Evaluating Operational Performance of City Bus Transit Service Using TCQSM Guidelines: A Case Study of Surat City

Abstract

The present paper attempts to evaluate the operational performance of the city bus system considering demand and supply parameters. Towards this purpose, seven-days ticketing data (for estimating demand) in addition to operational timetable details (for estimating supply) for city bus system in Surat city, India was collected from the private operator. A comprehensive evaluation of city bus system in terms of level of service (LOS) offered with respect to demand and supply variables is performed in lines with the guidelines provided in Transit capacity and quality of service manual (TCQSM). Investigations revealed that for majority of routes, LOS based on supply parameters were observed in LOS C. However, the same, considering demand was under LOS B. This discrepancy in LOS considering supply and demand calls for development of composite level of service criteria for measuring the performance of city bus system in context to both supply and demand simultaneously.