Public transport, integrated networks, and restrictions on car use

Overview

Main urban public transport modes and integrated transport network.

What you need to know

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Questions from this subtopic

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1. 1

   What are the main urban public transport modes, and what are their characteristics?

   Model answer

   Conventional bus: low capital cost, flexible routes that can be changed as the city changes, wide coverage, but slow and unreliable if it shares congested road space. Bus rapid transit: buses on a segregated busway with priority at junctions, level boarding and off-vehicle ticketing, giving much of the capacity and reliability of light rail at a fraction of the cost. Light rail or tram: high capacity, smooth and legible, and demonstrably more attractive to car users than buses in many cities, but expensive and fixed once built. Metro or underground: highest capacity and unaffected by street congestion, but extremely costly to build. Suburban and commuter rail: moves large numbers over longer distances into the centre. Park and ride: intercepts car journeys at the edge. Ferries where a river or estuary allows. And demand-responsive minibuses, which serve dispersed low-density and rural areas that fixed routes cannot.

2. 2

   Evaluate public transport as an urban traffic management strategy.

   Model answer

   Its strengths are that a bus lane or a tram line carries many times the number of people per hour of a general traffic lane, so it uses scarce road space efficiently; that emissions and energy use per passenger-kilometre are much lower than for cars if occupancy is reasonable; that it serves those who cannot drive, so it is the most equitable mode; that it supports the concentration of development around stops and stations and so shapes a more compact city; and that it sustains the town centre by delivering large numbers of people to it. Its weaknesses are that it requires continuing subsidy and, for rail modes, very large capital investment with long lead times; that it is only competitive with the car if given priority, frequency and reliability; that it serves dispersed and orbital trips, evening and rural journeys poorly; that crowding and unreliability deter users; and, critically for evaluation, that new patronage may come from people who previously walked, cycled or did not travel at all rather than from drivers, so the correct test is measured mode shift from the car and reduced traffic, not passenger numbers alone.

3. 3

   What is an integrated transport network?

   Model answer

   An integrated transport network is one in which the modes are planned and operated to work together as a single system rather than competing. Integration operates at several levels: physical integration, with interchanges where services meet under one roof, with short walks, shelter, information and secure cycle parking; timetable integration, so connections are timed and held; ticketing integration, so one ticket, card or account covers the whole journey with a fare capped for the day rather than charged again at each change; information integration, with one journey planner and consistent real-time information; and institutional and land-use integration, so that one authority plans the network and locates housing, employment and services where the network can serve them.

4. 4

   Why does integration matter more than the quality of any single mode?

   Model answer

   Because most journeys involve more than one stage, and the weakest link governs whether the journey is made at all. A frequent, comfortable train is of little use if the bus that reaches it is unreliable, the interchange means a fifteen-minute walk in the rain, and the connection requires a second full fare. Passengers weight waiting and interchange time far more heavily than time spent moving, so uncertainty at a connection deters people out of all proportion to the minutes involved. A network of good services with bad connections therefore carries far fewer people than the sum of its parts, which is why fares, timetabling and interchange design deliver more per pound spent than additional vehicles.

5. 5

   What makes a bus service genuinely competitive with the car?

   Model answer

   Speed and reliability first, achieved by giving the bus its own road space with bus lanes and bus gates, priority at traffic signals, and enforcement to keep the lanes clear, so that the bus is not delayed by the congestion it is meant to relieve. Then frequency high enough that no timetable is needed, so passengers can turn up and go. Then simple, cheap, cashless fares with daily and weekly capping so that using the bus does not require calculation. Then quality: clean, accessible low-floor vehicles, real-time information at stops and on phones, shelters and safe walking routes to stops. And finally restraint on the alternative: unless car parking is limited and priced and road space is reallocated, the car will remain faster and cheaper for those who have one, and the bus will carry only those with no choice.

6. 6

   Evaluate park and ride schemes.

   Model answer

   In their favour, park and ride intercepts car journeys before they reach the congested centre, reduces the amount of central land needed for parking, is far cheaper than extending rail into the suburbs, and offers a service that many drivers find acceptable because they keep the car for the first part of the journey. Against it, evaluations have found that it can generate extra car travel, because people drive to the site who would previously have caught a bus from home or not travelled at all, and because it makes long-distance car commuting more attractive; sites at the urban edge take land, often greenfield, and are large expanses of tarmac; and it can abstract passengers from existing bus routes, weakening them. It works best when combined with reduced and more expensive central parking, so that it substitutes for driving into the centre rather than adding a new attraction, and when the site is on an existing bus or rail corridor rather than on new greenfield land.

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