BUS
CAPACITY
ANALYSIS
TE 415 - MASS TRANSIT ENGINEERING
ENGR. H AROLD LOYD M. I LUSTRISIMO
Bus Capacity Analysis Methodology
Transit capacity for buses is calculated for three locations:
• loading areas
• bus stops
• bus lanes
Several factors affect the capacity of transit facilities:
(1) dwell time,
(2) the coefficient of variation of dwell time,
(3) clearance time,
(4) failure rate,
(5) passenger loads, and
(6) skip-stop operation.
Dwell Time
refers to the time that elapses while a bus is stopped at a bus stop serving passengers. Specifically, it is the time
required to serve passengers at the busiest door plus the time of opening and closing the doors.
The HCM recommends a value ranging between 2 and 5 sec for door opening and closing under normal operations.
Source: Adapted from HCM 2000.
Coefficient of Variation of Dwell Time
is computed by dividing the standard deviation of the observed dwell times at a bus stop by the mean dwell time.
• Experience has shown that this coefficient ranges between 40 and 80%.
• A value equal to 60% can be assumed in the absence of field observations
Clearance Time
The clearance time consists of two components:
(1) the time needed for the bus to start up and travel its own
length, thus exiting the bus stop; and
(2) the time needed by the bus to re-enter traffic in case of
off-line bus stops.
• Studies have shown that the start-up time for buses is
typically in the range of 2 to 5 s and that the time needed
by the bus to travel its length ranges between 5 and 10 s.
Therefore, for on-line bus stops, the clearance time can be
assumed to be equal to 10 s.
For off-line stops, the time needed by the bus to re-enter the
traffic stream needs to be added to the start-up time and time
required by the bus to travel its own length. The re-entry delay
will depend upon the traffic volume in the adjacent lane. In the
absence of other information, Table shown can be used to
estimate the re-entry time. Source: Adapted from HCM 2000.
Failure Rate Table below gives some of the typical values for Za for different
refers to the probability that a queue of buses will failure rates. Values for Za can also be determined using
form behind a bus stop. Microsoft Excel’s function, NORMINV
This probability can be derived from basic statistics.
Source:
In the analysis procedure, this probability is Adapted
accounted for using the one-tail normal variate, Za , from HCM
which represents the area under one tail of the 2000.
normal distribution curve beyond the acceptable
levels of probability that a queue will form
In general, for CBD bus stops, a value of Za between 1.04 and
1.44 is selected (this corresponds to a failure rate between 7.5
and 15%). For outlying stops, a value of 1.96 is assumed,
which corresponds to a failure rate of less than 2.50%
Passenger Loads
• Passenger loads refer to the number of passengers in a single transit unit.
• Passenger loads are often expressed in terms of what is known as a load factor, which gives the ratio of the number of
passengers to the number of seats on the transit vehicle (i.e., a load factor value of 1 would mean that all seats are
occupied).
• In general, for long distances, one should attempt to keep the load factor below 1.
• For inner-city service, however, load factors are allowed to approach 1.50 or even 2 (which means that there are twice
as many passengers on the bus as there are seats).
• In transit, we often refer to what is called the maximum scheduled load and the crush load. The maximum scheduled
load represents an upper limit for scheduling purposes and is equivalent to the capacity of the vehicle, assuming a
reasonable number of standing passengers (load factors typically range between 1.25 and 1.50).
• Crush loads correspond to load factors exceeding 1.50. Under these circumstances, standing passengers are subject to
unreasonable discomfort, and circulation becomes difficult, which in turn increases dwell time and reduces vehicle
capacity.
Skip-Stop Operation
• refers to a type of operation in which the stops are spread and an alternating route stop pattern is implemented (e.g.,
two- or three-block stop patterns).
• Skip-stop operation reduces the total trip time and the number of buses stopping at each bus stop.
• With an alternating block stopping pattern, the capacity of a bus lane is nearly equal to the sum of the capacities of the
two critical bus stops
Loading Area Capacity
The first location where transit capacity needs to be
determined is the loading area or berth.
The maximum number of buses/berth/hour,
Bbb, can be determined from Equation
Bus Stop Capacity
• The capacity of a bus stop is a direct function of the
individual capacities of the bus loading areas that it
contains.
• However, the increase in the bus stop capacity is not
a linear function of the number of loading areas (i.e.,
doubling the number of loading areas will not result
in doubling the capacity).
• This is because the loading areas of multiple berths
are not used equally, which means that the efficiency
of multiple loading areas decreases with the increase
in the number of loading areas.
