Design of an Integrated and Effective Urban Public Transport Scheme for Small and Medium Size Cities

Design of an integrated and effective urban public transport scheme for small and medium

size cities

S. Basbas & C. Taxiltaris

Aristotle Utziversity of Thessaloniki, School of Technology, Faculty of Rural & Surveying Engineering, Dept. of Transportation & H~draulicEngineering, Greece

Abstract

The use of public transport in urban areas is one of the most critical issues when considering the transportation system and its problems. Within the framework of this paper, the design of an integrated and effective urban public transport scheme for medium and small size cities is presented. The design of the scheme

is based on extensive research made by the Department of Transportation and Hydraulic Engineering of the Faculty of Rural and Surveying Engineering of A.U.Th in representative medium and small size Greek cities during the last five years. Within this scheme, all aspects of the modernization of the public transport system are included. The results of home-based questionnaire surveys

about the trip characteristics and the travel patterns in these areas are also presented. The viability of the proposed public transport scheme is examined under different transportation and economic scenarios. The proposed measures that are presented within this paper can be used as a reference when trying to solve similar problems in urban areas of similar size and particularity.

l Introduction

The use of public transport in urban areas is one of the most critical issues when considering the transportation system. In most cases, people prefer to use their own cars, even for small length trips and this fact produces a large number of traffic and associated environmental problems in urban areas, and more especially in their city centers. Public Transport has an important role in most

European cities, often constituting 30 to 60 per cent of all trips except walking [l]. In most cities in U.S.A bus patronage consists predominantly of captive

riders and only in very large cities do buses carry a significant number of non captive or choice riders [2]. This is a very common situation in Greece, where the use of public transport has reduced during the last decade due to various reasons (Le insufficient public transport systems, excessive use of private cars, lack of demand management measures in central areas etc). The situation is even worse in medium and small size cities where the level of service offered by the public transport system is rather low. There is imperatively need for the modernization of the public transport system taking into account the land-use transportation system and the socioeconomic conditions of such areas. This modernization includes, among others, the reorganization of the public transport system (P.T) and its current legislative framework, the use of environmental friendly vehicles, the use of mini or midi buses, the formation of an integrated market-oriented policy, the use of passenger infoin~ationsystems, the refornlation of existing bus lines, the implementation of bus priority measures etc. In major Greek cities like Athens and Thessaloniki, new public transport systems have been introduced or will be introduced before year 2005. like the Athens Metro which is operated by Attiko Metro S.A. Problems appear when considering the cases of smaller cities, where funding problems on one hand and limitations about passenger demand on the other hand exist and make prohibitive the construction of metro systems or other important projects. Therefore the only feasible solution seems to be the modernization of the existing bus system in these urban areas. Within the framework of this paper, the design of an integrated and effective urban public transport scheme for medium and small size cities is presented. The design of the scheme is based on extensive research made by the Department of Transportation and Hydraulic Engineering of Faculty of Rural and Surveying

Engineering of A.U.Th in various medium and small size Greek cities during the last five years. Within this scheme, all aspects of the modernization of the public transport system are included. The results of home-based questionnaire surveys about the trip characteristics and travel patterns in these areas are also presented. The viability of the proposed public transport scheme is examined under different transportation and economic scenarios.

2 Trip characteristics in three case studies

Three case studies were examined as typical examples of small and medium size cities in Greece. The first one is the area of Migdon~a,which is found in northern Greece, has a population of 5.965 inhabitants (year 1991) and is strongly depended on the city of Thessaloniki. The second one is the city of Trikala, which is found in central Greece arid has a population of 44.99 1 inhabitants (year

1991). The third case study is the city of Larissa, which is also found in central Greece and has a population of 1 10.1 16 inhabitants (year 1991). In each study a questionnaire survey took place in order to identify the trip characteristics. In Migdonia [3] ,1069 questionnaires were completed (April 2000), in Trikala [4] 1396 (October 2000) and in Larissa [5] 2938 (May-June 1997).

Less often On the weekends only

Once a week (Monday to Frtday)

Almost every day

Every day

Figure l: Frequency of trips to and from the city center (%).

More than 70% of the total number of the daily trips in the two major cities

(Trikala and Larissa) have one or both ends inside the city center, something which point out the importance of the city center in the transportation system of such cities in the country. The situation is completely different in Migdonia, where the respective number is 29,1% and refer to the connection of the area with Thessaloniki which is the nearest major metropolitan area. The reasons for not using the public transport system are presented in the following- figure- 2 (rank in order of preference, "1" being the highest, " 9" being the lowest).

