Public Bus Transport Services Research Articles

Predicting costs of local public bus transport services through machine learning methods

The present study developed several machine learning-based cost models to predict an efficient total economic cost per vehicle revenue-mile of urban public bus transport. The models were trained on a built-in dataset from 269 transit agencies providing urban services in the United States from 2015 to 2019. A feature selection strategy was implemented, finding that, for each proposed model, a subset of features determined a large impact on unit cost. These “core” features included commercial speed, average salary expenses per employee, vehicle productivity, and fleet ownership cost per vehicle. Machine learning techniques outperformed the linear regression method in terms of predictive power and robustness (understood as the dispersion of predictive power measures over the training sets). Based on SHAP values, the sensitivity analyses showed that the proposed models could be used to predict the impact of changes in some critical features on corresponding unit costs. The results may be useful for: (i) introducing regulatory constraints to the allocation of national public resources to local public bus transport services, aimed at minimizing the resources needed to provide a given level of service; (ii) defining the maximum economic compensation required by firms involved in competitive tendering for the allotment of service concessions, or firms with monopoly rights (by political choice and/or local public ownership); and (iii) improving service contract management and design by identifying key cost drivers of transit services.

Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchal Process for Sustainable Public Transport System

The analytic The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is a well-established methodology for tackling complex multi-criteria decision problems in practical contexts. However, like many decision-making approaches, AHP confronts certain limitations, particularly in scenarios where evaluations are fraught with uncertainty and imprecision. This study sets out to enhance the capabilities of the AHP method and provide a comprehensive evaluation of public bus transport service quality within Budapest, Hungary. To address the inherent uncertainties in real-world decision-making, the study leverages the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP), a fusion of Fuzzy Set Theory with the traditional AHP. This novel approach equips decision-makers with a more robust framework to handle the multifaceted nature of real-world decision problems. The study is grounded in empirical data obtained through dynamic surveys, ensuring its relevance to the actual conditions experienced in Budapest. Expert evaluators, well-versed in the field, contribute their assessments to enrich the analysis. This novel FAHP approach doesn't just promise improved decision-making outcomes; it also champions simplicity and comprehensibility. Its computational efficiency streamlines the decision-making process, providing a powerful tool for evaluating public bus transport service quality, thereby offering a significant contribution to the sustainable development of Budapest's transportation system.

Analysis of service quality factors affecting passenger satisfaction with bus service based on a structural equation modeling: A case study of Ho Chi Minh City

This study aims to examine service quality factors and the extent of their influence on passenger satisfaction with public bus transport service. The study will describe the steps of creating a SEM (Structural Equation Modeling) model to demonstrate the service quality - satisfaction relations. Survey data conducted by the Ho Chi Minh Public Transport Management Centre in collaboration with the World Bank consultants from December 2019 to January 2020 includes 3,913 questionnaires on 25 subsidized bus routes. The analysis results from the SEM model indicate that the factors with the strongest impact on satisfaction are availability possibility, service information, fare, service attitude and friendliness with the environment. This result suggests that public transport should focus on improving these service quality factors to ensure a high level of passengers’ satisfaction.

Microsimulation Modelling and Scenario Analysis of a Congested Abu Dhabi Highway

Today’s roadways are subject to traffic congestion, the deterioration of surface-assets (often due to the overreliance on private vehicle traffic), increasing vehicle-operation and fuel costs, and pollutant emissions. In Abu Dhabi, private car traffic forms the major share on urban highways, as the infrastructure was built to a high quality and the public transport network needs expansion, resulting in traffic congestion on major highways. These issues are arguably addressable by appropriate decisions at the planning stage. Microsimulation modeling of driving behavior in Abu Dhabi is presented for empirical assessment of traffic management scenarios. This paper presents a technique for developing, calibrating, validating, and the scenario analysis of a detailed VISSIM-based microsimulation model of a 3.5 km section of a 5-lane divided highway in Abu Dhabi. Traffic-count data collected from two sources, i.e., the local transport department (year 2007) and municipality (2007 and 2015–2016) were used. Gaps in traffic-counts between ramps and the highway mainline were noted, which is a common occurrence in real-world data situations. A composite dataset for a representative week in 2015 was constructed, and the model was calibrated and validated with a 15% (<100 vehicles per hour) margin of error. Scenario analysis of a potential public bus transport service operating at 15 min headway and 40% capacity was assessed against the base case, for a 2015–2020 projected period. The results showed a significant capacity enhancement and improvement in the traffic flow. A reduction in the variation between vehicle travel times was observed for the bus-based scenario, as less bottlenecking and congestion were noted for automobiles in the mainline segments. The developed model could be used for further scenario analyses, to find optimized traffic management strategies over the highway’s lifecycle, whereas it could also be used for similar evaluations of other major roads in Abu Dhabi post-calibration.

