Improving Bus Service Levels and social equity through bus frequency modelling

Maurici Ruiz, Joana Maria Segui-Pons and Jaume Mateu-LLadó

Journal of Transport Geography, 2017, vol. 58, issue C, 220-233

Abstract: Bus lines play an essential role in providing urban public transport service. Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics determine the specific transport service needs of districts that, in most cases, are not served by the existing bus routes. Small changes in the frequency of a bus route can have a direct effect on the territorial distribution of a city's public transport service. Adjusting the frequencies of a bus fleet can help planners improve the service level and adapt the fleet's spatial distribution. A bus frequency optimization methodology is proposed to improve harmonization between service level and social equity in public transport. The method relies on a simple spreadsheet that integrates geographic data about bus routes and socioeconomic information about city districts. Simulation and optimization procedures are coordinated to appropriately adjust the routes to the geographic space. The proposed method is tested in a real case study that demonstrates its usefulness in analysing the service level and equity of a transport system and improving a city's public transport planning.

Keywords: Public transport; Bus headways optimization; Social equity; Spatial equity; Simulation; GIS-T (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692316307347

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:58:y:2017:i:c:p:220-233

DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2016.12.005

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Transport Geography is currently edited by Frank Witlox

More articles in Journal of Transport Geography from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().