[sustran] Re: Assistance wanted - Bus Priority References

[Kerry Wood]

Alan

You might find some of these papers useful


Mogridge, MJH (1997)	
The self-defeating nature of urban road capacity policy. Transport
Policy 4 (1) pp 5-23
	
I find this one crucial. What he says is that public transport
effectively controls the speed of motor traffic, through the
Downs-Thompson effect. Fast public transport encourages a switch away
from car use on a large enough scale to reduce traffic, which also flows
faster. It seems to work in many cities - but Dubai may not be one of
them. 


Cairns, S; Hass-Klau, C and Goodwin, P (1998)
Traffic impact of highway capacity reductions: assessment of the
evidence. London: Landor
	
Restricting traffic makes much less difference than you think, so making
space for public transport (or pedestrianisation) is not the disaster
it may seem.


Heierli, R (1996)	
European Lecture: Public transport in Zürich.  Proc Instn Civil
Engineers, Transport 117, November
	
Another crucial one: these guys have done it!


ISTP (1999)	
Information from the database held by the Institute for Science and
Technology Policy, Murdoch University, Perth. Much of this is in Newman
and Kenworthy (1999).

I have pulled some useful supportive evidence for the Downs-Thompson
effect from this data. Zürich (quoted above and below) has the shortest
journey-to-work travel times of any of the cities studied. Their figures
also highlight the huge costs of car-based transport
	

Joos, E (1990)	
Light rail to combat congestion. In North, BH (ed) Light Transit
Systems, Institution of Civil Engineers, ISBN 0 7277 1590 9

This may not be easy to get hold of, so a quote might be helpful:

> The speed-up programme (for Zürich) concentrated on three separate objectives:
> 
> a)	Unhindered trips between junctions, without hold-ups caused by private traffic, to be achieved by building special (tram) lines and separate bus lanes.
> 
> b)	'Zero' waiting time for public transport at light-controlled junctions, by developing a fully flexible control philosophy.
> 
> c)	Extension of the data-controlled operational control system, so that the operational control centre is always informed about deviations from the timetable and other programmes, and can remedy the situations or help by putting previously-designed measures into effect.


Ott, R (1995)	
Conurbation Transport Policy in Zurich, Switzerland. Proc
Instn Civil Engineers, Transport , 111, Aug, pp 225-33


Buchanan, C (1963)	
Traffic in Towns. London: HMSO
	
Still some good stuff in here!


I have a paper of my own in preparation, which seems to confirm the
experience of Zürich (and others), that taking space away from private
vehicles to
speed public transport STILL improves private vehicle speeds.

So does this stuff apply in Dubai? I suggest that if more than about 70%
of commuters travel by car, OR if public transport is already fast
(which sounds unlikely from your backgrounder), the answer is probably 'yes'.


I may as well end with another couple of quotes, as I have them handy:
from Heierli: 

> The only way to reduce traffic problems is to promote public transport

> Zürich has... succeeded in giving its public transport operators the image of modern companies with a clear customer focus, which... results in a very positive image. The outcome of this is that there is no stigma attached to travelling by tram in Zürich; indeed, anyone who does not use the tram tends to be regarded as out of touch... Our politicians make regular use of public transport (not just at election times) and leading figures from economic and academic life would not consider commuting in any other way.	



-- 
Kerry Wood
Sustainable Transport Consulting Engineer
76 Virginia Road, Wanganui 5001, New Zealand
Phone and fax (+64 6) 347 2307		Mobile  021 115 9346



Alan Howes wrote:

> I am looking for assistance in convincing our Roads Engineers that Bus
> Priority is not such a dreadful thing after all. More specifically, I
> am looking for references which show the range benefits to bus users,
> and disbenefits (if any - I hope they are small) to other road users
> as a result of giving buses early calls / extended greens etc. at
> traffic signals.
> 
(snipped)