissions of large scale wind energy exports from Ireland to Great Britain," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 38-48.
    3. An, Kun & Lo, Hong K., 2016. "Two-phase stochastic program for transit network design under demand uncertainty," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 157-181.
    4. Merkert, Rico & Mulley, Corinne & Hakim, Md Mahbubul, 2017. "Determinants of bus rapid transit (BRT) system revenue and effectiveness – A global benchmarking exercise," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 75-88.
    5. Kiani Mavi, Reza & Zarbakhshnia, Navid & Khazraei, Armin, 2018. "Bus rapid transit (BRT): A simulation and multi criteria decision making (MCDM) approach," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 187-197.
    6. Miriam Rocha & Cristina Albuquerque Moreira Silva & Reinaldo Germano Santos Junior & Michel Anzanello & Gabrielli Harumi Yamashita & Luis Antonio Lindau, 2020. "Selecting the most relevant variables towards clustering bus priority corridors," Public Transport, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 587-609, October.
    7. Guzman, Luis A. & Beltran, Carlos & Bonilla, Jorge & Gomez Cardona, Santiago, 2021. "BRT fare elasticities from smartcard data: Spatial and time-of-the-day differences," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 335-348.
    8. Hensher, David A. & Li, Zheng & Mulley, Corinne, 2014. "Drivers of bus rapid transit systems – Influences on patronage and service frequency," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 159-165.
    9. Jinbao Zhao & Wei Deng & Yan Song & Yueran Zhu, 2014. "Analysis of Metro ridership at station level and station-to-station level in Nanjing: an approach based on direct demand models," Transportation, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 133-155, January.
    10. Li, Zheng & Hensher, David A., 2020. "Performance contributors of bus rapid transit systems: An ordered choice approach," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 154-161.
    11. Vergel-Tovar, C. Erik & Rodriguez, Daniel A., 2018. "The ridership performance of the built environment for BRT systems: Evidence from Latin America," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 172-184.

    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. Hensher, David A. & Li, Zheng & Mulley, Corinne, 2014. "Drivers of bus rapid transit systems – Influences on patronage and service frequency," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 159-165.
    2. Hörcher, Daniel & Tirachini, Alejandro, 2021. "A review of public transport economics," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 25(C).
    3. Guzman, Luis A. & Beltran, Carlos & Bonilla, Jorge & Gomez Cardona, Santiago, 2021. "BRT fare elasticities from smartcard data: Spatial and time-of-the-day differences," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 335-348.
    4. Abe, Ryosuke & Kato, Hironori, 2017. "What led to the establishment of a rail-oriented city? Determinants of urban rail supply in Tokyo, Japan, 1950–2010," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 72-79.
    5. repec:zbw:rwirep:0209 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Thommen, Christoph & Hintermann, Beat, 2023. "Price versus Commitment: Managing the demand for off-peak train tickets in a field experiment," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    7. Drevs, Florian & Tscheulin, Dieter K. & Lindenmeier, Jörg & Renner, Simone, 2014. "Crowding-in or crowding out: An empirical analysis on the effect of subsidies on individual willingness-to-pay for public transportation," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 250-261.
    8. Dujuan Yang & Harry Timmermans & Aloys Borgers, 2016. "The prevalence of context-dependent adjustment of activity-travel patterns in energy conservation strategies: results from a mixture-amount stated adaptation experiment," Transportation, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 79-100, January.
    9. Li, Zheng & Hensher, David A. & Rose, John M., 2011. "Identifying sources of systematic variation in direct price elasticities from revealed preference studies of inter-city freight demand," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 727-734, September.
    10. Frondel, Manuel & Vance, Colin, 2011. "Rarely enjoyed? A count data analysis of ridership in Germany's public transport," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 425-433, March.
    11. Merkel, Axel & Holmgren, Johan, 2017. "Dredging the depths of knowledge: Efficiency analysis in the maritime port sector," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 63-74.
    12. Wardman, Mark & Toner, Jeremy & Fearnley, Nils & Flügel, Stefan & Killi, Marit, 2018. "Review and meta-analysis of inter-modal cross-elasticity evidence," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 662-681.
    13. Gibson, Jaime & Munizaga, Marcela A. & Schneider, Camila & Tirachini, Alejandro, 2016. "Estimating the bus user time benefits of implementing a median busway: Methodology and case study," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 72-82.
    14. Holmgren, Johan, 2010. "Putting our money to good use: Can we attract more passengers without increasing subsidies?," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 256-260.
    15. Dujuan Yang & Harry Timmermans & Aloys Borgers, 2016. "The prevalence of context-dependent adjustment of activity-travel patterns in energy conservation strategies: results from a mixture-amount stated adaptation experiment," Transportation, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 79-100, January.
    16. Holmgren, Johan & Merkel, Axel, 2017. "Much ado about nothing? – A meta-analysis of the relationship between infrastructure and economic growth," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 13-26.
    17. Miller, Caroline & Savage, Ian, 2017. "Does the demand response to transit fare increases vary by income?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 79-86.
    18. Hensher, David A. & Li, Zheng, 2010. "Accounting for differences in modelled estimates of RP, SP and RP/SP direct petrol price elasticities for car mode choice: A warning," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 191-195, May.
    19. Zi-jia Wang & Feng Chen & Bo Wang & Jian-ling Huang, 2018. "Passengers’ response to transit fare change: an ex post appraisal using smart card data," Transportation, Springer, vol. 45(5), pages 1559-1578, September.
    20. Manuel Frondel & Colin Vance, 2010. "A Count Data Analysis of Ridership in Germany’s Public Transport," Ruhr Economic Papers 0209, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    21. Mark Wardman, 2012. "Review and meta-analysis of U.K. time elasticities of travel demand," Transportation, Springer, vol. 39(3), pages 465-490, May.

    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:kap:transp:v:39:y:2012:i:6:p:1209-1221. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.