Commuter Travel Cost Estimation at Different Levels of Crowding in Suburban Rail System: A Case Study of Mumbai

Mumbai suburban train system (MSRS) is one of the most crowded train systems in the world. The system offers two types of train services: Fast and Slow. It carries about 8 million passengers on a typical weekday. This research attempted to value travel attributes such as waiting time, in-vehicle time and crowding level using the behavioural data obtained through stated preference experiment on 896 MSRS train users. Actual on board crowding images from a train coach were considered to perceive crowding more realistically by the local train user. Multinomial logit modelling technique was used for estimating commuter travel cost (time) at different levels of crowding. Model estimation results showed that there is increase in total perceived in-vehicle travel time with the increase in level of crowding. Traveling in a crowded seating condition increases travel cost by 0.81 minutes per one minute travel. Standing up to 10 minutes in crowded condition with standee density of 7-9 passengers per m 2 increases travel cost by 0.94 minutes per one minute travel. Similarly, standing up to 20 minutes in such a condition will increase travel cost by 1.26 minutes per one minute travel. Super dense crush crowding situation with standee density 14-16 passengers per m2 increase travel cost by 2.82 minutes per minute travel. A crowded seat impose user to perceive 81% increase in in-vehicle travel time, whereas this perception becomes 282% more during travel in super dense crush crowding than normal travel conditions. Generalized travel cost becomes maximum in super dense crush crowding. The rate of decrease in utility decreases after a certain time of standing in crowded conditions. Females tend to perceive more decrease in utility due to crowding as compared to that of males. They prefer slow train over the fast train due to crowding. Similar observations were noted for higher income (more than ≤45000 per month) group users. Effect analysis suggested that the females are more sensitive to travel attributes as compared to that of male. Users belonging to business community prefers slow train, possibly due to flexible working hours. Users with age greater than 36 years prefer less crowded train; this behaviour might be attributed to physical constraints, tendency to trade off comfort with other attributes and predisposition towards comfort. Travellers with trip length more than 24 km were more sensitive to standing time in ‘super dense crush’ load condition as compared to users travelling for a trip length less than or equal to 24 km. Reduction in seating capacity of the 9-coach trains could be an effective policy measure to negotiate overcrowding and minimize the generalized travel cost. Presented discussions in this research is important to policy makers and planners in Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation and to monitor, measure and develop programs for the MSRS operation service quality. In summary, the study finding will be useful for developing a policy framework to deal with issues related to level of service improvement for suburban rail system in India and other developing economies.

  • Supplemental Notes:
    • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AP015 Standing Committee on Transit Capacity and Quality of Service.
  • Authors:
    • Sahu, Prasanta K
    • Sharma, Gajanand
    • Guharoy, Anirban
  • Conference:
  • Date: 2018

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: 17p

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01658680
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Report/Paper Numbers: 18-03011
  • Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
  • Created Date: Jan 31 2018 4:59PM