CE 567

Public Mass Transportation

Dr Afzal Ahmed
PhD in Transport Studies (University of Leeds,
Leeds, UK)
MS in Engineering Science (University of
Mississippi, USA)
BE Urban Engineering (NED University)
Course Contents
• The development of public transportation
• Urban passenger modes
• Comparative analysis and selection of
transport modes
• Perspective of transport & highway planning
• Managing and operating public transportation
system
• Policy considerations
• Unconventional systems
• Mass and Rapid Transit Systems
What is Mass Transit System?
• Mass transit system refers to public shared
transportation, such as trains, buses, ferries
etc that can commute a larger number of
passengers from origin to destination on a
noreserved basis and in lesser time. It can
also be termed as Public Transport.
What is Mass Transit System?
• Rapid transit is an important form of mass transit such as
subways and surface light rail systems, designed for
commuting inter-city or intra-city.
• Mass transit may be based on fixed route system such as
subway trains, metros or non-fixed route system such as
buses.
• It is potentially more economical, eco-friendly and less time
consuming.
• In addition it is the most competent way of reducing the ever
growing traffic congestion of the developing city.
• Mass transit has the advantage of smaller rights of way and
developing lesser amount of infrastructure required for
highways and roads.
Transportation Modes
5
Effect of Shift
 Regular BRT Pedestrians Light Rail
Cyclists
single lane Bus
Mixed

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9 000 14 000 18 000 19 000 20 000

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Traffic

2 000

Suburban
BRT
Heavy Rail Rail
double lane (e.g. Hong Kong) (e.g. Mumbai)

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43 000 
80 000 100 000
Pphpd on 3.5m wide lane= pax / hour / direction
 To transport 10,000 people for one – kilometer (case of full occupancy)

Regular Heavy Articulated

Parameters Car Minibus a
Bus Bus Bus
 80
Persons per
5 25 105 180
vehicle

Vehicles
2000 400 125 95 55
needed
Area
occupied (sq. 48,000 8,800 3,000 3,260 2,600
mt)
Fuel
Consumption 400 120 40 30 31
(liters)
Density and Energy Consumption
80 Houston
Phoenix United States
Detroit
Denver
60 Los Angeles
Chicago
New York
40 Melbourne
Adelaide Australia and Canada

Sydney Europe
Paris
Toronto Asia
20 Berlin
Tokyo
Singapore
London Vienna
Hong Kong
20 40 60 80 100 300

Population density (people per hectare)

Trends in Karachi
 Streetcar
• Streetcar, also called tram or trolley, vehicle that runs on track
laid in the streets, operated usually in single units and usually
driven by electric motor.

• Early streetcars were either horse-drawn or depended for power

on storage batteries that were expensive and inefficient. In 1834
Thomas Davenport, a blacksmith from Brandon, Vermont, U.S.,
built a small battery-powered electric motor and used it to
operate a small car on a short section of track. In 1860 an
American, G.F. Train, opened three lines in London and one line
in Birkenhead. The system was called tramways in Britain and
was established at Salford in 1862 and Liverpool in 1865. The
invention of the dynamo (generator) led to the application of
transmitted power by means of overhead electrified wires to
streetcar lines, which subsequently proliferated in Britain,
Europe, and the United States.
The first underground railways (1863–1905)
Growth in Car Ownership in the
US
ROW-C
Category C represents surface streets with mixed traffic. Transit may have preferential
treatment, such as reserved lanes separated by lines or special signals or travel mixed with
other traffic.
ROW-B
Category B includes ROW types that are longitudinally physically separated by curbs,
barriers, grade separation, and the like from other traffic but with grade crossings for
vehicles and pedestrians, including regular street intersections.
 ROW-A
Category A is a fully controlled ROW without grade crossings or any legal access by
other vehicles or persons. It is also referred to as ‘‘gradeseparated,’’
‘‘private,’’ or ‘‘exclusive’’ ROW, and it can be a tunnel, an aerial structure (Photo 2.3), or
at-grade level.
 System Technologies
• System Technologies. Technology of transit
modes refers to the mechanical features of
their vehicles and ways. The four most
important features are defined here.
– Support
– Guidance
– Propulsion
– Control
Support
• Support is the vertical contact between vehicle
and riding surface, which transfers the vehicle
weight and traction force. The most common
types are rubber tire on concrete, asphalt, or
other surface and steel wheel on steel rail.
Other types of support are vehicle body on
water (boats and hydrofoils), air cushion
(hovercraft), and magnetic levitation.
Guidance
• Guidance refers to the means of lateral vehicle
guidance. Highway vehicles are steered (by the
 driver) and their lateral stability is provided by
wheel/support adhesion.
• Rail vehicles are guided by flanges and the conical
form of the wheel surfaces. A distinct feature of rail
technology is that its wheel/ rail assembly
combines both support and guidance. Externally
guided rubber-tired vehicles in all forms must have
additional wheels and surfaces for guidance.
Propulsion
• Propulsion refers to the type of propulsion unit
and method of traction, or transferring
 acceleration / deceleration forces. Its major
components are:
– Type of propulsion unit, the most common ones
being diesel internal combustion engine (ICE),
– Methods of transferring tractive force, including
friction /adhesion (dominant), magnetic forces,
cable, rotor (helicopter) and propeller, among
others.

