Expansion of a Procedure for Assessment of Comparative Recital of Vary Public Transport System in USA Cities

Author Name(s): Ardavan Shojaeyan, *Ali Kargar
Author Email: alikargar304@yahoo.com

Abstract

The development of methodologies for comparative performance evaluation of public transport system is a research field that continues to grow since the need to improve the performance of public transport system is higher as compared to the previous years. The major reasons for evaluating the comparative performance of public transport system are to control operating and travelling cost, impact of systems in a city and justify the alteration in system before its implementation in a city. Therefore, there is need to develop a comprehensive methodology which can evaluate the comparative performance of public transport system separately from user, operator and city perspective as well as combined. Hence, this study presents a comprehensive methodology for evaluating the comparative performance of alternate public transport system in USA cities. Various performance indices are developed during this study which can be used to evaluate the condition of identified comparative performance indicators. This study also developed overall comparative performance index (OCPI) which can be used to compare the alternate public transport system to an existing system or new public transport system to any similar system or different system. It is expected that this study will be useful to researcher for improvement of public transport system in USA cities.

Introduction

It is expected that by 2050, about 60-70 per cent of the population will be living in urban areas in Washington. With increasing urbanization and the load on rural land, the government has now realized the need for smart cities in urban areas. A ‘smart city’ is an urban region that makes optimal use of the interconnected information available today to better understand and control its operations and optimize the use of limited resource. Public transport system in USA smart cities must be more creative and attractive due to higher dependency of impoverished urban population, maximum share of captive users, and environmental, economic, and social equity. However, at present due to poor infrastructure and inefficient public transport system there are various problems involved in USA cities such as severe congestion, deteriorating air quality, increasing incidence of road accidents, land sprawl, and rapidly increasing energy cost& minimum revenue generation. This has resulted in high cost facilities not giving the outcomes that were sought. Further, recently various public transport systems like BRT, LRT, metro rails and various other types of systems are operating, some under construction, and also being planned in various USA cities (Agarwal et.al, 2014).It is also observed that the enormous amount of money is required for implementation of these public transport systems in USA cities. Hence, the major reasons for evaluating the comparative performance of public transport system, in USA cities are to control operating and travelling cost, impact of systems in a city and justify the alteration in system before its implementation. Therefore, there is a critical need to develop a simple methodology which can scrutinize how well the existing public transport system are operating and justify the alteration in public transport system in USA cities.

Conclusion

The main objective of this study is to present a systematic methodology for evaluation of comparative performance of public transport system in USA cities. Some of the important conclusions drawn from this study are as follows.

  • A critical review of the literature indicated that there is an urgent need to develop a simple methodology which can evaluate the comparative performance of public transport system for USA cities in a comprehensive manner. Further, it is required to evaluate the comparative performance of public transport system from user perspective, from operator perspective and from city perspective so as to identify the issues related to each separately. This study proposes a simple methodology for evaluation of comparative performance of public transport systems in USA cities. The proposed methodology consists of four stages.
  • Stage I of this study identifies comparative performance indicators for evaluation of public transport system. Various comparative performance indicators are identified from user, operator and city perspective separately based on hierarchal structure developed in this stage.
  • Stage II of this study determines the relative weight of identified comparative performance indicators. The relative weight of comparative performance indicators are determined using passengers, operators, public transport expert and academician opinion survey and the rating given by them.
  • A methodology is developed in stage III to evaluate the condition of identified comparative performance indicators. This study identifies eight user performance indices, two operator performance indices and four city performance indices. These indices are developed in such a way which can compare the performance of two different systems separately from user, operator and city perspective
  • The last stage develops comparative user perspective index (CUPI) which can evaluate the comparative performance of public transport system from user perspective. Similarly, comparative operator perspective index (COPI) and comparative city perspective index (CCPI) are developed during this study which can evaluate the comparative performance of public transport system from operator and city perspective. Further in this stage overall comparative performance index (OCPI) is developed by multiplication of relative weight and condition indices of performance indicators. OCPI can be used to indicate the overall performance of public transport system in a city.
  • The approach proposed in this study is also illustrated using a comparative performance evaluation of BRTS system with mini bus service in Bhopal city. Analysis results indicated that the proposed methodology is capable to compare the performance of any two public transport system from user, operator and from city perspective as well as combined.
  • Therefore, the proposed methodology can be used to evaluate the comparative performance of an existing public transport system as well as a new public transport system to any similar system or different public transport system from user perspective, from operator perspective and from city perspective so as to identify the issues related to each separately. It is expected that this study will be useful to decision makers to take significant decisions before implementation of new public transit system, alteration of existing system, and reduction & expansion of existing transport systems in USA cities.

References

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