Effect of Travel Time Variability on the Operating Cost of a Tram Line

Abstract:

The high quality of public transport operations influences changes in the transport behavior of residents. It can also contribute to the reduction of costs incurred by carriers. This happens when high traffic speeds and low randomness of travel time make it possible to reduce the number of vehicles assigned to the transportation offer. This paper presents an analysis of the demand for vehicles necessary to operate tram lines depending on the travel times. Both a deterministic and a stochastic approach have been applied to take into account the variability of travel times during the actual operation of tram lines. It was shown that the need for additional time on the terminal loop to compensate for delays affects the number of vehicles directed to service the line. The calculations were performed using the original simulation model. The proposed approach may be helpful in more realistic planning of rolling stock allocation for individual public transport lines, and thus may improve the quality of service without incurring additional costs.