Public Transport planning: Perfect services all along the line for passengers and planners

Abstract

Today's society has high expectations regarding mobility: It should be powerful, secure, eco-friendly and inexpensive. Public transport has a key role to play in this ambivalent environment. Therefore, it is important to plan it in an anticipatory and market-oriented manner. However, the design, implementation and operation of public transport systems are demanding tasks. Professional software tools can assist planners in coping with these tasks. Most important for Public Transport network planning to consider the Public transport supply (e.g. network, services, vehicles) and demand, i.e. the passengers, simultaneously and consistently along the whole planning process. Thus, a software tool needs to consider model the behaviour of people as well as operational tasks. The paper, if accepted, will give an overview about the capabilities and benefits of an integrated software-based planning and will include among other things discussion about the following topics:-Analyse service quality purely based on transport supply-Modelling Public Transport demand-Connecting supply and demand by different assignment methods-Including fare models into the analyses-Calculation number of required vehicles (vehicles scheduling), costs and revenues for different scenarios-Presentation of the results to the planner and also the decision maker Goal of the presentation and the paper will be to support decision makers to choose an appropriate level of planning and appropriate tools for their task. Finally, this will improve the level of service in Public Transport, while concurrently not increasing costs or even saving money.

Full text

17th IRF World Meeting 1 / 7
Schlaich, Möhl
Public Transport planning: Perfect services all along the line
for passengers and planners
Dr. Johannes Schlaich (corresponding author)
PTV Group
Haid-und-Neu-Str. 15, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
Email: Johannes.Schlaich@ptvgroup.com
Phone: +49 721 9651 0
Peter Möhl
PTV AG Dubai Branch
P.O. Box 309012, Dubai, U.A.E.
Email: Peter.Moehl@ptvgroup.com
Phone: +971 50 6244647
Abstract
Today's society has high expectations regarding mobility: It should be powerful, secure, eco-
friendly and inexpensive. Public transport has a key role to play in this ambivalent environment.
Therefore, it is important to plan it in an anticipatory and market-oriented manner. However, the
design, implementation and operation of public transport systems are demanding tasks.
Professional software tools can assist planners in coping with these tasks.
Most important for Public Transport network planning to consider the Public transport supply
(e.g. network, services, vehicles) and demand, i.e. the passengers, simultaneously and
consistently along the whole planning process.
Thus, a software tool needs to consider model the behaviour of people as well as operational
tasks. The paper, if accepted, will give an overview about the capabilities and benefits of an
integrated software-based planning and will include among other things discussion about the
following topics:
- Analyse service quality purely based on transport supply
- Modelling Public Transport demand
- Connecting supply and demand by different assignment methods
- Including fare models into the analyses
- Calculation number of required vehicles (vehicles scheduling), costs and revenues for different
scenarios
- Presentation of the results to the planner and also the decision maker
Goal of the presentation and the paper will be to support decision makers to choose an
appropriate level of planning and appropriate tools for their task. Finally, this will improve the
level of service in Public Transport, while concurrently not increasing costs or even saving
money.

17th IRF World Meeting 2 / 7
Schlaich, Möhl
INTRODUCTION
Today's society has high expectations regarding mobility: It should be powerful, secure, eco-
friendly and inexpensive. Public transport has a key role to play in this ambivalent environment
[3]. However, not only today’s situation is demand, the Public Transport sector is facing major
challenges in the future. A recent survey [2] identified fewer resources and climate change and
demographic change as the major drivers for the Public Transport in the future:
Figure 1: Drivers of future Public Transport planning [2]
Therefore, it is important to plan it in an anticipatory and market-oriented manner. However, the
design, implementation and operation of public transport systems are demanding tasks.
Professional software tools assist planners in coping with these tasks. A comprehensive
planning tool should offer detailed planning and analysis functions, easy-to-interpret display
options that cover all strategic and operational processes across public transport planning.
Important to note is that it is always required to link the transport demand with the transport
supply.

