Abstracts from the

Journal of Public Transportation

Volume 9, No. 2, 2006

Public Transportation Decision-Making: A Case Analysis of the Memphis Light Rail Corridor and Route Selection with Analytic Hierarchy Process

Reza Banai, University of Memphis

Abstract

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) New Starts process involves multiple criteria to assess funding eligibility for local public transit investments. In this article a multicriteria method–Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)—is used to assess light rail transit (LRT) corridor and route alternatives. Although the focus is on the current LRT corridor and route selection process in Memphis, Tennessee, the AHP-aided procedure is intended to facilitate the public transportation decision-making process generically, reflective of federal New Starts guidelines as well as local priorities and preferences. Each alternative corridor and route is assessed functionally with respect to site-specific ratings of the criteria and subcriteria in a unified framework. This framework contains the goal, participant groups, criteria, subcriteria, and alternatives as various elements of a public transportation decision process with relative influence on the outcome. The best corridor and route alignment alternative is identified by a composite score on the AHP ratio scale. Finally, with sensitivity analysis, it is shown how a change on the importance of the criteria or participant group priority influences the trade-offs among the criteria and the outcome. The article concludes with a retrospective, reflective discussion of the planning process as a whole. Full text (pdf)

Where Transit Use Is Growing: Surprising Results

Gregory L. Thompson, Jeffrey R. Brown, Rupa Sharma, and Samuel Scheib, Florida State University

Abstract

This article investigates whether transit’s fate is tied to the last vestiges of old urban forms or whether transit is finding niches in the new, largely suburban urban forms that increasingly have manifested themselves since the 1920s. The hypothesis is that most growth is in census regions with the strongest vestiges of older urban forms centered on CBDs. The hypothesis was tested by documenting how transit performance changed between 1990 and 2000 in U.S. metropolitan areas with more than 500,000 people in the year 2000. Results show that, for MSAs with fewer than 5 million people, transit use has been growing faster than very rapid population growth in the West region, but not elsewhere in the country. The conclusion is that transit growth is not tied to old urban forms. A future article will explore causality of transit use growth and service productivity change. Full text (pdf)

Design of a Map-Based Transit Itinerary Planner

Christopher Cherry, University of California-Berkeley
Mark Hickman, University of Arizona
Anirudh Garg, CoreWeb, Inc.

Abstract

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have provided a platform to present information over the Internet to potential users of public transportation. The advantage of using a GIS is that it allows the user to select an origin and destination on a map, easing the task of inputting information to the itinerary-planning process. In addition, the mapping features of GIS can provide a user-specific map showing the route(s) used in the itinerary, as well as local access, egress, and bus stop information. In this article, the design issues associated with the use of GIS in itinerary generation are discussed. Specific design principles are articulated, based on existing knowledge of requirements for the human-computer interface (HCI). In application of these principles, this article describes the implementation of an ArcIMS GIS-based itinerary planner for the Sun Tran bus network in Tucson, Arizona. This system provides users the option of selecting their origin or destination on the map, manually entering an address, or selecting a landmark from a pull-down menu. The routing algorithm then finds the optimum path, and the output is presented to the user both in text and on the map. This is unique from other itinerary planners because it provides an interactive point-and-click map feature that can be implemented using commercially available GIS software. Full text (pdf)

Valuing Urban Bus Attributes: An Experience in Kolkata

C. V. Phanikumar and Bhargab Maitra, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur

Abstract

The article presents the marginal willingness-to-pay (WTP) estimates for various qualitative and quantitative attributes of travel with reference to the bus transportation system in Kolkata City, India. A stated choice experiment is designed to capture the responses for estimating marginal WTP values for various attributes. WTP values are estimated separately for commuting and noncommuting trips. The effects of model specification and socioeconomic parameters on WTP values are also studied. Estimates from standard multinomial logit (MNL) and different random parameter logit (RPL) models indicate that WTP values vary with model specification. In the process of developing RPL models, successful application of sparsely used constrained triangular distribution is also demonstrated.  Full text (pdf)

Passenger Wait Time Perceptions at Bus Stops: Empirical Results and Impact on Evaluating Real-Time Bus Arrival Information

Rabi G. Mishalani and Mark M. McCord, Ohio State University
John Wirtz, Edwards and Kelcey, Inc., Chicago, Illinois

Abstract

This study quantifies the relationship between perceived and actual waiting times experienced by passengers awaiting the arrival of a bus at a bus stop. Understanding such a relationship would be useful in quantifying the value of providing real-time information to passengers on the time until the next bus is expected to arrive at a bus stop. Data on perceived and actual passenger waiting times, along with socioeconomic characteristics, were collected at bus stops where no real-time bus arrival information is provided, and relationships between perceived and actual waiting times are estimated. The results indicate that passengers do perceive time to be greater than the actual amount of time waited. However, the hypothesis that the rate of change of perceived time does not vary with respect to the actual waiting time could not be rejected (over a range of 3 to 15 minutes). Assuming that a passenger’s perceived waiting time is equal to the actual time when presented with accurate real-time bus arrival information, the value of the eliminated additional time is assessed in the form of reduced vehicle hours per day resulting from a longer headway that produces the same mean passenger waiting time. The eliminated additional time is also assessed in the form of uncertainty in the headway resulting in the same extra waiting time. Naturally, such benefits of passenger information can only be confirmed when the actual effect of information on the perception of waiting time is quantified.  Full text (pdf)

Large-Scale Transit Network Optimization by Minimizing User Cost and Transfers

Fang Zhao, Florida International University

Abstract

This article proposes a methodology for developing optimal transit networks (route structures and headways) that minimizes transit transfers and total user cost while maximizing service coverage, given information on transit demand, transit fleet size, and the street network of the transit service area. The research provides an effective mathematical computational tool with minimal reliance on heuristics. The methodology includes representation of transit route networks and solution search spaces, objective functions representing total user cost and unwillingness of users to make transfers, and a global search scheme based on simulated annealing. The methodology has been tested with published solutions to benchmark problems and has been applied to a large-scale realistic network optimization problem in Miami-Dade County, Florida.  Full text (pdf)

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