EVALUATION ON BUS ROUTE BASED ON THE STRUCTURE OF ROAD HIERARCHY

Abstract

The idea of road hierarchy is suggested in UK in 1963 to improve urban environment. This idea has influenced the road planning policy of the world including Japan. However, the standard of the bus service on each road is not indicated. In addition, bus route is determined based on demand and the road hierarchy is not considered. This study aims to evaluate bus route based on the structure of road hierarchy. Study area is Tama new town in Japan, because road in the area is designed systematically. This study revealed the trade-off relationship between the bus travel distance, number of lines, walking distance, and travel time. We found that from the viewpoint of the bus operator, it is preferable to set bus route on higher level roads, from the viewpoint of the bus user, it is preferable to set bus route on lower level roads.