Estimation of Bus Dwell Times with Automatic Passenger Counter Information

Abstract

The average passenger boarding and alighting times and bus dwell times at stops are important information for estimating transit service capacities. Bus dwell time directly affects vehicle travel time, and thus the fleet size required to provide service based on scheduled headway is affected. Research focused on estimating bus dwell time and the impact of boarding and alighting passengers on dwell time. In addition, the effect of standees, time of day, and service type on bus dwell time was investigated. The data were recently collected from an archived database, within which automatic passenger counter information was recorded. The dwell times and passenger counts were recorded daily during 2001 and the first 6 months of 2002. The bus dwell time and average passenger boarding and alighting time at stops are explained using descriptive statistics.