Level Of Service Criteria Research Articles

Development of Level-of-Service Criteria based on a Single Measure for BRT in China

Bus rapid transit (BRT) has gained popularity as a cost-effective way of expanding public transit services, and its level of service (LOS) is receiving increasing attention. However, relatively little is known about the precise criteria that can consistently and objectively classify the LOS of BRT into different levels. This paper introduces the measure of “unit delay” to develop BRT LOS criteria, defined as the sum of delays a bus experiences at stops and intersections and on a 100m link. Based on field surveys conducted on BRT in Changzhou, China, we obtained a unit delay data set and established BRT LOS criteria using Fuzzy C-means Clustering. The LOS criteria can be applied for operational, design, and planning analyses for BRT systems. A method to examine the operational conditions in spatial and temporal dimensions and pinpoint the service bottlenecks of a BRT system is presented.

Vendor Selection Analysis Based on AHP to Enhance Service Quality and Consumer Satisfaction at PT XYZ

In the midst of intense economic competition, all companies are required to improve their performance in order to maintain their existence in the business world. Not only must they be able to produce high-quality goods, but the company must also be able to provide extraordinary service to its consumers, especially companies engaged in logistics. One way to achieve the best service aspects is through selecting the right freight forwarding vendor. This study aims to determine the best vendor for PT. XYZ based on the most appropriate criteria using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. The qualitative method with a descriptive approach is the method used in writing this article with the results showing that the criteria that have the highest rating weights are the level of service criteria with 47%, the location criteria with 26%, the responsiveness criteria with 19% and the price criteria with 8%. After considering these four criteria, the sequence of vendors with the highest priority value is Vendor E with a total priority value of 0,59. Meanwhile, Vendor D and Vendor F occupy the second and third positions with a total priority score of 0,57 and 0,54.

Driver’s Perceived Satisfaction at Urban Roundabouts—A Structural Equation-Modeling Approach

In recent years, the use of roundabouts in road networks has reflected a sustainable and modern solution for traffic intersections. Their implementation, integrated design, and proper evaluation are a necessity to achieve their beneficial results. According to the latest edition of the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) and the Highway Capacity and Quality Service (HCQS), a comprehensive evaluation of a roundabout is based on the interchangeable use of the LOS (level of service) and QOS (quality of service). Both manuals describe the LOS criteria, which are the same as those currently used for unsignalized at-grade intersections, while the QOS methodological description and criteria are not specifically defined. The quality of service, which corresponds to road users’ perceived satisfaction, is determined by identifying and evaluating certain factors that have an impact on users. While the previous work on evaluating the quality of roundabouts is limited, this work aimed to present and evaluate the concept of QOS for urban roundabouts in Greece and to assess the factors that affect drivers’ perceived feeling of comfort. The methodology used for the research, included data collection via an on-line questionnaire addressed to the users of the Greek road network and a statistical analysis based on the performance of six latent variables named quality components (exploratory factor analysis). A structural equation model (SEM) was used to determine the causal relationship between primary factors and quality components. It was noted that the SEM cannot predict the travel behavior but it has ability to express relationships between unobserved and observed variables. The results of the revealed model are of great value for the development of: (a) a comprehensive conceptual framework of the QOS and (b) a critical analysis of the parameters that should be considered for the assessment of the QOS of a roundabout. Identifying the factors that influence road users’ perception in terms of safety and comfort (quality of service) leads to a better knowledge and understanding of the road network characteristics that are important to road users and that influence their behavior and level of satisfaction.

Level of Service Based on Fundamental Diagram of Waterway Traffic Flow

The level of service (LOS) is an important indicator of the performance of transportation facilities. This paper proposes to define and establish the criteria for waterway LOS based on the fundamental diagram of waterway traffic flow for the first time. Building on our understanding of waterway traffic flow, we propose to divide waterway LOS into four levels, I to IV from the best to the worst, and the traffic conditions corresponding to these levels are delineated respectively based on traffic density as the service measure expressed in passenger standard vessels per nautical mile per channel (pv/nmi/channel). Our research is conducted on the Yangtze Estuary water area with its historical Automatic Identification System (AIS) data which are processed using Python to extract waterway traffic flow characteristics, in particular, flow, space mean speed, and density. The results are used to construct the fundamental diagram of waterway traffic flow, based on which capacity and its associated optimal density is determined. Using optimal density as the basis, the waterway LOS criteria are proposed. Considering that the density of waterway traffic is small in magnitude compared with that of roadway traffic, a four-level designation from I to IV suffices the purpose of waterway performance indicator. This study can serve as the basis to evaluate the performance of waterway transportation systems as well as providing input to their planning, design, operations, and management.