Low speed U1iacceptable behavlor of the personnel Expensive fates

No reltable servlces

Not frequent servlce Unacceptable vehlcle condtttons Lack of tnformatlon

Long d~stancebetween ortgln and bus stop

012345678

Figure 2: Reasons for not using the public transport system (ranking 1-9)

Concerning the reasons for which people do not use the public transport system in the existing situation in the three cities, "lack of information" together with the "unacceptable behavior" of the personnel of the public transport system is of low priority in all cases. On the contrary, the reason "other" (e.g possession and use of passenger car) is proved to be an important factor. According to the results of a stated preference survey which took place in Thessaloniki in 1994 [6] in the framework of Eurobus project, the most important reason (P.T. users) for using P.T. was the trip cost, while for non P.T. users was the time. Responders who were P.T. users would be prepared to pay up to 0,07 Euros extra on the bus fare to achieve time gains of five minutes on average. The proposals for the improvement of the public transport system in the three case studies (rank in

Vl.bau Tlmsport arld the Er~~il.oi~merltit1 the 21st Cmtur;~ 17

order of preference, "1" being the highest, "9" being the lowest) as expressed in the questionnaires are presented in the following figure 3.

Rap~dtrlps Better ~nformat~on

New bus l~nes I I I Reffableserv ce I I ~npro.ed~ehtcles

Figure 3: Proposals for the improvement of the public transport system (rank)

The proposals "cheaper fares", "frequent service" and "new bus lines" appear to be at a high priority in all case studies. The % of trips per transport mode the three case studies is presented in the following figure 4.

Truck semt-truck, comb~nattonof modes

Spec~albus

P T bus

Tax1

Passenger car

Motocycle

On toot f

Figure 4: Trips per transport mode (%)

The use of P.T. in the three examined cases is limited (less than 15%) compared to the use of passenger cars (which is more than 30% in all 3 cases). A remarkable high percentage of on foot trips was recorded in all 3 cases, something which can be explained by the fact that local conditions (e.g flat areas,

short distances) promote this kind of trips. The respective numbers in Athens [7] and in Thessaloniki [8] are the following: a) Athens: 31% P.T., 39% passenger car, 10% taxi, 10% trips on foot, 6% two-wheel cycles, 3% special bus, 1% semitruck (7 million trips per day with all modes) b) Thessaloniki : 27,5% P.T., 40,5% passenger car, 4,2% taxi. 18,296 trips on foot, 4,5% two-wheel cycles,

3,296 special bus, 1,996 other (1,6 million trips per day with all modes). Especially for the case of Thessaloniki [9], it must be mentioned that there is an increase, during the last decade, in the number of people who believe that the level of service of P.T. system is satisfactory (7,2% in year 1988 compared to 20,4% in the year 1998), but at the same period the percentage of people using

P.T. is decreasing. The average trip duration per transport mode (in minutes) in the three case studies is presented in the following figure 5.

Truck , comb mallon of modes

Spec~albus

On foot k=EullL

Figure 5: Average trip duration per transport mode (%)

From data presented in the above figure it seems that the average trip duration by bus is greater in all 3 cases than the respective number of passenger cars. In the following Table 1 the vehicle ownership in the three case studies is presented.

Table 1 : Vehicle ownership

I Bicycle Motocycle / Passeng. car I Rural engines Migdonia 0 91% 91% 35,1% 86,3% 1 83% 8,5% 543% 12,9% 2+ 0,2% 0,5% 10,496 0,8%

Pronortion 3411 000 3511000 28311 000 54/ 1000

0 38,8% 67% 24,4% 86,5% 1 45,3% 31,4% 61,8% 12,8% 2+ 15,9% 1,65 13,8% 0,7% Proportion 21911000 9811000 25411 000 401 1 000 Larissa 0 65,296 81,1% 28,976 96,4%

1 17,7% 65,6% 3,2% 24,8% 2+ 10% 1,2% 5,4% 0,4% Prnnortion 15311000 641 1 000 24 111 000 1311 000

The high percentage of bicycles and n~otocyclessupport the findings of the rather high use of these means of transportation in Larissa and Trikala. Concerning passenger cars, the numbers are close to the average numbers in Athens and Thessaloniki. More specifically, in Athens the respective number is

250 passenger cars per 1.000 inhabitants for the year 1996 [7], while in Thessaloniki is 253 passenger cars per 1.000 inhabitants for the year 1998 [8]. It must be mentioned at this point that the numbers referring to Larissa are based on data concerning the year 1997, while the respective numbers in the other two case studies are based on data concerning the year 2000. In the following Table 2, the occupancy of passenger cars in the three cities is presented (independently of the trip purpose)

Table 2: Occupancy of passenger cars in the three cities (all trip purposes)

Persons 1 2 3 4 5

Migdonia 57,5 28,9 8,7 4,3 0,5 Trikala 65,5 28,l 5,1 1 0,3 Larissa 52,7 33,l 7,7 5,5 0,9

As it was expected, in more than 50% of all cases, people use to drive their cars without any passenger inside.