17th IRF World Meeting 3 / 7
Schlaich, Möhl
DEMAND-BASED PUBLIC TRANSPORT NETWORK AND SUPPLY PLANNING
One of the classic tasks of network modelling is to provide passengers with an attractive line
network that at the same time is efficient from an operative perspective. In terms of spatial
planning, this means to determine the line routes and transfer points in the network. Temporal
planning, on the other hand, focuses on the optimum headway, the coordination of lines and
connections between the stops and the analysis of supply in terms of line performance and
output.
Users usually import timetable and network data from common systems and use it for modelling
the current public transport supply. Network data is imported via interfaces to geographic
information systems (GIS) and timetable information systems, such as Google Transit, HAFAS
or railML. Moreover, it is possible to import data from different sources, including automatic
passenger counting, vehicle tracking and ticketing systems or MS Office. All services can then
be displayed and edited in the public transport network editor, in the tabular and graphic
timetable.
In order to analyse the quality of public transport services from the passengers' point of view,
planners can use transport planning software to combine public transport supply with statistical
data of land use, number of jobs and residents. GIS functionalities shall enable the planner to
identify how many residents can reach the next long-distance train station within a given travel
time, for example. But users cannot only analyse travel times, there are also detailed parameter
analyses to visualise transfer frequencies and waiting times for all connections across the entire
network.
Figure 2: Simple analysis of public transport supply based on stop catchment areas
How attractive new lines, new connections or more frequent services actually are for all
passengers and whether these changes will have the effects and impacts desired can best be
judged by modelling demand by means of an origin-destination matrix. Such matrix can be

17th IRF World Meeting 4 / 7
Schlaich, Möhl
created on the basis of public transport survey data or a multi-modal demand model, such as
the classic four-stage algorithm. The latter models all passenger choices in both private and
public transport – from the choice of the destination to the transport mode and transport
connection. This also allows planners to calculate the changes in modal split caused by
improved public transport services.
ATTRACTIVENESS – A MEASURABLE BENCHMARK
One can differentiate between three assignment methods which identify possible connections of
the passengers for each origin-destination pair and then assign the demand matrix to these
connections.
The simplest one is the transport system-based assignment, a quite pragmatic approach to
conceptual public transport network planning. It does not include any timetable data and does
not even require a line network, however it allows users to differentiate between road- and rail-
bound transport. Based on demand matrices it models the desired network from the
passengers' perspective. This so-called "what-if scenario" indicates which public transport
options passengers would chose to travel from the origin to the destination, if they were not
limited in their choices.
If there is a timetable, there are two additional assignment methods – the headway-based and
timetable-based assignment. The timetable-based assignment is often used for timetables with
high and regular frequency services. Moreover, it enables planners to create impact analyses of
long-term planning scenarios, such as transport master plans which, due to efficiency reasons,
do not require detailed timetables to be modelled for each scenario. However, precise
information on transfers cannot be included in the assignment without timetable modelling.
Nevertheless, users can assign pre-defined transfer times to specific transfers. This includes
transfers between regional trains and buses, which can usually be scheduled quite precisely.
The timetable-based assignment offers the highest level of detail. It allows for fine-tuned
planning and analyses including complex transfers and connections. This means planners can
realistically model various effects, such as transfer waiting times and analyse measures for
optimising individual stops.
Another important factor for connection choice may be the effects of capacity constraints in the
assignment. As a result, overcrowded lines become less attractive due to the large amount of
passengers. Just like in reality, in the model, passengers switch to less crowded modes of
transport. From a technical point of view, the capacity constraint is included in the impedance
calculation of each connection, in addition to other attributes such as travel time and transfer
frequency. This additional component can e.g. be a function of the assumed standing minutes
on a bus or train. The seats are randomly allocated to the passengers for each stop section – a
procedure which is quite similar to the popular children's game of musical chairs.

