Module 5: Public Transport

Question 1

What the public transport service constraints?

Answer 1

• funding
• existing land use
• existing infrastructure
• topography
• institutions/jurisdictions

Question 2

What are service inputs, service outputs and service outcomes?

Answer 2

Service inputs: vehicles, labour, fuel
Service outputs: vehicles hours, vehicle kms, travel time reliability
Service outcomes: passengers, boardings, revenue, safety

Question 3

What are capital costs?

Answer 3

Things that incur cost regardless of use

- vehicles, storage, maintenance

Question 4

What are operating costs?

Answer 4

Things that incur cost in use

- labour, maintenance activities, fuel, utilities, liability

Question 5

What is an average and a marginal cost?

Answer 5

Average cost: costs averaged out over units of output/outcome
Marginal cost: incremental cost for one or more unit of output/outcome

Question 6

What is profit?

Answer 6

Profit = total revenue – total cost

Question 7

What are the 7 stages of a PT trip?

Answer 7

1. getting information
2. accessing from origin
3. waiting
4. paying the fare
5. riding
6. connecting if necessary
7. egress to destination

Question 8

What are the 3 Demand Forecasting Models

Answer 8

• Elasticities
• Econometric models
• Strategic transport models

Question 9

What is an elasticity?

Answer 9

• defined as the percentage change in demand for a +1% change in X
• measures sensitivity of a demand relative to a particular variable X

Question 10

What is the purpose of weighted travel time?

Answer 10

Accounts for people’s preferences & desires e.g. not liking walking or waiting

Question 11

What is frequency & headway?

Answer 11

Frequency: number of buses per hour
Headway: time interval between buses
f = 60/h

Question 12

What does vehicle travel time involve?

Answer 12

stop 1: dwell time
travel to stop 2
stop 2: dwell time
travel to stop 3
...
travel to stop n
stop n: layover + dwell time
travel to stop n-1
... travel to stop 1
stop 1: layover + dwell time

Question 13

What is PT route capacity?

Answer 13

capacity = Cveh x Nveh x f
Cveh: vehicle capacity (pax/veh)
Nveh: number of vehicles (veh)
f: frequency of route (veh/hr)

Question 14

What are the route types?

Hint: letters

Answer 14

I, U, S, O
I: straight service
U, S: access
O: looped

Question 15

What is the formula for minimum frequency?

Answer 15

ƒmin = (max hourly passenger load) / (X.Nveh)

X: load factor (e.g. 90%)

Question 16

What is the formula for optimum frequency?

Answer 16

ƒopt = √(VOT.P/2CT)