Evaluation of the effect of deteriorating riding quality on bus-pavement interaction

Abstract

Deteriorating riding quality has a negative impact not only on infrastructure, but on the road user as well. Road users experience higher vehicle operating costs (VOCs), longer travel times, congestion and uncomfortable rides, to name a few. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the link between deteriorating riding quality and high vertical accelerations (awz) and VOCs for a bi-articulated bus on an identified bus route with different responsible road authorities in rural Mpumalanga, South Africa. The link, as identified, indicated that the speed the bus travelled played a big role in the generation of awz. Recommendations for future research are also proposed.