Performance Analysis of Public Bus Transport Services in Rural Areas

This study investigated the performance of rural public bus transport services in Jordan Valley. The performance measures included availability, comfort and convenience, waiting time, mobility, productivity and safety. The data used in this research was collected from three sources: field survey of existing bus routes, operational data from Land Transport Regulatory Commission and questionnaire surveys which were distributed to a sample of passengers and bus drivers. The obtained data was used to compute the performance measures, as well as to develop statistical models to estimate the average waiting time of buses at peak and off-peak hours. The results indicated that the waiting time at off-peak hours was two and a half times the waiting time at peak hours. It was found that 40% of the external bus routes were within the range of overall Level of Service (LOS) C & D, 26.67% between B & D, 13.33% between B & C, 13.33% between C & E and 6.67% between D & E. Also, it was found that 60% of internal bus routes’ LOSs were between C & D, 20% between C & E and 20% with LOS C. It was found that the average perceived waiting time depends on the total travel time regardless of on-peak or off-peak trips. KEYWORDS: Public transport, Bus services, Performance measures, Waiting time, Jordan Valley.

Analysis of the operational and financial performance of the Addis Ababa municipality-owned public bus transport services

ABSTRACT Improving operational performance is the key concern for the transportation sector in emerging countries. In Addis Ababa, the majority of the transit service was provided by municipally owned public bus transportation companies such as Anbessa and Sheger Transport Service Enterprises. This study examined the operators’ operational and financial performance in comparison to industry standards. The ratio analysis approach was utilized to examine secondary data from 2016/17 to 2021/2022, which was employed in the study. The overall findings indicate that, despite differences in operational safety and employee productivity, the Anbessa city bus outperforms the Sheger city bus in some parameters, such as fleet utilization, vehicle usage, and service utilization. However, Sheger city bus outperforms its competitor in terms of operational safety and bus staffing levels. Finally, a majority of the data indicates that the operators’ performance fell short of industry standards. To improve their financial and operational performance and continue offering services that fall short of those provided by other companies in the city, bus transit companies, which receive government subsidies to operate their services, must significantly improve how they use their resource. Furthermore, the municipality should offer subsidies and other incentives based on the genuine company’s performance.

Assessment of Passenger Satisfaction with Intra-City Public Bus Transport Services in Abuja, Nigeria

The aim of this study was to investigate passenger satisfaction with the service quality attributes of public bus transport services in Abuja, Nigeria. To achieve this, a survey was conducted between February and July 2011. In 10 sample bus stop areas selected for this study, 300 public bus transport users were randomly selected to elicit their overall satisfaction and factors that influenced their satisfaction in the use of public bus transport services in Abuja using a self-rated questionnaire. Data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation, and principal component and regression analyses. The results of these analyses showed that passengers were not satisfied with the public bus transport services in Abuja. Using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), four underlying factors were extracted that influenced passenger satisfaction with public bus transport services in the city. The four components together explained 83.87 percent of the cumulative variance of PCA, leaving 16.32 percent of the total variance unexplained. The standardized regression coefficients further showed that comfort has the greatest impact on overall satisfaction, followed by accessibility. Adequacy and bus stop facilities were the third and fourth factors in the order of relative importance in influencing passenger satisfaction of public bus transport services in the city. On the basis of the findings, recommendations were made to improve public bus transport services in the city of Abuja.

Importance performance analysis for evaluating city bus service quality in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

ABSTRACT Public bus transport service operators play a significant role in delivering residents’ mass transit services in cities. Thus, measuring their service performance is very important to know their strengths and weaknesses; meet residents’ rapidly growing mobility needs, and provide quality services. This study aims to assess the service quality of public buses in Addis Ababa, emphasizing on Importance-Performance Analysis model. A questionnaire consisting of thirty-one service quality attributes was used using a seven-point Likert scale. A face-to-face survey was conducted with 500 conveniently selected respondents to grasp passengers’ expectations and perceptions of public buses’ service quality in the city. Hence, based on Importance Performance Analysis, Customer Satisfaction Index, and level of Conformity analysis, 58.1% of the attributes are found under concentrate here and low priority quadrant. Therefore, the study suggests transit service operators and concerned stakeholders should provide urgent attention and allocate their resources to these attributes to improve the quality of service and enhance customer satisfaction with delivered services.

