How network structure can boost and shape the demand for bus transit

Conventional wisdom states that transit riders are averse to transfers and that consequently bus networks should be designed to limit their number. Probably as a result of this belief, many real bus systems try to connect as many origins and destinations as possible without transfers, so they are us...

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Autores: Badia Rodríguez, Hugo|||0000-0002-6550-7983, Argote-Cabanero, Juan, Daganzo, Carlos F.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2017
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/384340
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/384340
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2017.05.030
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Bus lines--Management
Bus network design
Bus system
Network effect
Public transport
Transfer-based network
Autobusos
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria civil::Infraestructures i modelització dels transports::Transport urbà
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spelling How network structure can boost and shape the demand for bus transitBadia Rodríguez, Hugo|||0000-0002-6550-7983Argote-Cabanero, JuanDaganzo, Carlos F.Bus lines--ManagementBus network designBus systemNetwork effectPublic transportTransfer-based networkAutobusosÀrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria civil::Infraestructures i modelització dels transports::Transport urbàConventional wisdom states that transit riders are averse to transfers and that consequently bus networks should be designed to limit their number. Probably as a result of this belief, many real bus systems try to connect as many origins and destinations as possible without transfers, so they are usually composed of long, circuitous routes with redundant overlapping sections – and the resulting bus map is hard to understand. If coverage is extensive, many routes are needed. Economics then prevents an agency from populating all routes with sufficient buses to provide attractively frequent service. This low frequency and the complicated circuitous map discourage transfers, perpetuating the belief that people are averse to transferring. Not surprisingly, the percentage of bus trips that includes a transfer has been reported to be: 1.5% for Boston, 3% for New York, 13% for London, and 16% for Melbourne. The Nova Xarxa in Barcelona was designed with a different paradigm. It was designed and deployed to cover the whole city on the belief that if a bus map is easy to understand, and has direct lines with frequent service and ubiquitous transfer points then the bus system would become more appealing, people would transfer more freely and become users of the network rather than its single lines. With this design paradigm, a city can be covered with fewer lines, which can be depicted on a simple map. The lines can in turn be economically populated with sufficient buses to deliver the high frequency required to encourage transfers. Could this work? To answer this question and see whether there is truth in the beliefs underlying the new paradigm, this paper examines data from the first three deployment phases of the Nova Xarxa (from 2012 to 2015). It is found that the Nova Xarxa is already attracting more demand than the network it replaced. This attests to its appeal. Furthermore, this demand has increased disproportionately with the number of lines opened for service in each phase, revealing that some people are using the Nova Xarxa as a network. The paper further shows that this growth is underpinned by transfers - at the end of 2015, the percentage of trips that involved a transfer was approximately 26%, and it reached a maximum of 57% for line V7. These numbers should increase considerably (to 44% and 66%, respectively) once the Nova Xarxa is completed in 2018 and passengers have even more opportunities for transferring. The numbers disprove the conventional wisdom. They strongly suggest that transit providers can attract more demand by providing transfer-friendly networks that can be used as such and not as an inefficient aggregation of individual lines.Peer Reviewed20172017-09-0120232023-02-28journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501AMhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_ab4af688f83e57aainfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/2117/384340https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2017.05.030reponame:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPCinstname:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)Inglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/3843402026-05-27T15:37:01Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv How network structure can boost and shape the demand for bus transit
title How network structure can boost and shape the demand for bus transit
spellingShingle How network structure can boost and shape the demand for bus transit
Badia Rodríguez, Hugo|||0000-0002-6550-7983
Bus lines--Management
Bus network design
Bus system
Network effect
Public transport
Transfer-based network
Autobusos
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria civil::Infraestructures i modelització dels transports::Transport urbà
title_short How network structure can boost and shape the demand for bus transit
title_full How network structure can boost and shape the demand for bus transit
title_fullStr How network structure can boost and shape the demand for bus transit
title_full_unstemmed How network structure can boost and shape the demand for bus transit
title_sort How network structure can boost and shape the demand for bus transit
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Badia Rodríguez, Hugo|||0000-0002-6550-7983
Argote-Cabanero, Juan
Daganzo, Carlos F.
author Badia Rodríguez, Hugo|||0000-0002-6550-7983
author_facet Badia Rodríguez, Hugo|||0000-0002-6550-7983
Argote-Cabanero, Juan
Daganzo, Carlos F.
author_role author
author2 Argote-Cabanero, Juan
Daganzo, Carlos F.
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Bus lines--Management
Bus network design
Bus system
Network effect
Public transport
Transfer-based network
Autobusos
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria civil::Infraestructures i modelització dels transports::Transport urbà
topic Bus lines--Management
Bus network design
Bus system
Network effect
Public transport
Transfer-based network
Autobusos
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria civil::Infraestructures i modelització dels transports::Transport urbà
description Conventional wisdom states that transit riders are averse to transfers and that consequently bus networks should be designed to limit their number. Probably as a result of this belief, many real bus systems try to connect as many origins and destinations as possible without transfers, so they are usually composed of long, circuitous routes with redundant overlapping sections – and the resulting bus map is hard to understand. If coverage is extensive, many routes are needed. Economics then prevents an agency from populating all routes with sufficient buses to provide attractively frequent service. This low frequency and the complicated circuitous map discourage transfers, perpetuating the belief that people are averse to transferring. Not surprisingly, the percentage of bus trips that includes a transfer has been reported to be: 1.5% for Boston, 3% for New York, 13% for London, and 16% for Melbourne. The Nova Xarxa in Barcelona was designed with a different paradigm. It was designed and deployed to cover the whole city on the belief that if a bus map is easy to understand, and has direct lines with frequent service and ubiquitous transfer points then the bus system would become more appealing, people would transfer more freely and become users of the network rather than its single lines. With this design paradigm, a city can be covered with fewer lines, which can be depicted on a simple map. The lines can in turn be economically populated with sufficient buses to deliver the high frequency required to encourage transfers. Could this work? To answer this question and see whether there is truth in the beliefs underlying the new paradigm, this paper examines data from the first three deployment phases of the Nova Xarxa (from 2012 to 2015). It is found that the Nova Xarxa is already attracting more demand than the network it replaced. This attests to its appeal. Furthermore, this demand has increased disproportionately with the number of lines opened for service in each phase, revealing that some people are using the Nova Xarxa as a network. The paper further shows that this growth is underpinned by transfers - at the end of 2015, the percentage of trips that involved a transfer was approximately 26%, and it reached a maximum of 57% for line V7. These numbers should increase considerably (to 44% and 66%, respectively) once the Nova Xarxa is completed in 2018 and passengers have even more opportunities for transferring. The numbers disprove the conventional wisdom. They strongly suggest that transit providers can attract more demand by providing transfer-friendly networks that can be used as such and not as an inefficient aggregation of individual lines.
publishDate 2017
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2017
2017-09-01
2023
2023-02-28
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
AM
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_ab4af688f83e57aa
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/2117/384340
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2017.05.030
url https://hdl.handle.net/2117/384340
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2017.05.030
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
instname:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
instname_str Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
reponame_str UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
collection UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
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