Developing Level-of-Service Criteria for Two-Lane Rural Roads with Grades under Mixed Traffic Conditions

Traffic operations on two-lane rural roads differ substantially from those on divided carriageways due to vehicular interactions between traffic flows in the opposite directions. With the presence of grades and mixed (heterogeneous) traffic, traffic operations on two-lane highways become even more complex and challenging. The present study developed level-of-service (LOS) criteria for assessing the performance of two-lane rural roads with grades. Eight two-lane undivided study sections with grades varying from 1% to 8% were selected. The suitability of well-established performance measures such as percent time spent following (PTSF), number of followers per capacity (NFPC), follower density (FD), average travel speed (ATS), and percent of free-flow speed (PFFS) was evaluated. The results showed that the foregoing performance measures were not practically applicable for characterizing the operational LOS for two-lane rural roads with grades. A new performance measure termed density ratio (DR) was developed in the present study. The ATS, PFFS, and FD measures for different grades revealed no significant difference when visualized at similar DR ranges. Therefore, DR can be considered an effective measure for developing LOS criteria for such roads. The criteria were first developed using DR, ATS, and FD; subsequently, a design LOS was derived.

Application of Cluster Analysis to Define Level of Service Criteria of U-turns at Median Openings

Defining Level of Service (LOS) criteria of U-turns is important for proper planning, design of transportation projects and also allocating resources. The present study attempts to establish a framework to define LOS criteria of U-turns keeping in mind the peculiar behavior of drivers and heterogeneity in urban Indian context. The U-turns at uncontrolled (no traffic sign, no signal, no traffic personnel) median openings are very risky. Upon arrival at the median opening, the U-turning vehicle looks for a suitable gap in the approaching traffic stream before initiating the merging process. While waiting for a suitable gap the U-turning vehicle experiences service delay. This service delay has been studied to quantify the delay ranges for different LOS categories. In this study, service delay data were collected from 7 different sections and microscopic analysis procedure was adopted to extract data from the recorded video. Subsequently, clustering technique has been utilized to defining delay ranges of different level of service categories. Four clustering methods, namely; K-mean, K-medoid, Affinity Propagation (AP), and Fuzzy C-means (FCM) are used. Four validation parameters are applied to determine most suitable clustering algorithm for the study and to determine the optimal number of cluster. AP was found to be the most suitable clustering method and 6 was found to be the optimal number and accordingly the collected delay data were clustered into 6 categories using AP. The delay range is found to be less than 4 s for LOS A is greater than 35 s for LOS F.

Development of ‘speed ratio’ based level of service criteria on undivided urban streets in mixed traffic context

Developing countries are facing challenges in sustaining urban traffic congestion due to rapid urbanization. To manage urban traffic, a traffic engineer first needs to assess the current operational condition on urban roads. Level of service (LOS) is used to define the operational traffic condition within a traffic stream in terms of service quality that a facility is providing to its user. This paper proposes a novel approach to estimate ‘speed ratio’ by considering individual free-flow speed (FFS) of different vehicle categories. This study also provides a comparison between FFS estimated using the methods given in Highway Capacity Manual 2010 and Indian-Highway Capacity Manual 2018. LOS criteria were developed using five clustering technique: K-means, K-medoids, Clustering Large Applications, Fuzzy-C Means, and Hierarchical Agglomerative Clustering. Both internal and external cluster validation indices were used to find the optimal number of clusters and suitable clustering algorithms.

Development of Fuzzy Level of Service Criteria for Bus Rapid Transit considering User Heterogeneities in China

Level of service (LOS) analysis based on LOS criteria is essential for the planning, design, and operational evaluation of public transit. However, there are no systematic transit LOS criteria at present in China. Bus rapid transit (BRT) is receiving increasing attention worldwide. Therefore, this study addresses LOS criteria for BRT in China. Transit passengers are heterogeneous in their perceptions, needs, and behavior. The traditional hard LOS criteria have an inherent weakness, because of which the accuracy of an LOS analysis is limited. Thus, in this study, we initially conducted transit market segmentation to reduce heterogeneity and subsequently developed BRT fuzzy LOS criteria for different passenger groups. Using a smartphone-based transit travel survey system, we organized BRT passenger travel surveys on three BRT systems in China to collect data. Transit market segmentation was performed based on user perceptions; passengers were segmented into a calm passenger group and an anxious passenger group using the latent class model. Passenger arrival time, passenger wait time, and running speed of the bus were selected as service metrics to reflect the BRT’s LOS. BRT fuzzy LOS criteria for the three service metrics in the case of both the calm and anxious passenger groups were developed using fuzzy C-means clustering. The LOS criteria for the two groups of passengers fit their psychological characteristics and reflected their personalized travel needs. Fuzzy LOS criteria can describe to what extent service metric values belong to the adjacent LOS categories via the use of membership. Thus, fuzzy LOS criteria can overcome the weakness of hard LOS criteria.

