T RANSIT C OOPERATIVE R ESEARCH P ROGRAM SPONSORED BY The Federal Transit Administration TCRP Report 30 Transit Scheduling: Basic and Advanced Manuals Transportation Research Board National Research Council TCRP OVERSIGHT AND PROJECT TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 1998 SELECTION COMMITTEE CHAIR OFFICERS MICHAEL S. TOWNES Peninsula Transportation Dist. Comm. Chairwoman: Sharon D. Banks, General Manager, AC Transit Vice Chairman: Wayne Shackelford, Commissioner, Georgia Department of Transportation MEMBERS Executive Director: Robert E. Skinner, Jr., Transportation Research Board GORDON AOYAGI Montgomery County Government SHARON D. BANKS MEMBERS AC Transit LEE BARNES THOMAS F. BARRY, JR., Secretary of Transportation, Florida Department of Transportation Barwood, Inc. BRIAN J. L. BERRY, Lloyd Viel Berkner Regental Professor, Bruton Center for Development Studies, GERALD L. BLAIR University of Texas at Dallas Indiana County Transit Authority SARAH C. CAMPBELL, President, TransManagement, Inc., Washington, DC SHIRLEY A. DeLIBERO E. DEAN CARLSON, Secretary, Kansas Department of Transportation New Jersey Transit Corporation JOANNE F. CASEY, President, Intermodal Association of North America, Greenbelt, MD ROD J. DIRIDON JOHN W. FISHER, Director, ATLSS Engineering Research Center, Lehigh University IISTPS GORMAN GILBERT, Director, Institute for Transportation Research and Education, North Carolina State SANDRA DRAGGOO University CATA DELON HAMPTON, Chair and CEO, Delon Hampton & Associates, Washington, DC CONSTANCE GARBER LESTER A. HOEL, Hamilton Professor, Civil Engineering, University of Virginia York County Community Action Corp. JAMES L. LAMMIE, Director, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc., New York, NY ALAN J. GIBBS THOMAS F. LARWIN, General Manager, San Diego Metropolitan Transit Development Board Rutgers, The State Univ. of New Jersey BRADLEY L. MALLORY, Secretary of Transportation, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation DELON HAMPTON JEFFREY J. MCCAIG, President and CEO, Trimac Corporation, Calgary, Alberta, Canada Delon Hampton & Associates JOSEPH A. MICKES, Chief Engineer, Missouri Department of Transportation KATHARINE HUNTER-ZAWORSKI MARSHALL W. MOORE, Director, North Dakota Department of Transportation Oregon State University ANDREA RINIKER, Executive Director, Port of Tacoma ALAN F. KIEPPER JOHN M. SAMUELS, VP—Operations Planning & Budget, Norfolk Southern Corporation Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc. Norfolk, VA PAUL LARROUSSE LES STERMAN, Executive Director, East-West Gateway Coordinating Council, St. Louis, MO Madison Metro Transit System JAMES W. VAN LOBEN SELS, Director, CALTRANS (Past Chair, 1996) ROBERT G. LINGWOOD MARTIN WACHS, Director, University of California Transportation Center, University of California at BC Transit Berkeley GORDON J. LINTON DAVID L. WINSTEAD, Secretary, Maryland Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration DAVID N. WORMLEY, Dean of Engineering, Pennsylvania State University (Past Chair, 1997) DON S. MONROE Pierce Transit PATRICIA S. NETTLESHIP EX OFFICIO MEMBERS The Nettleship Group, Inc. ROBERT E. PAASWELL MIKE ACOTT, President, National Asphalt Pavement Association The City College of New York JOE N. BALLARD, Chief of Engineers and Commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers JAMES P. REICHERT ANDREW H. CARD, JR., President and CEO, American Automobile Manufacturers Association Reichert Management Services KELLEY S. COYNER, Acting Administrator, Research and Special Programs, U.S. Department of Transportation RICHARD J. SIMONETTA MORTIMER L. DOWNEY, Deputy Secretary, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Transportation MARTA FRANCIS B. FRANCOIS, Executive Director, American Association of State Highway and Transportation PAUL P. SKOUTELAS Officials Port Authority of Allegheny County DAVID GARDINER, Assistant Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency PAUL TOLIVER JANE F. GARVEY, Administrator, Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation King County DOT/Metro JOHN E. GRAYKOWSKI, Acting Maritime Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation LINDA WATSON ROBERT A. KNISELY, Deputy Director, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation Corpus Christi RTA GORDON J. LINTON, Federal Transit Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation EDWARD WYTKIND RICARDO MARTINEZ, National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation AFL-CIO WALTER B. McCORMICK, President and CEO, American Trucking Associations, Inc. WILLIAM W. MILLAR, President, American Public Transit Association EX OFFICIO MEMBERS JOLENE M. MOLITORIS, Federal Railroad Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation WILLIAM W. MILLAR KAREN BORLAUG PHILLIPS, Senior Vice President, Association of American Railroads APTA GEORGE D. WARRINGTON, Acting