Design of a Bike–Bus Network for a City of Half a Million Citizens

Abstract This work develops a mathematical model for designing bikeway networks that integrate into public bus transport services in urban areas using concepts from network multiobjective optimizat...

Indicators for commuter’s satisfaction and usage of high occupancy public bus transport service in Ghana

High occupancy public bus transport services in some countries have gradually dropped due to its less competitive service performance. This has resulted in deteriorating the sustainability of the transportation system especially in developing countries such as Ghana. The study mainly aims to identify the perception and expectation of service quality factors related to commuters’ satisfaction and usage of bus services in Ghana. Using two approaches, a sample of 816 public bus users completed a questionnaire on perception and expectation measures at terminals in six regional capitals in Ghana. The result of the preliminary analysis shows that in the gap analysis, there is a wide gap between commuters’ expectations and perception of Public Bus Transport (PBT) service quality attributes. The “path model” revealed that affordability and availability were the most significant service quality attributes related to perceived commuters’ satisfaction. With the expectation model, availability, security and reliability were the most significant service quality attributes related to passengers' expected satisfaction. The coefficient between satisfaction and usage of bus transport, and the variance explained in these variables (satisfaction and usage) by the expectation model is stronger compared to the perception model. This explains that passengers’ satisfaction and usage of PBT would be enhanced when transport operators provide services that accommodate the expectations of service required by passengers. The interventions suggested will stimulate passengers’ satisfaction, promote sustainable mobility, reduce energy consumption, and emissions.

Public bus transport service satisfaction: Understanding its value to urban passengers towards improved uptake

To accurately direct investments towards sustainable transit, current transport status and factors driving passengers towards private cars instead of public transport (PT) should be identified first. Past research advocated improvements in PT to shift mode-usage but has yet to model the different causal effects that direct bus users to cars in rapidly developing yet congested areas. On-board questionnaire survey data from intra-city Abu Dhabi bus passengers (n = 1520, variables = 31) over a month were gathered in this study during both weekends and weekdays. The study modelled existing bias of travellers and quality attributes as antecedents of bus service's perceived value for money (VfM) and satisfaction from level of service (LoS) and mode choice (car vs. bus) as the ultimate consequence. Findings revealed that any previous biased opinions of travellers adversely affected satisfaction and perceived value, while quality attributes had a positive effect. Mode use was influenced by satisfaction from LoS (frequency of buses and network coverage), which was a positive consequence of perceived VfM (quality of ride and level of fare trade-off). Journey time and bus-stop waiting area quality also positively influenced satisfaction from fare level while passenger socio-demographic distribution showed that most respondents travelled more than five times a week by bus and were full-time workers and transport agencies may target service improvements around office-hours.

Valuation of transfer for bus users: The case of Gran Canaria

This paper analyses travelers’ preferences for the main attributes defining public bus transport services when evaluating connecting versus direct services in the island of Gran Canaria (Spain). The information is gathered through a Stated Preference experiment for bus users who make a transfer during their journey. In order to study the preference heterogeneity mixed logit and latent class models are estimated. The preference heterogeneity identified is different according to the estimated model. For Mixed Logit model, it is defined by type of transfer interacting with the transfer waiting time and for mandatory trips interacting with in-vehicle travel time. For Latent Class model, this preference heterogeneity is identified by three classes where the perception of the modal attributes is different in each class and non-compensatory behavior is identified. Moreover, the transfer waiting time is significant in all three classes. Thus, the results depend on the estimated model and a comparison is made with those results. The findings obtained seem to indicate that the improvement opportunities for transport systems should focus on the reduction in the transfer cost with the exception of individuals of class 2 and the improvement in the level-of-service.

