INITIAL PLANNING FOR URBAN TRANSIT SYSTEMS. IN: ADVANCED MODELING FOR TRANSIT OPERATIONS AND SERVICE PLANNING

The basic aim of transit planning is to provide a good transit service with a minimal environmental impact, at a reasonable cost to both the provider and the users. This chapter begins by identifying these four components of the basic goal: determination of the set of relevant technologies or mixes of technologies; estimation of the present and future demand for transit given each of the possible technologies (transit systems); optimal functional planning of each transit system for the related demand; and choice of one of the transit systems as the 'best" one. The following steps are then discussed: functional planning; approach to an acceptable approximate methodology; dispatching policies for a bus route; many to many demand routes; practical headways and schedules; dispatching; scheduling travel time on a bus route; and optimal scheduled travel time.