THE ROLE OF NBC'S URBAN MINIBUS SERVICES. SELECT PAPERS FROM THE 12TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE BUS AND COACH COUNCIL, HARROGATE, YORKSHIRE, 15-17 SEPT 1986
Factors influencing the adoption of urban minibus services are: (1) labour costs; (2) capital costs per passenger seat; (3) demand: increased ridership which is largely the result of increased frequency of service, reduced journey times, hail-and-ride facility, improved access and residential penetration, and improved passenger/driver relations. The disadvantages of minibuses include poorer boarding access and in-vehicle space. Generally, 40% ridership growth has been achieved with minibuses, with much larger increases where new services have been offered. Frequent services compete with taxis and hire cars. Peak demands, especially for school trips, will probably need to be served by large buses. An analysis of the traffic growth necessary for the financial performance to be at least as good as that of a conventional bus service, suggests that total minibus costs, using discounted cash flows over a 12 year period, are 60-90% more than those of the equivalent leyland national bus costs, with approximately a 3-fold increase in service mileage. A "balancing elasticity" which indicates the growth in passenger trips needed to break even with the introduction of a minibus operation is estimated to be about 0.4; this has been achieved with relatively small changes in service level. If the previous services made a loss a "breakeven elasticity" would be larger than the balancing elasticity. The latter was found to be particularly sensitive to variations in hourly wage costs and round trip time. The extent to which these NBC experiences can be applied generally to all minibus operators is discussed; the important factors include labour costs, capital and maintenance costs, overhead costs, proportion of passengers with passes and travel cards, traffic congestion, the ratio of peak to off-peak demand, and service frequency. For the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD 819712.
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Corporate Authors:
BUS AND COACH COUNCIL
SARDINIA HOUSE, 52 LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS
London, United Kingdom -
Authors:
- Turner, R
- White, P
- Watts, P
- Publication Date: 1986
Language
- English
Media Info
- Pagination: 8 p.
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Conferences; Costs; Demand; Level of service; Minibuses; Public transit; Urban areas
- Uncontrolled Terms: Use
- Geographic Terms: United Kingdom
- Subject Areas: Finance; Public Transportation;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00487869
- Record Type: Publication
- Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
- Files: ITRD, TRIS
- Created Date: Sep 30 1989 12:00AM