RECOMMENDATIONS ABOUT COLLECTING BUS HEADWAY DATA AND ESTIMATING EXPECTED WAITING TIMES

The time headways between successive buses seen by an observer at a bus stop are considered. The equation relating the waiting time (w) to the mean and standard deviations of headways (mu and sigma) is said to have serious limitations if the time interval between the first and last buses becomes small because the value of sigma, mu and w also becomes smaller. It is felt that a better measure of the quality of service than w would be a measure (eg the standard deviation) of the day to day variability of bus arrival times. Several alternative methods of calculating w from a single observation period are described and simulations have been carried out using these methods in an attempt to demonstrate which method is the most applicable. The results of the simulation of 3 buses scheduled per hour are shown in tabular form and reasons for selecting one method in preference to another are given. (Author/TRRL)

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00410683
• Corporate Authors:

  Printerhall Limited

  29 Newmart Street
  London W1P 3PE,   England 
• Authors:
  • Hutchinson, T P
  • Nicholl, J P
• Publication Date: 1983-11

Media Info

• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 529-531
• Serial:
  • Traffic Engineering & Control
  • Volume: 24
  • Issue Number: 11
  • Publisher: Hemming Group, Limited
  • ISSN: 0041-0683
  • Serial URL: http://www.tecmagazine.com/

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bus transit; Buses; Estimating; Estimation theory; Headways; Quality of service; Reliability; Scheduling; Simulation; Statistics; Theory; Traffic delays; Waiting time
• Old TRIS Terms: Bus services
• ITRD Terms: 1272: Bus; 132: Forecast; 685: Headway; 9103: Simulation; 6555: Statistics; 9078: Theory; 9100: Waiting time
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00382735
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-036 519
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 30 1984 12:00AM