University of South Florida Scholar Commons The eC nter for Urban Transportation Research National Center for Transit Research Publications (CUTR) 2-1-2015 Training Manual for Transit Service Planning and Scheduling CUTR Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cutr_nctr Recommended Citation "Training Manual for Transit Service Planning and Scheduling," National Center for Transit Research (NCTR) Report No. CUTR- NCTR-RR-2015-11, Center for Urban Transportation Research, University of South Florida, 2015. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5038/CUTR-NCTR-RR-2015-11 Available at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cutr_nctr/70 This Technical Report is brought to you for free and open access by the The eC nter for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in National Center for Transit Research Publications by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. / TRANSIT SERVICE PLAN NING AND SCHEDULING Training Manual Lehman Center for Transportation Research Florida International University 10555 West Flagler Street, EC 3609 Miami, FL 33174 Tel: 305-348-3144 | Fax: 305-348-2802 Email: [email protected] in association with National Center for Transit Research University of South Florida 4202 E. Fowler Ave., CUT100 Tampa, FL 33620 Tel: 813-974-3120 | Fax: 305-974-5168 Email: [email protected] i Training Manual for Transit Service Planning and Scheduling Copyright © 2015 by Lehman Center for Transportation Research Lehman Center for Transportation Research Florida International University 10555 West Flagler Street, EC 3609 Miami, FL 33174 All rights reserved. No part of this manual may be photocopied or reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. Moreover, no part of this publication can be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted by any means, or recorded or otherwise, without written permission from the author. Limits of Liability and Disclaimer of Warranty While every precaution has been taken in preparing this manual, including research, development, and testing, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. No liability is assumed by either publisher or author for damages resulting in the use of this information. Printed in the United States of America ii Foreword The manual is intended for use by new transit staff, as well as seasoned professionals who want to review key concepts and best practices in the transit industry. The manual consists of two sections: Transit Planning and Transit Scheduling. It covers material for performing essential transit tasks. Although the focus is on the bus mode, the material also includes discussions that involve other transportation modes. Using detailed descriptions of typical work tasks, the manual can assist with the intricacies of transit planning and scheduling. We believe that the availability and wide use of this manual will be a valuable contribution to the transportation industry and help transit professionals become more productive and effective in fulfilling their professional responsibilities. The training manual is versatile and can easily be adapted and tailored to specific training contexts. We hope that you enjoy this manual and encourage you to provide feedback so that we can further improve and update the manual in future editions. Fabian Cevallos, Ph.D. Transit Program Director Associate Research Professor Lehman Center for Transportation Research Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Tel: 305-348-3144 | Fax: 305-348-2802 Email: [email protected] iii Acknowledgements This transit manual was funded by the National Center for Transit Research (NCTR) under the direction of Mr. Joel Volinski. We are particularly grateful to Mr. Robert Pearsall, Retired Chief of Service Planning and Scheduling at Miami-Dade Transit (MDT), for his guidance and support throughout the project. His contributions were important for the direction and pertinence of the training manual. We would like to thank Ms. Thalia Pickering for the design, layout, and formatting of this manual; Ms. Natalie Defraene, Editor, for the timely assistance with the proofreading; and many special thanks to the following students from the Lehman Center for Transportation Research (LCTR) at Florida International University (FIU) for their assistance with the manual: Shirin Noei, Yasamin Amirpour, and Junias Aldajuste. Their contributions are gratefully acknowledged. The reviews and insightful comments from Mr. Christopher Deannuntis, Ms. Ann Joslin, and Mr. Robert Gregg with the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR), and from Mr. Steve Anderson and Ms. Jeannie Taylor with Palm Tran, are greatly appreciated. Finally, the project team would like to thank Dr. Fabian Cevallos for his direction and making this manual an overall success. iv Introduction Public transportation, also called mass transit, or transit, is a shared surface transportation mode that provides mobility for the general public. It carries a higher number of passengers than automobiles, is more energy-efficient, produces a lower impact on the environment, promotes sustainable development, and supports economic growth. Considering that transit is a labor-intensive service with expenses that can add up quickly, there is a need for efficiency in planning and scheduling. Transit planners and schedulers play a key role in the delivery of transit services. Their tasks and assignments, when done well, can improve the efficiency and quality of transit service. Hence, there is a need for a practical manual that includes key concepts for assisting transit professionals in performing the job efficiently and effectively. This manual is intended to provide the basic principles, methods, concepts and techniques for transit planners and schedulers. It is envisioned to serve as a guidance manual for many different users at transit agencies, consulting companies, and at universities for educational purposes. This manual is composed of two main parts: planning and scheduling. The planning portion of the manual emphasizes the process of exploring a number of opportunities for providing an efficient public transit service. It focuses on techniques that can help optimize the delivery of a sustainable transit service, based on existing conditions and available resources. The scheduling portion of the manual, on the other hand, accentuates the process where public transit vehicles are assigned at specific times to be at specific locations along a route. Each part of the manual contains several sections that cover specific topics related to its respective subjects to facilitate the utilization of this manual. For instance, the transit scheduling part of this manual covers many v different aspects of transit scheduling, including external factors such as union contracts that the scheduler should consider when implementing a transit schedule. This transit manual is also intended to help its users stimulate innovative thinking and foster career development. The manual stresses the integration of service planning and scheduling. The service planner must understand the fundamentals of scheduling, as the schedulers need to be familiar with the service planning process. It is important that service planners and schedulers interact with each other through the entire service and schedule development process rather than being two disconnected functions. References and a glossary of terms are included at the end of the manual to provide information on useful transit documents and common key term definitions. vi Table of Contents Foreword .............................................................................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................................... iv Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures ..................................................................................................................................................... xi List of Tables ..................................................................................................................................................... xii Transit Service Planning ............................... 1 A. Introduction: What is Transit Planning? ................... 1 Transit and Transportation Planning.......................................................................................................... 1 Long-Range Transportation Plan ................................................................................................................ 3 Medium-Range Transportation Plan ......................................................................................................... 5 Short-Range Transportation Plan ............................................................................................................ 6 Service Planning ............................................................................................................................................... 7 Major Functions of a Transit