THE DEMAND FOR URBAN BUS TRANSIT. A ROUTE-BY-ROUTE ANALYSIS

In this paper an analysis is made of the demand for bus transport in urban areas, in an attempt to identify those corridors of potential bus patronage which, with suitable price and level of service, can continue to support a bus service with little or no subsidy. To this end, an analysis is made of the demand for bus transport along specific routes, of the sensitivities of that demand to changes in a bus company's policies, of the characteristics of those routes within the system which are being subsidised. The sample developed for this study consists of bus routes in 3 medium sized cities in Connecticut: Hartford, New Haven and Stamford, and uses data over a 10-year period. The technique developed obviates the need for expensive origin-destination survey data which are generally not available for smaller cities. It is concluded that the bus transport demand model developed could be used successfully to isolate potentially profitable routes within a metropolitan area and to forecast likely changes in ridership resulting from changes in route or neighbourhood characteristics. It is found that fare appears to be a stronger influence on demand than frequency of service. /TRRL/

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/856156
• Corporate Authors:

  London School of Economics and Political Science

  Houghton Street, Aldwych
  London WC2A 2AE,   England 
• Authors:
  • Schmenner, R W
• Publication Date: 1976-1

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 68-86
• Serial:
  • Journal of Transport Economics and Policy
  • Publisher: University of Bath
  • ISSN: 0022-5258
  • Serial URL: http://www.jtep.com

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bus lines; Bus transportation; Buses; Corridors; Demand; Fares; Financing; Forecasting; Intercity bus lines; Itinerary; Level of service; Mathematical models; Origin and destination; Policy; Profits; Public transit; Ridership; Subsidies; Tariffs; Travel demand; Urban areas; Urban transportation
• Uncontrolled Terms: Data; Models; Use
• Geographic Terms: United States
• ITRD Terms: 1272: Bus; 285: Demand (econ); 244: Financing; 132: Forecast; 699: Itinerary; 653: Level of service; 6473: Mathematical model; 217: Profit; 744: Public transport; 241: Tariff; 313: Urban area; 8122: USA; 9084: Use
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Highways; Motor Carriers; Planning and Forecasting; Policy; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00134375
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 16 1981 12:00AM