17th IRF World Meeting 5 / 7
Schlaich, Möhl
FARE MODELLING
Capacity utilisation of individual connections is not the only parameter which can be included in
the impedance calculation during the assignment. In addition to the classic parameters, such as
journey time, waiting time and transfer frequency, it is also the fare which may play a major role.
As tariff structures are often complicated, a software tool shall allow users to model any type of
fare and tariff model in all their facets including dependencies. This, for example, means
multiply-counted zones for a city centre can be combined with short-distance tariffs or transitory
tariffs for different transport associations.
If fare prices have been modelled in detail, they can be accounted for during assignment. The
assignment method then shows how tariffs influence the passengers' route choice.
Consequently, only a few people will take an expensive high-speed train for travelling a short
distance if they can take a cheaper local train instead. Moreover, users can analyse the impact
of fare changes on revenue. It thus allows transport associations and authorities to check how
profitable it is to change a fare or introduce a new ticket type and what is the right price of the
ticket to secure revenues.
Once fares are modelled, users will expect that the software calculates revenues distinctly. In
other words, it should be broken down into different areas (e.g. transport associations, districts)
as well as displayed on the basis of different aggregations (e.g. lines, operators). Flexible
revenue distribution models shall enable users to evaluate several performance-based
distribution schemes for several operators serving a transport association.
According to [2] cost pressure is a major driver or regular modification of the Public Transport
network. Beside the revenue estimation with fare and demand modelling, an importation factor
for a cost-efficient Public Transport is the vehicle cost. In order to estimate the number of
required vehicles for a scenario, vehicle scheduling (also known as line blocking) is required.
For a complete line costing and revenue calculation, which assesses the profitability and cost
coverage of an entire public transport network or its service units, it is also necessary to
determine the costs of infrastructure and operations ([1], [4], [5]). An important basis for cost
calculation is the number of vehicles required. For this the vehicle scheduling process is crucial.
There are two approaches for this task.
VEHICLE SCHEDULING
With a basic line blocking, the planner himself defines the vehicle types of his choice. The
automatic line blocking procedure completes the process on the basis of the timetable while
following user-defined rules. In this context, depots and their capacities are explicitly taken into
consideration. Journey-specific preparation and completion times as well as additional activities
such as refuelling or cleaning are included as well.
Detailed line blocking provides greater room for manoeuvre. Planners can model forced
chaining or optimise the use of vehicles by also taking alternative types of vehicles into account.
Instead of selecting a specific vehicle type, planners can then allocate a number of different
vehicle types to the trip. The optimisation procedure then chooses the type that ensures a
minimum deployment of vehicles. Here, it is again possible to integrate demand. To permit
demand-optimised vehicle deployment, the vehicle choice is based on the capacity of each
vehicle type in terms of passenger volume generated during assignment or using survey data.
At this stage of the planning process, graphical formats such as block diagrams of line blocking
results (see e.g. Figure 3) also assist planners in identifying and developing the network's
optimisation potential in terms of profitability.

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Schlaich, Möhl
Figure 3: Block diagram: schematic display of the line blocking results.
COMPACT VIEW: THE SCHEMATIC LINE DIAGRAM
Visualisation of results is essential for the success of Public Transport planning. A schematic
line diagram provides an important visualisation option (see e.g. Figure 4). Using the schematic
line diagram, planners can abstract the network according to their needs. The schematic line
diagram visualises the network relationships and gives users an ideal overview of transfer
stops. A wide range of graphical parameters and labelling options provide the information
required.
Figure 4: The schematic line diagram provides users with detailed information on stops and
routes at a glance

17th IRF World Meeting 7 / 7
Schlaich, Möhl
Stops are displayed as boxes to which users may add timetable details. Information on arrival
and departure times for all lines is thus provided at a glance enabling planners to ensure
services with regular headways across several lines. The links between the selected stops are
displayed as edges. Lines, transport systems, and service frequencies can be classified by
using bars of different colours and different types of dashed lines.
REFERENCES
[1] Friedrich, M., Schlaich, J., Schleupen, G. (2007), Modell zur Ermittlung der
Betriebsleistung und der Betriebskosten für Busverkehre, Tagungsband der 21.
Verkehrswissenschaftlichen Tage 2007, Dresden.
[2] PTV Group (2013), Perspective - Public Transport: What moves the sector?, http://vision-
traffic.ptvgroup.com/en-uk/lp/ptv-visum/white-paper/, accessed 26th of June 2013.
[3] Rauh, W. (2010), Staukosten: Ein starkes Argument für den öffentlichen Verkehr, DER
NAHVERKEHR, Heft 7-8, S. 68ff.
[4] Remy, M., Zappe, F., Mott, P (2012), Komplexe Angebotsplanung beim Verkehrsverbund
Rhein-Neckar, DER NAHVERKEHR, Heft 9, S. 68ff.
[5] Schlaich, J., Schleupen, G. (2006), Benchmarking Subsidised Public Transport Services
(poster and abstract), Proceedings of 3rd International Symposium Networks for Mobility,
Stuttgart, Germany.