Survey to Explore Behavior, Intelligent Transportation Systems Needs, and Level of Service Expectations for Student Parking at a University Campus

University campuses generate large volumes of traffic, with students forming the largest user class with distinctive trip characteristics. This study examined the parking choices of students at a large urban campus. A student survey was conducted with 1,022 respondents to collect data on students’ parking behavior, intelligent transportation systems (ITS) needs, and level of service (LOS) expectations. The survey results included home-to-campus mode choices, arrival time buffers, parking locations, “last-mile” mode choices, and factors that influence the type of permit to purchase. Online permit sales, flexible parking zones, and real-time parking lot availability information were the three most preferred ITS enabled services. Using the survey feedback, new LOS criteria for parking search time are proposed, which range from up to 2 min for LOS A, to longer than 15 min for LOS F. This research makes several contributions. The survey results not only contribute to a better understanding of student transportation choices and parking patterns on campus, but the list of preferred ITS enabled services also gives the university valuable user feedback on where to improve the campus parking experience. More importantly, the LOS criteria for parking search time provides a new tool for traffic engineers to measure the quality of service of a parking facility. Although the survey was conducted on a particular campus, information gathered for the ITS enabled services for parking and LOS criteria for parking search time are likely to be transferable to other university campuses.

Exploring effects of environment density on heterogeneous populations’ level of service perceptions

It is necessary to design and evaluate the effectiveness of walking facilities to accommodate the needs of all pedestrian groups, including individuals with disabilities. The Americans with Disability Act (ADA) standard requires that each facility or part of a facility constructed by, on behalf of, or for the use of a public entity shall be designed and constructed in such manner that the facility or part of the facility is readily usable by individuals with disabilities. The Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) defines walking facility performance using a qualitative measure describing operational conditions, or level of service (LOS). However, how closely pedestrian LOS thresholds correspond to pedestrian groups’ perceptions is questionable. To overcome these limitations, a controlled large-scale walking experiment involving individuals with disabilities was conducted at Utah State University (USU). A temporary circuit with the necessary walking facilities was constructed using eight-foot, self-standing walls. In total, 202 (160 without and 42 with disabilities) individuals were recruited to participate in the experiments, with participants asked to pass through the circuit repeatedly. Individuals were tracked using the camera system, and trajectory data extraction was accomplished using a software platform suite. During each experimental session, some participants were randomly selected and asked to complete a questionnaire assessing their walking experience. Using both trajectory and survey data sources, this study explored how a heterogeneous mix of pedestrians perceive and evaluate the operational performance of walking facilities. Specifically, an ordered statistical approach was applied to investigate the effects of environmental density on pedestrians’ perceptions. The results indicated that individuals with disabilities were less tolerant of extremely congested environments. Furthermore, the analysis demonstrated that the LOS criteria provided in HCM is inadequate in quantifying the service performance of walking facilities based on the actual perceptions of individuals who participated in the controlled experiment. The findings are expected to improve operational guidelines employed to assess walking facility performance.

Analytical Model of Passing Events for One-Way Heterogeneous Bicycle Traffic Flows

Heterogeneous bicycle traffic flows, consisting of electric bicycles (e-bicycles) and regular bicycles (r-bicycles), have become the main traffic form on shared bicycle routes in China due to the increasing number of e-bicycles. As a result, overtaking occurs frequently among bicycles, which affects cyclists’ safety and perception. This paper presents an analytical model to estimate the number of passing events in heterogeneous bicycle traffic flows. The relationships between passing events and the parameters of the heterogeneous bicycle traffic flow is established in the proposed model. The probability density functions of the speed of r-bicycles and e-bicycles are taken into consideration. The results of the model analysis show that the number of passing events increases with an increase in the flow rate and density. Both a difference in speed between different types of bicycle and the standard deviation of speed of each type of bicycle have positive correlations with the number of passing events. In addition, when the proportion of e-bicycles increases, the number of passing events first increases, and then decreases. The proposed model is calibrated against field data collected in Hangzhou. The results show that the model prediction is consistent with field observations. The model proposed in this paper provides an analytical approach to study the relationship between the characteristics of heterogeneous bicycle traffic flows and the number of passing events. This work can be considered a prerequisite for the development of the bicycle level of service criteria for heterogeneous bicycle flows.