The allocation of national public resources in the Italian local public bus transport sector

Local public transport (LPT) operators typically operate at a deficit and require economic compensation from public authorities. In some countries, public funds are provided both at a national (centralized) level and at a regional (decentralized) level. Thus, a proper distribution of such funds should be based on the costs of an efficient operator and a methodology that does not build differential inefficiencies across regions. In this process, the Italian industry reform requires that the main criterion of historical costs currently applied to allocate national public resources among Local Authorities should be gradually overcome in favor of principles that encourage efficiency. We propose an operative methodology to apply standard costs in the allocation of national public resources available for the local public bus transport services to Regions and, in turn, to Local Authorities. Moreover, we perform simulations to illustrate the impact of this methodology in terms of reallocation of national public resources among Local Authorities. Based on certified data, results of this paper fill a severe knowledge gap and support (i) policy makers when it comes to allocate public resources, as well as competition authorities in their market assessment and scholars aimed at investigates this prominent topic.

Road infrastructure and public bus transport service provision under different funding schemes: A simulation analysis

There is a large and still growing literature on road pricing; there is also a large literature on public transport pricing and provision. However, the integration of these subtopics with the subtopic of road capacity provision as a unified topic is very small (Lindsey, 2012). Therefore, we seek to gain a better understanding of the interplay of transport pricing, transport service provision, cost recovery, together with an explicit consideration of equity in a unified fashion. To do so, we carry out a simulation analysis, as theoretical results in second-best contexts are not clean and depend on assumptions on relevant parameters.Under the assumptions of parameters typical of a city like Santiago de Chile, the most relevant conclusions of this research are the following. First, if road infrastructure provision and its pricing are jointly determined, road infrastructure provision is lower when adequately priced through user charges, with car speeds in the peak period increasing very close to free-flow speeds. Second, if user charges are designed to achieve cost recovery of road investments, public bus transport ridership will increase, taking full advantage of social economies of scale. Third, welfare redistribution through transport market interventions is limited. Fourth, if car use is subsidised, most of the benefits, if not all, of subsidising public transport are undone. Fifth, if road pricing were to be implemented in actual urban contexts, reallocation of road space away from private vehicles (even road closure) could become a reality, especially in denser parts of cities.

The role of charging technologies in upscaling the use of electric buses in public transport: Experiences from demonstration projects

Electrification of public bus transport services is currently being explored in various demonstration projects around the world. The objective of this paper is to (i) gather insights from electric bus demonstration projects with a focus on charging technologies (conductive, inductive) and strategies (slow, fast); and explore the role these factors may play as upscaling of electric bus deployment is considered. The focus is on the Nordic region. A survey with stakeholders involved with electric bus demonstration projects is performed for understanding the benefits and drawbacks of each solution, and identifying the main themes emerging from project implementation and upscaling. Advantages of the conductive charging include the maturity of the technology and its higher maximum charging power compared to currently available inductive alternatives. On the other hand, inductive technology entails other benefits, such as the lack of moving parts which could reduce the maintenance costs for infrastructure, as well as minimal visibility of the equipment. The main issues likely to impact the upscaling of electric bus use are related to the maturity, cost-effectiveness, compatibility, and charging efficiency of the available technologies.

SERVQUAL analysis of public bus transport services in Kumasi metropolis, Ghana: Core user perspectives

Encouraging public transport use implies the need to make it attractive to commuters through regular service quality evaluation and modification. Understanding user expectations of public transport are thus valuable, and the evaluations/perceptions are a useful way to gauge the performance of the public transport for core users. Using the SERVQUAL methodology, this study sought to analyse the core public bus transport users’ service quality expectations and perceptions, and its effect on overall satisfaction with public bus transport services in Kumasi. Surveying more than 100 public transport users, the study results are illustrated in the case of Kumasi and are discussed to guide possible bus service quality improvements in the city. Data were analysed using the paired-samples t-test and standard multiple regression techniques. The study findings revealed vast differences between public bus transport service quality expectations and perceptions and a general dissatisfaction with the bus service delivery in the city. The bus service reliability and responsiveness were key to explaining the bus service quality in the city. On the basis of the study findings and international best practices, a number of recommendations were made for the transport operators and the city officials.

