Overview
The increase of people travelling has made the concept of intermodality appear as a way to improve modal changes. Passenger transport has a high intermodal component. An efficient design of public transport network can provide many economic and safety benefits. Research in this area provides the improvement of communication in interchange terminals, as for example most airports have several transport modes gathered in a limited area, as well as the improvement of the service in public transport networks.
The main objective is to identify the working design and profitability of interchange terminals and stops which guarantee the efficiency and intermodality of the public transport networks within metropolitan or urban areas.
This requires the following:
- Determining a model for the configuration of a more efficient transport network, which is more cost-effective and better responds to user needs, considering all transport modes in a city;
- Defining a set of tools to analyse the capacity, level of service and accessibility of public transport stops or stations.
The first phase consisted of a review of existing types of public transport terminals to identify homogenous functional groups. For each group, the capacity and service level of the vehicle operating zones and the spaces dedicated to passengers was evaluated. Therefore, the optimum location for stops from a microscopic point of view was investigated; the costs associated with each type of terminal comparing the service they provided and evaluating their social profitability was analysed. A Capacity Manual along with recommendations for optimum design and financing for public transport terminals was published.
This phase was deployed in several sub-projects:
- T.1. International experiences in the planning and design of interchanges (carried out by TRASyT)
- T.2. Methodology for the evaluation of the generalised cost of the users in a public transport network (carried out by UBU)
These tasks were deployed as an office-based research, trying to compare experiences and designs for interchanges.
- T.3. Analysis of the capacity of vehicles (carried out by CENIT)
- T.4. Level of service and pedestrian capacity in the station (carried out by CENIT)
- T.5. Efficiency and financial evaluation (carried out by TRANSyT)
- T.6. Micro-location of stops of a bus line (carried out by UC).
The second phase consisted of producing an analytical model for the design and location of routes and interchange terminals for the bus network, which was complementary with the rail network. The model was put in practice in two Spanish cities for its calibration in order to achieve conclusions.
This phase was done in two further sub-projects:
- T.7. Model of the planning and design of complementary urban and interurban bus networks
- T.8. Viability of the application of BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) systems in Spanish cities.
The first phase of the project was developed mainly as an office-based research, trying to compare experiences and design of interchanges. In the second phase, a model was deployed and calibrated experimentally with data from two Spanish cities.
Criteria and guidelines were established for General Operations and Maintenance Plans within the concessionary contracts of the interchange terminals with the objective of producing an interchange model which guarantees speed, comfort and
Funding
Results
An analytical model for the evaluation of the efficacy of the public transport networks designed was deployed and calibrated experimentally with data from two Spanish cities.
Criteria and guidelines were established for General Running and Maintenance Plans within the concessionary contracts of the interchange terminals with the objective of producing an interchange model which guarantees speed, comfort and safety.
An international literature review on interchange terminals was carried out, concluding that:
- The penalties of interchange are dependent on the person and for this reason a segmentation of the "market" is necessary;
- A qualitative assessment of the attitudes and perceptions of users related to the attributes of the interchange terminals was detected.
Regarding the evaluation of the generalised cost of the users of a public transport network:
- New Functions of Generalised Cost have been designed that take into account different typologies of users and the most significant and relevant variables;
- New and advanced techniques have been applied in order to estimate the functions of generalised transport cost: Microeconomic Theory of the subjective value of time, Models of discrete election and D-error.
Regarding the analysis of the capacity of vehicles and pedestrian capacity of different constitutive systems of stop or station:
- Processes in the terminal under a logistic point of view have been identified, characterised and classified;
- An analytic and synthetic methodology has been given for the evaluation of the capacity of interchanges as a key question in planning;
- The performance of the component subsystems has been modelled and interrelations established.
Regarding the microscopic location of the stops in a bus line:
- A model of bus stops determination has been produced in a macro level with a combined model of modal distribution-assignation to private and public;
- A model of stops location has been done in a corridor in a micro level, considering traffic. A capacity manual has been done.
Technical Implications
Capacity analyses and models will help urban transport authorities in Spain to improve public transport terminals and bus/tram stops in terms of efficiency and intermodality, and will aid the planning of new terminals.
Policy implications
-