A COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF THE FIXED ROUTE AND ROUTEDEVIATION STRATEGIES OF OPERATING INTRA-URBAU TRANSIT
A COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF THE FIXED ROUTE AND ROUTEDEVIATION STRATEGIES OF OPERATING INTRA-URBAU TRANSIT
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Date
1983-04
Authors
UKPONU, STEPHEN UWANEKWU
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Abstract
Fixed route and route-deviation are among the possible
strategies of operating intra-urban transit. The route-deviation
strategy requires vehicles to follow a basic fixed route and
deviate from the route to offer doorstep service to passengers
on request. Thus a combination of fixed route captive passengers
and those desirous of doorstep service are carried.
A theoretical comparison of fixed route and route-deviation
strategies is undertaken, with a view to determine under which
conditions one strategy could be preferable to the other. The
objectives guiding the comparison are minimisation of total
system cost and maximisation of operators profit. Models for
total system cost per passenger and profit per passenger are
set up and the optimum headways that best satisfy the chosen
objectives are determined for each strategy.
The deviation distance travelled during a trip is assumed
to be a random variable with its probabilistic structure
depending on the distribution of doorstep demand points in the
service area. However, investigation of some specific situations
indicate that, under low doorstep demand conditions, the deviation
distance travelled in a trip is proportional to the total number
of passengers carried.
By parametrically varying demand, the effects of rider ship
demand on the relative capabilities of the strategies under the
two objectives are investigated. The general results are
illustrated with a. numerical example focussed on the one-tomany
and many-to-one 0-D travel patterns.It has been found that the optimum headways which minimise
total system cost are sensitive to the relationship assumed
between user generalised time cost and user generalised time.
In general, it has been found that frequent service should be
provided at high levels of demand and infrequent service at
low levels of demand. For the route-deviation strategy,
optimal headways and hence total system cost per passenger are
also affected by the 0-D travel pattern and the proportion of
passengers desirous of doorstep service. When the 0-D travel
pattern is one-to-many, adopting the route-deviation strategy
results in higher total system cost per passenger than for the
fixed route strategy irrespective of whether a linear or
quadratic relationship is assumed between user generalised time
cost and user generalised time. For the many-to-one 0-D travel
pattern, adopting the route-deviation strategy results in about
equal or lower total system cost per passenger than for the
fixed route strategy when demand levels are lower than about 37
passengers per hour (or the equivalent of 9.25 passengers per
square kilometre per hour) and about 50 passengers per hour for
situations where the relationships between user generalised
time cost and user generalised time are linear and quadratic
respectively.
For given route configuration and fare levels, profit is
maximised by adopting a headway which assures full vehicle
load at the point of maximum load. The route deviation
strategy appears to yield higher profit per passenger than the
fixed route strategy when the doorstep service fare exceeds one-third and two-third of the fixed route fare for taxicab
operation and minibus operation respectively.
Description
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL,
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, IN "PARTIAL" FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF ENGINEERING.
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY
ZARIA
Keywords
COMPARATIVE,, EVALUATION,, FIXED,, ROUTE,, DEVIATION,, STRATEGIES,, OPERATING,, INTRA-URBAU ,, TRANSIT,