Hardcl Method for Defining LOS Criteria of Urban Streets

The present study aims at the divination of the speed ranges of level of service (LOS) categories of urban traffic facilities. Free flow speed, congested travel speed, geometric, and surrounding environmental conditions are considered to define LOS criteria for urban street in Indian context. Cluster analysis is found to be a powerful tool to delineate LOS criteria. Hard competitive learning method is used to classify large number of speed data obtained using global positioning system. Six cluster validation parameters are used to classify the urban streets as well as the LOS categories. It can be confirmed from the above research work that the LOS categories for different urban street class are lower than that of the values proposed by HCM 2000 and the average travel speed of LOS categories expressed in percentage of the free-flow speed is lower than the values mentioned in HCM 2010.

보행 점유공간을 이용한 보행자도로 서비스수준 분석방법론 개선 연구

본 연구는 보행자도로의 서비스수준 산정방법을 개선하는 것으로 보행점유공간을 주 척도로 하고 기존의 방법에서 고려되지 않았던 양방향 보행류에 따른 상충개념을 도입하여 분석을 하였다. 분석 시 보행상충 공간을 산정하였으며, 방향별 보행자 수에 따른 상충공간과 평균보행시간을 산정하였다. 그리고 시간흐름에 따른 유효보도면적을 산정하여 시공간개념의 보행 점유공간을 통해 서비스수준을 재조정하였다. 산출된 보행점유공간은 0.68상태에서 용량상태를 보이며 이때의 보행교통류율은 80인/분/m로 산정되었고 추가적으로 보행점유공간을 크기순으로 나열하여 기울기가 변하는 지점을 기준으로 서비스수준을 분류하였다. 서비스 수준별 통계적 검증을 수행한 결과 유의수준 5%에서 모든 서비스수준 범주별 유의미한 차이가 있는 것으로 나타났다. This study describes an improved model for estimating pedestrian LOS (Level of Service) by utilizing the space occupied by pedestrians. The method introduced the concept of conflict along the bi-directional pedestrian flow which enables calculating conflict area and average travel time in walking. Especially, the method incorporates the idea of generalized density concept which can consider effective walking area and pedestrian flow rates that might vary during the analysis period. After establishing methodology, adjustments of pedestrian LOS criteria in term of walking space occupied by pedestrians were performed. As a result, walking-occupied space at capacity level is 0.68 and corresponding pedestrian flow rate was calculated as 80 persons/min/m, while different pedestrian-occupied spaces were ordered to classify LOS at the points where the gradient changes. Furthermore, the statistical verification of service levels has shown that there is significant difference among all LOS categories at 5% significance level.

Analisis Kinerja Ruas Jalan HOS Cokroaminoto Akibat Perkembangan Lalu Lintas di Yogyakarta

Yogyakarta is a region with high traffic. It also has high population density. These matters have been predicted to cause transportation problems. HOS Cokroaminoto Street, as a road in urban city center, has the potential to have such problems. Analysis and evaluation needs to be done to maintain good performance of the road. Manual Kapasitas Jalan Indonesia 1997 is used to measure the performance of traffic which includes operational analysis and the planning of urban roads. Level of Service Criteria (LSC) is determined based on the regulation of The Ministry of Transportation KM No. 14 of 2006. Traffic data had been obtained by counting the number of vehicles for 3 days on the busy-hour. These data were presented in tabular data of the vehicle, and then the performance of the traffic was analyzed. For urban roads, form UR-1, UR-2, and UR-3 (MKJI 1997) are used. Based on the results of the performance analysis on HOS Cokroaminoto Street with MKJI 1997 method, in 2010, the degree of saturation (DS) of the road is 0.43. It means that, in LSC term, this road is in level B. It is predicted that, in 2016-2020, this road will not satisfy the eligibility standard (DS 0.75). This shows that the performance improvement of HOS Cokroaminoto Street is required. From the alternative solutions, the scenario of side friction reduction is more rational to maintain the eligibility and performance of HOS Cokroaminoto Street.

