Some observations on the impaired operation of buses in central urban corridors

This paper presents results from a study of bus operation along a congested corridor in central London. Extensive field work was undertaken in Oxford Street so as to build up a picture of several days’ operation in ‘worst-case’ conditions. The basic premise is that a lack of coordination between buses and passengers contributes to the impaired operation of bus services. The paper briefly outlines the field tests devised for data-collection and the findings are presented in two sections. Firstly, results relating to bus movement are discussed. Data is used to determine factors such as headway variation, platooning tendencies, load factor and the wait imposed on passengers. The second area of results relates to at-stop activity. Passenger transfer and generation rates data is used to determine the level of demand for travel, the times taken to board and alight, and to examine the cumulative delay faced by the passenger in the transfer process. Particular attention is given to the possibility that passengers may actively impair the transfer process through their own behaviour. In the light of this study further comments are presented on the theme of bus/passenger coordination.