An Observation-Based Evaluation of Fuel Economy and Speed Measures for City Bus Drivers

The aim of this study was to understand the unsafe driving behaviors of city bus drivers. Thirty city bus drivers of thirty different buses along eight different routes were observed. The city buses were equipped with data logging devices to record data on a second-by-second basis. The total recorded travel time for each driver ranged from 0.62 to 2.82 hours. Drivers went through five acceleration behaviors (medium acceleration, heavy acceleration, medium deceleration, heavy deceleration, coasting), eight nonacceleration behaviors (defined by eight levels of travel speed), and two turning behaviors (left and right turns). The mean speed and fuel economy during these behaviors were examined as potential surrogates for unsafe driving behaviors. The pooled data were analyzed using a paired-samples T-test and the Pearson correlation. The results indicated that when buses were travelling faster or decelerating, they consumed fuel in an economical way. During nonacceleration behaviors, fuel economy increased with travel speed. During acceleration behaviors, the influence of acceleration on fuel economy appeared to be larger than the influence of mean speed. During turning behaviors, low speed and acceleration contributed to poor fuel economy. Additionally, the positive linear relationship between fuel economy and speed during nonacceleration behaviors, which is typical for a smaller vehicle, hold for the bus fleet. Furthermore, heavy acceleration may result in better fuel economy at high travel speeds, but not at low travel speeds. The way people drive strongly influences the fuel consumption of the vehicle, as was seen in the unsafe behaviors that were observed from the recorded video images in the current study.

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/conferences/2011/RSS/3/Chuang,K-H.pdf
• 
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

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  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Chuang, Kai-Hsiang
  • Hsu, Chun-Chia
  • Doong, Ji-Liang
  • Jeng, Ming-Chang
  • Yu, Shih-Hsiang
  • Chang, Kai-Kuo
• Conference:
  • 3rd International Conference on Road Safety and Simulation
  • Location: Indianapolis Indiana, United States
  • Date: 2011-9-14 to 2011-9-16
• Publication Date: 2011

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 19p
• Monograph Title: 3rd International Conference on Road Safety and Simulation

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Acceleration (Mechanics); Behavior; Bus drivers; Data logging; Fuel consumption; Speed
• Subject Areas: Energy; Highways; Public Transportation; Safety and Human Factors; I15: Environment; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01506334
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 3 2014 9:17AM