Trip Time Versus Stop Time and Fuel Consumption Characteristics in Cities

Abstract

An attempt has been made to evaluate the effect of traffic conditions on fuel consumption and trip time for two fixed routes in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Data on trip time, stop time and fuel consumption obtained in Milwaukee are compared for rush hour traffic and for middle of the night very light traffic. It is demonstrated that the potential fuel savings for individual trips obtainable through improved traffic are different from route to route although they are substantial, lying in the range ≈10–30%. A comparison is made of the traffic on different routes using speed-acceleration phase plots. In addition, stop time versus trip time characteristics are compared for four metropolitan areas using a linear representation between the two variables as well as a theoretical two-fluid model which relates stop time and trip time. The parameters of the two-fluid model and in addition the observed ranges of stop time and trip time are shown to be useful for comparing the quality of traffic in different metropolitan areas: the lower the values of the parameters and smaller the ranges the better the traffic. The implication of these results on fuel consumption have also been examined.