Bus Queue Jump (Lane) Utilization: A case study in Calgary, AB Canada Muhammad Asim P.Eng, M.Sc. The City of Calgary

Transcription

1 Bus Queue Jump (Lane) Utilization: A case study in Calgary, AB Canada Muhammad Asim P.Eng, M.Sc. The City of Calgary 1

2 Presentation Outline Introduction to Calgary Transit Background of the Project (why we did that) Evaluation Feedback from the operators and customers Utilization study Methodology Results Conclusions/Lessons learned Recommendation 2

3 Calgary & Transit Calgary Transit Route Information Map Calgary Transit Population 1.24 million Light Rail Transit 2 Lines/45 stations 59.9 kms Customers 110 million per year Service Hours 2.85 million per year Regular bus service (>150 routes) Express bus service (>10 routes) Bus Rapid Transit (5 routes) 3

4 Transit Priority Measures And Vision of Transit bus service Reduce congesti ons Travel Time Reliabil ity Short Travel Time Sched ule Adhere nce High LOS Less environment impacts Benefits/Effectiveness Transitway Shoulder bus lanes Bus queue jump lanes Transit exempt movements Transit Signal priority (TSP) Implementations 4

5 Bus Queue Jump(Lanes): Concepts Bus Queue Jump Lane Bus Queue Jump Source:Wikipedia.org/wiki/queue_jump 5

6 Project Location: Centre St McKnight Blvd

7 Centre St-McKnigth Bus Queue Jump Lanes Before Centre Street North is a critical transit corridor ~ 90 buses/ peak hour Carries about 35,000 passenger/day (17,500 veh/weekday) After serves150,000 residents of north-central Calgary onjrj2o Travel time Savings:25% - 30% (1.5 to 2 minutes/trip) Schedule Reliability improvement: 45% 7

8 Calgary Transit Operators Feedback The bus queue jump lanes are beneficial..! We are satisfied with the bus queue jump lane..! These bus queue jump lanes save travel time...! Ridership has increased with the queue jump lanes.!

9 Calgary transit customers Comments These lanes should have been implemented a long time ago It saves us lot of time We are happy with reaching home earlier in afternoon We are happy that we can bypass a lot of traffic Faster service

10 Problem Studies are conducted to verify the benefits gained, i.e. travel time savings. But no studies are done to verify utilization of queue jump lanes 10

11 Bus Queue Jump Utilization Study Methodology: Transit operator s survey Field observation Source: 11

12 CT operators Survey: Bus Queue Jump Utilization by time of day Bus lanes are mostly used during peak periods. Operators use bus lanes when they are behind schedule. Operators use the bus lanes when general lanes are congested. Off-Peak Use 15% PM Peak Use 51% AM Peak Use 34% 12

13 CT operators Survey: Reasons for not using the bus queue jump lanes The bus lane is congested with the transit buses. 9% The bus lane is congested with the right turning vehicle 35% It is difficult to merge back into the traffic at It takes longer to reach the next stop using the bus lane 4% 13

14 CT operators Survey: Comfort in merging back at end of the bus lanes Motorists are Cooperative 26% Easy 30% Frequency Merging Delays % % 80.00% 60.00% 40.00% 20.00% 0.00% Delays (Secc) Average Delay: 24 Sec Very Difficult 7% Difficult 37% 14

15 Field Observation: Actual Bus queue jump Utilization NORTHBOUND/SOUTHBOUND Time of Day Auto Bus Buses used the Bus lane Compliance & Bus Delays AM Peak (7:00-9:00) Afternoon OFF Peak (11:00-13:00) PM Peak (16:00-18:00) Volume (#) Passengers Volume (#) Passengers (#) % of Total bus volume Did not Yield to bus (#) Compliance rate (%) Delay to bus (sec/veh) Total Delay to buses (Sec) Probability of a bus delayed by incompliant motorist 15

16 Field Observation: Actual Bus queue jump Utilization Southbound Bus lane Utilization Northbound Bus lane Utilization AM Peak Afternoon OFF Peak, 28%, 49% Afternoo n OFF Peak, 4% PM Peak, 0% AM Peak, 17% PM Peak, 16% AM Peak Afternoon OFF Peak PM Peak AM Peak Afternoon OFF Peak PM Peak 16

17 Field Observation: Motorists Behaviour to Transit Buses Yield to bus rate (Northbound) Yield to bus rate (Southbound) AM Peak, - Afterno on OFF Peak, 99.8 % PM Peak, 98.9% AM Peak, 99.6% Afterno on OFF Peak PM Peak, 100.0% AM Peak Afternoon OFF Peak PM Peak AM Peak Afternoon OFF Peak PM Peak Average Delay: 3-6 sec/trip 17

18 Conclusions The bus queue jump lanes are not well utilized, due to the following reasons: Right turn control: Yield Control & Right turning traffic sharing the bus lanes Stop type& location: Bus Stops and Time point in the queue jump lanes High transit bus volume in corridor Short receiving lanes Insufficient signage 18

19 Recommendations Make the signage effective. Like active Yield to Transit. Choose the type of queue jump carefully at the planning stage. (Bus queue jump lane or queue jump, right turn control/geometry) Consider designing each element of bus queue jump (lane) from utilization perspective. Develop a indication system for operators to direct them when and when not to use the queue jump, depending on various real time conditions. If possible, avoid providing bus stops in the bus lane. Provide a bus lay by in addition to the bus lane if needed. 19

20 Thank You!! QUESTIONS?? Contact info: Asim, Muhammad ; Office:+1 (403) ; Cell: +1 (403)

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