HIGH-PERFORMANCE BUS RAPID TRANSIT SYSTEMS: A DESIGN-PROCESS EXPERIMENT

This paper evaluates an experimental approach for designing a bus rapid transit system. The particular system was to serve a single large destination, the University of Washington, and to meet desired levels of performance within a series of constraints regarding its physical characteristics. Five groups of students were given this design problem and asked to find satisfactory solutions using the Urban Transit Analysis System (UTRANS), an interactive graphic system, within a 10-week period. The experimental definition included a large and complex network, a demand set, a cost-benefit framework that includes 23 performance measures, a group-determined set of weights of relative importance for the performance measures, acceptable and ideal standards for the performance measures, a group-determined set of parameters for the modal-split model contained in UTRANS, and a set of upper limits on the size of the system. The five teams generated and evaluated 82 alternative designs and finally recommended 7, all of which had acceptable levels of performance for all 23 objectives. These 7 final designs were compared in physical and performance terms and found to be similar. The design strategies used are discussed briefly, and the experience of one team that processed 28 design alternatives is illustrated. All final designs were quite conventional; no unusual designs having a high level of performance were discovered. The major finding was that inexperienced persons could solve this complex problem in a relatively short time with the aid of the UTRANS systems. /Author/

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1976/606/606-006.pdf
• Record URL:
  • https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=HIGH-PERFORMANCE+BUS+RAPID+TRANSIT+SYSTEMS%3A+A+DESIGN-PROCESS+EXPERIMENT&author=J.+Schneider&author=J.+Clark&publication_year=1976
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• Supplemental Notes:
  • Publication of this paper sponsored by Committee on Public Transportation Planning and Development. 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
• Authors:
  • Schneider, Jerry B
  • Clark, James W
• Publication Date: 1976

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 30-36
• Monograph Title: Bus transportation strategies
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 606
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bus rapid transit; Computer graphics; Design; Modal split; Performance; Physical properties; Urban transportation
• Uncontrolled Terms: Experimental design; Interactive graphics
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00156096
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309024838
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Aug 4 1981 12:00AM