3 Design of proposals for the improvement of the P.T. system

According to the analysis results which were presented in the previous paragraphs, one can summarize the findings identified in the three case studies. For the area of Migdonia, these findings include: a) Small size city, strongly dependent (satellite city) to the nearest metropolitan area (need for daily trips to and from the metropolitan area) b) P.T. system is in less favorable position compared to passenger car mainly due to long distance from the metropolitan area. For the city of Trikala, these findings include: a) Medium size city, P.T. system (buses) mainly serving the connection of the city center with the villages in the near area b) High percentage of two-wheel cycle trips, and on foot trips although no appropriate infrastructure exists c) Lack of P.T. system for trips made within municipal boundaries d) Lack of demand management measures in the city center (thus encouragement of passenger car usage). Finally, for the city of Larissa, these findings include: a) Large size city, P.T. system (buses belonging to K.T.E.L.) serving the city itself b) Most of the bus lines pass through the city center, thus producing traffic problems c) Need for supplementary bus priority measures d) Need for connection of discrete land uses e) Lack of a bus line to serve the perimeter of the city center. Proposals in the first case (Migdonia) consist of the following measures: a) frequent and reliable bus service between city and nearest metropolitan area b) low bus fares (proposed fare is 0,52 euros, existing fare is 0,73 euros) c) extension of the urban P.T. system of the metropolitan area up to the small city

(possible replacement of the existing interurban P.T. system by a municipaL1urbanP.T system). From the economic analysis of the various P.T scenarios which were examined, a surplus of 172.500 euros exist per year for the P.T. operator in the case of the optimum scenario (high demand) and a deficit of 900 euros exist in the worst case scenario (low demand). In the following map 1, the proposed P.T connection of Migdonia with Thessaloniki and other main destinations is presented.

Map 1. Proposed P T measures for Mlgdonla

Proposals for Trikala consist of: a) frequent and reliable bus service between city and villages in the near area b) no significant changes to bus fares (proposed 0,49-0,87 euros, existing 0,46-0,84) c) renewal of bus fleet with environment friendly engines d) introduction of midi-buses service for trips made within the municipality boundaries (6 round routes). The indicative technical characteristics of these vehicles are: 8,6 m long, 2,4 m width, diesel engine Euro 11, 58 passengers. From other case studies in Greece [10], the use of small buses is proved to be an efficient solution to traffic and environmental problems.

A surplus of 190.000 euros exist annually for the operator in the case of the optimum scenario (high demand) and a deficit of 184.000 euros in the worst case scenario (low demand). In map 2, the proposed P.T system is presented.

I I

Map 2: Proposed P.T measures for Trikala

Proposals in Larissa consist of: a) new bus lanesibusways. The importance of bus lanes was investigated in terms of external productivity in recent research in Greece [ll]. The criteria for bus lanes include repeated occurrence of delay on certain stretches, a reasonable number of buses per hour and the keeping of disadvantages for individual traffic to a reasonable level [l21 b) Introduction of a new bus line serving the ring road c) Provision of P.T. connection between terminals (railway station, bus station).

Map 3: Proposed P.T measures for Larissa (main and secondary bus network)

4 Discussion

Although it is not easy to draw safe conclusions from the examination of only three cases, the following design principles can be of general interest: a) In case of small size interurban areas which are found close to nletropolitan areas (m.a.),

the most appropriate long term solution is the connection to the m.a. via the P.T system of the m.a. (instead of the existing interurban bus connection). b) In case of medium size cities having a large number of small villages in their nearer area, the interurban bus connection must be improved but also the introduction of a midibus service is essential for trips made within the city boundaries. c) In case of cities of medium size which actually are metropolitan areas, the use of a P.T. system with main and secondary bus lines is appropriate together with the introduction of bus priority measures. In such cases, the introduction of a new line in order to serve the perimeter of the city center is also essential. Therefore, these measures can be used as a reference when trying to solve similar problems in urban areas of similar size and particularity.

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