President and CEO, National Railroad Passenger Corporation KENNETH R. WYKLE KENNETH R. WYKLE, Federal Highway Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation FHWA FRANCIS B. FRANCOIS AASHTO TRANSIT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM ROBERT E. SKINNER, JR. TRB Transportation Research Board Executive Committee Subcommittee for TCRP TDC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SHARON D. BANKS, AC Transit (Chairwoman) LOUIS F. SANDERS LESTER A. HOEL, University of Virginia APTA THOMAS F. LARWIN, San Diego Metropolitan Transit Development Board GORDON J. LINTON, U.S. Department of Transportation SECRETARY WAYNE SHACKELFORD, Georgia Department of Transportation ROBERT J. REILLY ROBERT E. SKINNER, JR., Transportation Research Board TRB DAVID N. WORMLEY, Pennsylvania State University T RANSIT C OOPERATIVE RESEARCH P ROGRAM Report 30 Transit Scheduling: Basic and Advanced Manuals RANDALL PINE JAMES NIEMEYER RUSSELL CHISHOLM Transportation Management & Design Solana Beach, CA in association with Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates Subject Area Planning and Administration Public Transit Research Sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration in Cooperation with the Transit Development Corporation T RANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS Washington, D.C. 1998 TRANSIT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM TCRP REPORT 30 The nation's growth and the need to meet mobility, Project A-11 FY'94 environmental, and energy objectives place demands on public ISSN 1073-4872 transit systems. Current systems, some of which are old and in need ISBN 0-309-0-06262-4 of upgrading, must expand service area, increase service frequency, Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 98-60091 and improve efficiency to serve these demands. Research is © 1998 Transportation Research Board necessary to solve operating problems, to adapt appropriate new technologies from other industries, and to introduce innovations Price $57.00 into the transit industry. The Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) serves as one of the principal means by which the transit industry can develop innovative near-term solutions to meet demands placed on it. The need for TCRP was originally identified in TRB Special Report 213—Research for Public Transit: New Directions, published in 1987 and based on a study sponsored by the Urban Mass Transportation Administration—now the Federal Transit NOTICE Administration (FTA). A report by the American Public Transit Association (APTA), Transportation 2000, also recognized the The project that is the subject of this report was a part of the Transit need for local, problem-solving research. TCRP, modeled after the Cooperative Research Program conducted by the Transportation Research longstanding and successful National Cooperative Highway Board with the approval of the Governing Board of the National Research Research Program, undertakes research and other technical Council. Such approval reflects the Governing Board's judgment that the activities in response to the needs of transit service providers. The project concerned is appropriate with respect to both the purposes and scope of TCRP includes a variety of transit research fields resources of the National Research Council. including planning, service configuration, equipment, facilities, The members of the technical advisory panel selected to monitor this operations, human resources, maintenance, policy, and project and to review this report were chosen for recognized scholarly administrative practices. competence and with due consideration for the balance of disciplines TCRP was established under FTA sponsorship in July 1992. appropriate to the project. The opinions and conclusions expressed or Proposed by the U.S. Department of Transportation, TCRP was implied are those of the research agency that performed the research, and authorized as part of the Intermodal Surface Transportation while they have been accepted as appropriate by the technical panel, they Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA). On May 13, 1992, a are not necessarily those of the Transportation Research Board, the National memorandum agreement outlining TCRP operating procedures was Research Council, the Transit Development Corporation, or the Federal Transit Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation. executed by the three cooperating organizations: FTA; the National Academy of Sciences, acting through the Transportation Each report is reviewed and accepted for publication by the technical panel Research Board (TRB); and the Transit Development according to procedures established and monitored by the Transportation Corporation, Inc. (TDC), a nonprofit educational and research Research Board Executive Committee and the Governing Board of the organization established by