Control
• Control is the means of regulating the travel of
one or all vehicles in a system.
The most important control is for longitudinal
spacing of the vehicles, which may be
manualvisual, manual-signal, fully automatic, or
various combinations of these.
 Types of Service
• First, by the types of routes and trips served:
– Short-haul transit is defined as low- to medium speed
services within small areas of high travel density,
such as central business districts (CBDs), campuses,
airports, and exhibition grounds.
– City transit, the most common type, includes transit
lines serving an entire city. They may operate on any
ROW category (C, B, or A).
– Regional transit consists of long high-speed lines with
few stops, serving long trips within the metropolitan
 Types of Service
region. Regional rail and some express bus lines
exemplify this category.
• Second, by stopping schedule or type of
operation:
– Local service is with all transit units stopping at all
stops (or as required by passengers).
– Accelerated service is operation when successive TUs
skip different sets of stations on a predetermined
schedule (e.g., skip-stop and zonal service).
 Types of Service
– Express service is provided when all TUs on a line
stop only at widely spaced stops. These lines often
parallel local service but serve fewer stops / stations,
comprising express/ local service.
• Third, by time of operation:
– Regular or all-day service is transit operated during most
daily hours. This is the basic transit service, and it includes
the great majority of transit lines.
– Commuter transit or peak-hour service refers to routes
operated during peak hours only. They are usually radial
from suburbs, focusing on the CBD, and designed for
 Types of Service
work trips only. Commuter transit is a supplement to an
all-day, regular transit but not a substitute for it.
– Special or irregular service is transit operated only during
special events (e.g., sporting events, conventions,
exhibitions, or public celebrations) and emergency
conditions (snowstorms, floods, etc.).
 Generic Classes of Transit Modes
• The most important classification of transit
modes is into three generic classes, based mostly
but not entirely on ROW type. These are defined
here.
– Street transit (also known as surface transit)
designates modes operated on streets with mixed
traffic (ROW category C). Its reliability depends on
traffic conditions, primarily traffic congestion and
various interferences, and its speed is lower than the
speed of traffic flow due to the time lost at passenger
 Generic Classes of Transit Modes
stops; buses, trolleybuses, and streetcars /tramways
are in this class.
• Semirapid transit consists of modes utilizing
mostly ROW category B, but C or A may also
be used on some sections. This class includes
a wide range of modes from those with B and
C categories, such as buses and light rail
transit (LRT) operating on separated ROW and
streets on the low side, to largely
 Generic Classes of Transit Modes
gradeseparated LRT with tunnels or aerial
structures (B and A) on the high side.
• Rapid transit modes operate exclusively on
category A ROW and have high speed, capacity,
reliability, and safety. All existing rapid transit
systems utilize guided technologies (rail or rubber
tire), which permit the operation of trains (high
capacity and low operating costs) and automatic
signal control (high safety). Because the term
Generic Classes of Transit Modes
‘‘rapid transit’’ is very popular, some cities use it
for their transit systems, although they consist of
buses or LRT only. Technically speaking, the bus
rapid transit (BRT) mode is semirapid, rather than
rapid transit.
 2.1.3 Transit System Components
• Vehicles or cars are referred to collectively as the
fleet
• Ways, travel ways, or rights-of-way
• Locations and facilities at which vehicles stop to
pick up and drop off passengers
• Bus garages or depots and rail yards
• Control systems include electric, computer and other
electronic equipment for vehicle detection,
communication and signals, as well as central
control facilities.
• Intelligent Transportation System (ITS)
 2.1.4 Transit System Operations, Service,
and Characteristics
• Transit operations include such activities as
scheduling, crew rostering, the running and
supervision of TUs, fare collection, and
system maintenance. They produce
transportation that is offered to potential
users.
• Transit system characteristics are classified in
four categories:
1. System performance
2. Level of service (LOS)
3. Impacts
4. Costs
System performance
System performance
Level of Service
 Evolution of Transport System
Small Settlements: Private Travel and
Paratransit.
Towns: Bus Transit and Arterial Streets.
Evolution of Transport System
Towns: Bus Transit and Arterial Streets.
Medium-Sized Cities: Transit Way Separation
and Guided Technology.
Medium-Sized Cities: Transit Way Separation
and Guided Technology.
Large Cities: Construction of Fully
Large Cities: Construction of Fully
Controlled Ways.
Large Cities: Construction of Fully
Large Cities: Construction of Fully