• The capacity of a bus stop is therefore computed by
multiplying the individual capacity of the loading area
by the number of effective loading areas, Neb. The
effective number will always be less than the actual
number of loading areas to reflect the reduced
efficiency effect mentioned previously. Table gives
the value of Neb for different multiple linear loading Source: Adapted from HCM 2000.
areas. The capacity of the bus stop is then given by
Bus Lane Capacity Adjustment Factor for Right Turns:
For bus lanes, we consider two cases: Vehicles turning right at a road intersection physically compete
(1) the case of exclusive urban bus lanes, and with buses in the bus lane for space, since these vehicles
(2) the case of mixed-traffic bus lanes typically turn from the bus lane.
• In addition, turning vehicles may queue and may therefore
Exclusive Urban Bus Lanes block the bus from reaching the bus stop.
• The bus stop location at the intersection (i.e., whether
In general, the vehicle capacity of an exclusive bus nearside, far side, or midblock) plays a major role in
lane is equal to the capacity of the critical bus stop determining the impact of right-turn vehicles on bus
along that lane. However, several factors that affect operation as well as the impact of buses on right-turning
the vehicle capacity of bus lanes have to be vehicles operation.
accounted for in the calculation. • The impact of right turns on the bus lane capacity is
These factors include: determined by multiplying the bus lane vehicle capacity
without right turns by the right-turn adjustment factor,
(1) the type of bus lane (i.e., whether it is Type 1, 2, which is given by
or 3);
(2) whether skip operation is implemented;
(3) the volume to capacity ratio of traffic in the
adjacent lane for Type 2 bus lanes; and where fr =right-turn adjustment factor
(4) the bus stop location and right-turning vehicles fl =bus stop location factor
from the bus lane. Vr = volume of right turns at specific intersection (veh/h)
Cr = capacity of right turns at specific intersection (veh/h)
Mixed-Traffic Bus Lanes
With the exception of large cities with high transit demand, mixed-traffic bus lanes are the more common type compared
to exclusive lanes. The capacity is computed in essentially the same way for mixed-traffic bus lanes as for exclusive lanes;
however, the interference of other traffic on bus operations must be considered.
This interference is most obvious when off-line bus stops are used and buses have to wait for adequate gaps in the adjacent
lane traffic stream to re-enter traffic.
For mixed-traffic bus lanes, the different bus lane types (i.e., Type 1, 2, or 3) describe different lane configurations
compared to the lane types of exclusive bus lanes.
Type 1 mixed-traffic lane has one traffic lane in the direction of bus travel.
Type 2 has two or more lanes, and
there are no Type 3 lanes for mixed traffic lanes.
In general, the impact of traffic on bus operations on mixed-traffic bus lanes can take one of two forms.
First, it may interfere with the bus operations especially close to an intersection where queued vehicles may actually
prevent a bus from reaching its stop.
Second, for off-line bus stops, a stopped bus would have to wait until it found adequate gaps in the traffic stream before
joining traffic. This second form of interference (i.e., the re-entry delay) is accounted for by including the bus clearance time
in the dwell time calculation.
To account for the first form of interference, a mixed-traffic adjustment factor, fm, is used. This is computed in a manner
very similar to computing the right-turn vehicle adjustment factor. Specifically, fm is given by the following equation:
• Type 1, buses do not make use of the adjacent lane
Where:
• Type 2 buses have partial use of the adjacent lane,
fm =mixed traffic adjustment factor
which they would typically share with other traffic.
fl = bus stop location factor from Table 4.10
v = curb lane traffic volume at critical bus stop (veh/h)
• Type 3, two lanes are provided for the exclusive use of
c = curb lane capacity at critical bus stop (veh/h)
buses. For Types 1 and 2, buses may or may not share
the curb lane with other traffic.
The mixed-traffic bus lane vehicle capacity is then computed as
B = Bbb x Neb x fm
where B is the vehicle capacity for the mixed-traffic bus lanes,
and all other notations are as defined before.
Problem: Calculating Bus Lane Capacity
Required: Determine the bus lane capacity, given that it is desired that the probability that a queue of buses
will form behind a bus stop does not exceed 7.50%.
• A transit route has its transit vehicles operate in mixed-traffic lanes.
• The route has a total of eight bus stops.
• The critical bus stop, constraining vehicle capacity, is bus stop 3, which is an on-line stop located at the nearside of a
signalized intersection.