Determination of Pedestrian Level of Service for Undivided Stairways at Suburban Rail Stations in Developing Countries

Bidirectional pedestrian movement is predominant on undivided stairways. Under a given situation, it is imperative to assess the level of service (LOS) provided to pedestrians on a stairway. Currently, limited guidelines are available for assessing the LOS on undivided stairways in South Asian countries. With this motivation, the current study was conducted to develop LOS criteria for undivided stairways by using the case of a busy suburban railway station at Dadar in Mumbai, India. The LOS can be considered as the classification of different pedestrian flow states on the basis of facility performance. This study is focused on employing the k-means clustering technique to define the LOS thresholds of relevant flow variables. Data on four major variables of pedestrian flow are used: space per pedestrian, flow rate, walking speed, and volume-to-capacity ratio. Derived LOS thresholds are then delineated by using the rate of change in slope for the average walking speed of pedestrians. LOS thresholds are further validated for different percentile values of pedestrian flow data to check whether given data sets fall within the range of established LOS thresholds. Ranges of the flow parameters defined for LOS criteria found in this study are significantly different from those reported in the literature and in manuals in developed countries such as the U.S. Highway Capacity Manual. This difference may be attributed to the demographic and sociocultural characteristics of the pedestrians. The results and approach adopted here can be useful for practitioners to assess the LOS of stairways operating under similar pedestrian flow conditions and to respond appropriately for their improvement. The study results can also be useful for the ongoing project of developing a highway capacity manual for India.

Application of Principal Component Analysis for Outlier Detection in Heterogeneous Traffic Data

Level-of-service (LOS) measures of two-lane highways exhibit incompatibility if the prevailing traffic is heterogeneous in character. Thus, such traffic warrants development of LOS criteria on the basis of compatible measures which capture its characteristics. The present paper has suggested the use of percent speed-reduction and percent slower vehicles, as the measures of performance, while defining LOS criteria. Defining such criteria is basically a classification problem and clustering could be applied as an effective technique for its solution. However, heterogeneity in the traffic mix results in the presence of significant proportion of outliers in the data set, which can distort the results and render into misleading or useless outcomes. The study considers principal component analysis to be an efficient technique in detecting outliers from the data set and accordingly applies it on the proposed LOS measures. An iterative process, adopted for removing outliers, indicates that significant proportion of outliers comprises of non-motorized traffic data; this accordingly ensures reliability of the data set. The study concluded the unfeasibility of LOS assessment of the entire traffic, considering both motorized and non-motorized modes, with respect to a common scale.

An agent-based multimodal simulation model for capacity planning of a cross-border transit facility

Cross-border transit facilities constitute major public investment, and thus must serve the long-term needs of the communities, such as providing access to schools and businesses, contributing to a shared regional culture and lifestyle, fostering international trade, and supporting jobs for the region’s residents. Numerous studies have been conducted to evaluate the economic implications of vehicular flow delays at border crossings, however none of the studies focused on assessing cross-border flow of bus passengers and pedestrians. Since pedestrians are considered to be autonomous, intelligent, and perceptive, it is a challenging task to predict pedestrian movement and behavior in comparison to vehicular flows which follow a specific set of traffic rules. This paper presents a multiagent based multimodal simulation model to evaluate the capacity and performance of a cross-border transit facility. The significance of this research is the use of dynamic mode choice functionality in the model, which allows an individual person to make instantaneous choices between available modes of transportation. The scope of interest of the paper is limited to simulating access interface, circulation areas, ancillary and processing facilities. The developed model was calibrated to ensure realistic performance, and validated against specific performance criteria such as throughput per processing facility. In order to demonstrate the applicability of the developed simulation model, capacity and operational planning of a pedestrian transit facility was performed. The relative performance of alternative design or configuration was evaluated using the level of service criteria. Lastly, the effectiveness of each proposed capacity or operational improvement strategy was compared to the “do-nothing” scenario.

Application of genetic programming clustering in defining LOS criteria of urban street in Indian context

India is a highly populated country having second largest road network in the world. Owing to boastfully population, the congestion is growing rapidly on the urban road networks. The level of service (LOS) is not substantially defined for heterogeneous traffic flow with different operational characteristics. Defining LOS is essentially a classification problem. The application of cluster analysis is the worthiest proficiency to solve such problem for which genetic programming (GP) clustering, an evolutionary algorithm is used in this study. Five cluster validation parameters are utilized to examine the optimal number of clusters. The cluster validation parameters are used to obtain the number of categories of urban street classes. After acquiring optimal number of clusters, GP clustering is implemented to the free flow speed (FFS) data to get ranges of different urban street classes. Again, GP clustering is enforced on average travel speeds of street segments to specify the ranges of different LOS categories. Speed data used in this study are collected using Trimble GeoXT GPS receivers fitted on mid-sized vehicles for five major urban corridors comprising of 100 street segments of Greater Mumbai region. Result shows that FFS of urban street classes and average travel speed of LOS categories are lower than that mentioned in Highway Capacity Manual (HCM 2000) on account of physical and surrounding environmental characteristics. Also, average travel speed of LOS categories expressed in terms percentage of FFS of urban street classes found to be different from that mentioned in HCM 2010.

