Category:Reduce dwell time

Introduction

A Los Angeles County Metro bus pulls away after picking up passengers. Photo by Flickr user waltarrrrr.

A suite of strategies address vehicle dwell times. These include multi-door boarding, off-vehicle fare payment, automated fare media and low-floor buses. Dwells increase Vehicle Revenue Hours, which increase costs. Dwells also reduce average vehicle speeds, which makes trips longer. Reductions in vehicle dwell times can also attract ridership by making transit more attractive relative to automobile use.

Transit buses can spend upwards of a quarter of its travel time dwelling at stops to allow passengers to board and pay their fares^[1]. Thus, changes to bus design, fare media and boarding procedures that reduce dwell time have the potential to reap significant time savings -- and thus money savings -- for transit agencies. Furthermore, reduced travel times improve the experience for existing transit patrons and can attract new patrons by making transit more time competitive with driving and other modes.

Notes