Influence of unscheduled stop and dwell time of minibus public transport on transit time in Kano Metropolis

Abstract

Minibus has been one of the modes of public transport in Nigerian cities. Despite its positive impact on urban mobility demand, it is however,  associated with some problems which make its service ineffective. This study explores the operating characteristics of minibus public transport in  Kano metropolis. It also examines the influence of unscheduled random stops and dwell times of minibus on passengers' transit time. Data were collected on the number of random stop, dwell time per stop, and travel time from route’s origin to destination using an in-vehicle observation  technique. Four major routes on which minibuses operate were used for the study. Finding from this study revealed that minibus public transport in Kano city is characterized by recurring unscheduled random stops and long dwell time. Across the routes studied, the total number of unscheduled  stops ranges from 18 to 23 per trip while the cumulative dwell time per trip constitutes 40 to 60% of the transit time leading to increase in overall passenger’s travel time, with attendant delay to the users. A weak correlation exists between the number of unscheduled stops and transit time,  indicating a less influence on the transit time. However, a strong correlation exists between dwell time during stops and travel time which is an indication of a substantial influence on transit time. Further analysis revealed that variations of recurring unscheduled stops and dwell times  account for about 74% of variability in minibus transit time. Finding from test of significance at α 0.05 revealed pvalues of 0.845 and 7.34E-43 for number of stop and dwell time, respectively. This suggests that the number of stop does not influence the transit time significantly; whereas, the  dwell time influences the transit time significantly. This implies that increase in passengers’ transit time is substantially due to the long dwell time during unscheduled random stop rather than the number of stop itself. Keywords: Minibus, public transport, unscheduled stop, dwell time, transit time