Evaluation of Urban Bus Transport Failure in Gujranwala City of Pakistan

This research work has evaluated the performance of urban public bus transport service operating in Gujranwala city of Pakistan. The assessment has been made in terms of financial viability, bus condition, operational performance and user perception. Based on the data requirements, various traffic/transport surveys were conducted including Passenger Boarding and Alighting Survey, Bus Count Survey, Bus Inspection Survey, Illegal Operations Survey and Public Transport User Interview Survey in consultation with concerned department/agencies. Field surveys were also conducted to get input from passengers and local people. Initial investigation informed that out of four operational bus routes, only two routes are profitable. The overall bus operation is running in loss (only 0.3% net profit). It has barely any profit for the bus operator against its investment thereby making the urban bus operation financially non-viable. The whole revenue flow is dependent on passenger ticketing revenue only. Around 35% of the buses are in poor condition with major issues of quality of tyres, no speedometer, worse condition of seats, floor and ceiling, and display of route. Illegal operation of Qingqis/Rickshaws (as para-transit mode) along the bus routes is also decreasing the revenue by capturing the passenger volume. According to passenger opinion analysis, around 55% of the passenger are not satisfied with the service quality and prefer other modes of transport. Their major concerns are absence of facilities for disables and bus stops, bus seating and standing capacity, poor bus condition and pick pocketing. Collectively, these factors are contributing towards the failure of bus public transport in Gujranwala city.

Comparing public bus transport service attributes in Delhi and Mumbai: Policy implications for improving bus services in Delhi

Delhi and Mumbai are large cities with a population of more than 15 million each. Both cities have large bus systems. However, the share of bus users is much higher in Mumbai as compared to Delhi. There is a need to enhance the share of bus users in Delhi to reduce the growing traffic externalities in the city. The objective of this work is to compare the existing bus services of Delhi and Mumbai, and identify feasible strategies to improve the bus system in Delhi. A total of 1347 and 1045 bus passengers were surveyed in Delhi and Mumbai respectively to compare the existing bus systems of both cities. Further, 14 transportation experts in Delhi were surveyed to identify feasible improvement strategies in Delhi. Multinomial Logit (MNL) model and Sign test were used to analyze the perception of bus users. The analyses reveal that overcrowding is a major concern in both the cities. But, unlike Mumbai, Delhi buses are perceived as less punctual and more time consuming by non-captive11Non-captive bus users are the bus commuters that have formal employment (in-service) and income more than INR 50,000 per month. users. As a result, share of non-captive users that travel by buses in Mumbai is higher as compared to Delhi. In terms of interventions, improved comfort, punctuality, and safety are considered relatively easier to achieve in Delhi as compared to reduction in travel time by experts. It is concluded that strategies to improve comfort, punctuality, travel time, and safety should be prioritized for bus services in Delhi.

Assessment of Passenger Satisfaction with Public Bus Transport Services: A Case Study of Lucknow City (India)

Abstract The main aim of this study is threefold. First, it tries to assess the passenger satisfaction with public bus transport services in the city of Lucknow in India. Second, it tries to examine the service quality attributes that influence the passenger satisfaction. Third, it tries to evaluate the relative importance of service quality attributes to find out the priority for service quality improvements to enhance passenger satisfaction. The study is based on a survey of objective as well as subjective questions conducted between May and July 2014. Five major bus stops of Lucknow were selected for the survey. Total 148 respondents were randomly selected to elicit their overall satisfaction and factors that influence their satisfaction in the use of public bus transport services in Lucknow using a self-rated questionnaire. The collected sample of responses is subjected to principal component analysis, a statistical technique for dimensionality reduction of the dataset, and descriptive analysis. The result of theses analyses shows that passengers are mostly dissatisfied with public bus transport services in Lucknow. Using principal component analysis, five underlying factors were extracted that influenced passenger satisfaction with public bus transport services in the city. Out of these five factors, comfort and safety has the greatest impact on overall satisfaction, followed by the adequacy of capacity of public bus transport services, orderly and clean environment inside buses, elegant design of buses and bus stops, and accessibility to public bus transport services in the city. The study thus provides a direction for public bus transport administration in the city to understand the gaps that exist and try to fill them to improve its services so that passenger satisfaction can be enhanced and consequently more people can be attracted towards public bus transport.

Assessing standard costs in local public bus transport: Evidence from Italy

We present a regression model for estimating unit standard costs for the Italian local public bus transport services. We account for quantitative and qualitative characteristics, which contribute to explain the variability of the cost structure. Economic and transport data have been collected from companies producing more than 500 million of bus-kilometers. We find that commercial speed is the most important cost driver, while economies of scale are low and only present in small size services. Results prove a positive correlation between investments in bus fleet and the cost incurred in service provision. Finally, we show how the regression model can be augmented with policy targets in order to fairly allocate among Italian Regions the public funds yearly earmarked to the local public transport sector.