Passenger Arrival Rates at Pubilc Transportation
PASSENGER ARRIVAL RATES AT PUBLIC TRANSPORT STATIONS Marco Luethi (corresponding author), Ulrich Weidmann, Andrew Nash Institute for Transport Planning and Systems ETH Zurich Switzerland October 26, 2006 Telephone: +41 44 633-2415 Fax: +41 44 633-1057 E-Mail: luethi@ivt.baug.ethz.ch http://www.ivt.ethz.ch/oev/index_EN 4129 words + 7 figures + 2 tables = 6379 words
ABSTRACT The amount of time spent waiting at a public transport station is a key element in a passenger’s assessment of service quality and in mode choice decisions. Many transport models estimate the average wait time is half the headway for small headways and use a maximum waiting time for headways over a given value. The assumption is that at small headways passengers do not bother to consult schedules since vehicles arrive frequently; therefore these passengers arrive regularly at the station. In contrast, at longer headways passengers do consult schedules to reduce their waiting time; these passengers arrive clustered around the departure time. This research evaluated the influence of headway and other factors on passenger arrival rates at public transport stations based on data collected at 28 stations in Zurich’s public transport network. It found that even at 5-minute headways, some passengers consulted schedules and did not arrive randomly at the station. This finding is interesting since 5-minutes is much lower than many models assume, therefore these models may be overstating passenger wait time. The research also found time-of-day and reliability had an important influence on passenger arrival rates. The research proposes a model for passenger arrival rates at stations that combines a uniform distribution with a shifted Johnson SB distribution.
Luethi, M., U. Weidmann and A. Nash
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PASSENGER ARRIVAL RATES AT PUBLIC TRANSPORT STATIONS 1. INTRODUCTION Passenger arrival rates at public transport stations are important for two main reasons. First, passenger arrival rates determine
ABSTRACT The amount of time spent waiting at a public transport station is a key element in a passenger’s assessment of service quality and in mode choice decisions. Many transport models estimate the average wait time is half the headway for small headways and use a maximum waiting time for headways over a given value. The assumption is that at small headways passengers do not bother to consult schedules since vehicles arrive frequently; therefore these passengers arrive regularly at the station. In contrast, at longer headways passengers do consult schedules to reduce their waiting time; these passengers arrive clustered around the departure time. This research evaluated the influence of headway and other factors on passenger arrival rates at public transport stations based on data collected at 28 stations in Zurich’s public transport network. It found that even at 5-minute headways, some passengers consulted schedules and did not arrive randomly at the station. This finding is interesting since 5-minutes is much lower than many models assume, therefore these models may be overstating passenger wait time. The research also found time-of-day and reliability had an important influence on passenger arrival rates. The research proposes a model for passenger arrival rates at stations that combines a uniform distribution with a shifted Johnson SB distribution.
Luethi, M., U. Weidmann and A. Nash
2
PASSENGER ARRIVAL RATES AT PUBLIC TRANSPORT STATIONS 1. INTRODUCTION Passenger arrival rates at public transport stations are important for two main reasons. First, passenger arrival rates determine
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