• The following information regarding the operation of the bus route has been compiled:
• Dwell time at bus stop 3 =40 s
• Curb lane volume = 450 equivalent passenger cars/h (pc/h)
• Capacity of the right curb lane =700 pc/h
• The signal at bus stop 3 has a cycle length of 90 s, and the bus approach gets the green for 40 s out of the 90-second cycle
• The number of loading areas at bus stop 3 is limited to two berths
• Buses are allowed to use the adjacent lane
Step 1: Calculate the loading area capacity, Bbb:
• g/C = 40/90 =0.444
• For on-line stops, the clearance time, tc , is
assumed to be equal to 10 sec
• The dwell time td = 40 s
• Since the failure rate is required not to exceed
7.50%, the value of Za From Table is found to be
equal to 1.44
• The coefficient of variation of dwell time, cv , the start-up time for buses is typically in the range of 2 to 5 s
is assumed to be equal to 0.60 in the absence of and that the time needed by the bus to travel its length ranges
field observations between 5 and 10 s. Therefore, for on-line bus stops, the
clearance time can be assumed to be equal to 10 s.
𝟑𝟔𝟎𝟎 𝒙 𝟎.𝟒𝟒𝟒
Bbb = = 𝟐𝟓 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒔
𝟏𝟎+𝟎.𝟒𝟒𝟒 𝟒𝟎 +(𝟏.𝟒𝟒𝒙𝟎.𝟔𝟎𝒙𝟒𝟎)
Step 2: Calculate the bus stop capacity.
For two linear on-line loading areas, the effective number of loading areas = 1.85
Bs =1.85 x 25 = 46 buses
Step 3: Calculate the mixed traffic bus lane capacity.
For mixed-traffic bus lanes, the first step is to compute the mixed-traffic adjustment factor, fm,
The bus stop location factor, fl , can be found from the
Table. For Type 2 bus lanes (since buses are allowed to
use the adjacent lane) and for nearside bus stops, fl = 0.90
𝟒𝟓𝟎
fm = 1- 0.90 ( ) = 𝟎. 𝟒𝟐
𝟕𝟎𝟎
The mixed-traffic bus lane vehicle capacity is then computed as
B = Bs x fm = 46 x 0.42 ; B = 19 buses/hr
where B is the vehicle capacity for the mixed-traffic bus lanes,
and all other notations are as defined before.
Problem: Dwell Time and Maximum Load
• Point Plans are underway for a bus route serving the central business district and having 10 stops.
• The route will use 42-seat buses and will require exact fare on boarding.
• The door opening and closing time is 4 s, and all passengers will be required to board the bus through the front door
and alight through the back door.
• The potential ridership for the route is predicted to follow the pattern shown below
Stop Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Alighting Passengers 0 5 8 10 12 9 14 17 15 5
Boarding Passengers 25 20 15 16 10 4 3 2 0 0
• Studies have shown that the boarding time is 3 s/passenger when no standees are present and that the presence
of standees increases the boarding time to 3.50 s/passenger.
• Alighting time is estimated to be equal to 2 s/ passenger.
Required: Determine the dwell time at the maximum load point
The first step in the solution procedure is to compute the bus load as it arrives at each bus stop in order to determine
those bus stops where some people would be standing.
This is needed since the presence of standees increases the boarding time by 0.50 sec.
The bus loads at the different stops are shown below:
Stop Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Alighting Passengers 0 5 8 10 12 9 14 17 15 5
Boarding Passengers 25 20 15 16 10 4 3 2 0 0
Stop Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Number of Passengers as bus arrives at STOP 0 25 40 47 53 51 46 35 20 5
Number of Standing passengers 0 0 0 5 11 9 4 0 0 0
Since the bus can only seat 42 passengers, the bus will have standees when arriving at stops 4, 5, 6, and 7.
Stop Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Alighting Passengers 0 5 8 10 12 9 14 17 15 5
Boarding Passengers 25 20 15 16 10 4 3 2 0 0
Since the bus can only seat 42 passengers, the bus will have standees when arriving at stops 4, 5, 6, and 7.
Alighting time = Alighting passengers x 2 sec
Boarding time (Without standing at station) = Boarding passengers x 3 sec
Boarding time (With standing at station) = Boarding passengers x 3.5 sec
Dwell time = Larger value between alighting or boarding time + 4 sec
Stop Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Alighting Time (Seconds) 0 10 16 20 24 18 28 34 30 10
Boarding Time (Seconds) 75 60 45 56 35 14 10.5 6 0 0
Dwell Time (Seconds) 79 64 49 60 39 22 32 38 34 14
Conclusion:
• the bus will have standees when arriving at stops 4, 5, 6, and 7.
• Boarding times govern for stops 1 through 5 and alighting times govern for stops 6 through 10.
• Stop 1 is the critical bus stop requiring the longest dwell time.