METHODS FOR SERVICE DESIGN

This paper explores current practice in the design of bus services. It focuses on methods used to identify problems in the existing system and to design service changes. Current practice is handicapped by the lack of reliable data of a type desirable for good planning, and problem-identification activities consist mainly of flagging routes that rank low in terms of cost-effectiveness indices. As a result, only a small set of potential improvement actions are usually considered, and the (usually implicit) objectives in providing transit service are not effectively included in the process that would encourage planners to look for opportunities that may exist on routes that are not flagged as substandard. Modifications are also proposed that recognize the multiple objectives that transit operators should be dealing with.