Controlled Ways.
THE FAMILY OF TRANSIT MODES:
CATEGORIES AND DESCRIPTIONS
 2.3.2 Street Transit Modes
– Regular bus (RB) mode consists of buses operating along fixed
lines on fixed schedules.
– Express bus service typically consists of buses operating on long
lines with widely spaced stops. It is characterized by higher-speed,
more comfortable travel, but service between fewer points and
sometimes with higher fares than RB service.
– Trolleybuses (TB) are the same vehicles as buses except that
instead of a diesel engine, they are propelled by an electric motor
and obtain power from two overhead wires along their lines.
– Streetcars (SCR) or tramways (in many U.S. cities known as
‘‘trolleys’’) are electrically powered rail transit vehicles operating as
one- to three-car TUs with a total TU capacity of 80 to 300 spaces,
mostly on streets with ROW categories B and C.
Medium-Capacity Modes: Semirapid
Transit

• Transit modes utilizing mostly ROW

category B are characterized by distinctly
higher performance—capacity, reliability,
speed, and passenger attraction—than the
street transit modes.
• Transit systems in this category include BRT
and LRT as well as automated medium
capacity systems, such as automated guided
transit (AGT).
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)
Light Rail Transit (LRT)
2.3.4 High-Performance Modes: Rapid Transit
2.3.4 High-Performance Modes: Rapid Transit
2.3.4 High-Performance Modes: Rapid Transit
• Rail rapid transit (RRT) or metro typically
consists of large four-axle electrically powered
rail vehicles (area up to 70 m2) that operate in
trains of up to 10 cars on fully controlled (A)
ROW with full signal control.
• This allows high speed, reliability, and
capacity, rapid boarding/ alighting at stations,
and failsafe operation (in the case of driver’s
error or disability, the train is stopped
automatically).
Some RRT systems are further characterized
by a high degree of automated operation or
fully automated operation without a driver.
 The operational planning
decomposition process
• The transit-operation planning process
commonly includes four basic activities,
usually performed in sequence:
(1) network route design,
(2) timetable development,
(3) vehicle scheduling, and
(4) crew scheduling
 Transit Planning Software
• AUSTRICS (www.austrics.com.au),
• HASTUS (www.giro.ca),
• ILOG (www.ilog.co.uk),
• MERAKAS Ltd (www2.omnitel.net/merakas),
• PTV (www.ptv.de),
• ROUTEMATCH (www.routematch. com),
• ROUTEMATE (www.nemsys.it),
• ROUTELOGIC (www.routelogic.com),
• SYSTRA (www.systra.com) and
• TRAPEZE (www.trapezesoftware.com).
Service standards
Evaluation standards and their
typical criteria range
Service viability
 Data-collection techniques
• Transit-data-collection techniques required
for operations planning can be divided into
three categories:
(i) manual-based methods,
(ii) automated-based methods, and
(iii) AVL-based methods (AVL automated
vehicle location).
Data-collection techniques
• Five primary techniques for collecting transit
data may be identified:
– point check,
– ride check,
– deadhead check, –
passenger survey and
– population surveys.
 2.2.3 Deadhead check
Deadhead check refers to the average vehicle
running time between an arrival point on one
route and a departure point on another route.
This deadheading time is required in a transit
system with interlining routes.
It is measured mainly by agency cars travelling
along the shortest path (in time) between the
two route end points.
This shortest path varies by time of day, day of
week and type of day.