보행자도로 서비스 수준 분석방법 개선 연구

현재 보행자도로의 LOS분석 방법은 한국도로용량편람(2013)의 보행자시설편에서 제공하고 있다. 그러나 용량편람에서 제시하는 보행자도로의 분석방법을 적용하여 LOS를 산출할 경우, 분석지점의 대부분이 A수준으로 산출되어 현실적인 보행자도로의 서비스 수준을 반영하지 못하고 있는 실정이다. 이에 본 연구는, 2009년 조사된 '서울시 유동인구조사' 자료를 바탕으로 현재 도로용량편람에서 제시하는 보행자도로의 MOE를 적용하여 LOS기준의 적정성과 문제점을 파악하고, 보다 개선되어진 LOS기준을 제시하고자 하였다. 이의 개선방안으로 본 연구에서는 표준인체치수의 최신화, 보행점유공간의 여유폭 고려, Fruin과 Hall의 연구에서 제시하는 LOS의 정성적인 정의를 활용하여 새로운 기준을 제시하였다. 새로운 기준의 적용결과 종전의 보행자도로 LOS판단 기준보다 합리적인 결과를 보였으며, 본 연구 결과를 바탕으로 추후 보행자도로에 관한 현실적이고 다양한 계획 설계 시공이 가능할 것으로 판단된다. Currently, level of service(LOS) analysis methods for pedestrian sidewalks are provided in Korean Highway Capacity Manual(KHCM, 2013). However, conventional methods provided in the KHCM produce most of pedestrian sidewalks' LOS as level A, indicating that existing analysis methods are unable to reflect realistic pedestrian sidewalks' LOS. The objectives of this research are to identify the suitability of current LOS criteria and to propose improved LOS evaluation criteria and methods with pedestrian volume data carried out for 10,000 sites in 2009. This research proposes new criteria by using the qualitative definition of LOS proposed by Fruin and Hall, new standard Korean human scale and new criteria of pedestrian occupancy space. Application results of new criteria show that more realistic results can be achieved than the existing methods. It is expected that applying the newly developed criteria and methods can make planning, design and construction of pedestrian sidewalks more realistic and various.

AFFINITY PROPAGATION CLUSTERING IN DEFINING LEVEL OF SERVICE CRITERIA OF URBAN STREETS

Defining Level Of Service (LOS) criteria is very important as this is the first step of LOS analysis but this is not well defined in Indian context. The analysis followed in India is basically adaptation of Highway Capacity Manual (HCM 2000) methodology which is more suitable for developed countries having homogenous traffic pattern. An attempt has been made in this study to define LOS criteria of urban streets for developing countries having heterogeneous traffic flow condition. Defining LOS is basically a classification problem and to solve it Affinity Propagation (AP), a very recently developed cluster algorithm is used. Inventory details and the required speed data are collected from five major street corridors of Greater Mumbai Region in India through the application of Trimble GeoXT Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. Six validation parameters are used on Free Flow Speed (FFS) data to find the optimal number of clusters, which is required for the classification of street segments into number of classes. After that speed data collected during both peak and off-peak hours are averaged over street segments and clustered into six groups to get the speed ranges of different LOS categories. Using validation parameters, considering the physical and surrounding environmental characteristics it is found that street segments can be classified into four classes in Indian context as mentioned in Highway Capacity Manual 2000. However, the FFS range for urban street class IV (urban design category) is significantly lower because of varying road geometric characteristics. The speed ranges of LOS categories under urban street classes are proportionately lower to that values mentioned in HCM 2000 because of highly heterogeneous traffic flow on urban Indian roads. The travel speed data collection procedure using GPS is simple and accurate. In addition, AP clustering is highly efficient in terms of time saving and provides a very accurate solution to classification problems. Hence, both GPS and AP techniques can be applied in other countries to define the speed ranges of LOS categories considering the local conditions.