Simulating the impacts of strong bus priority measures

Abstract

Policies to reduce levels of traffic congestion and pollution in major urban areas often focus strongly on the concept of a sustainable transport system, but to achieve this vision a significant modal shift from private car to public transport will be required. This paper reports on a recent research study which provides a framework within which to model the behavioral responses of travelers following the implementation of strong bus priority measures (where road capacity is deliberately removed from general traffic and given to buses). A summary of the different behavioral responses which can be expected is given and results from a practical implementation of the framework which has been based on two commercial transport modeling packages (CONTRAM and TRIPS) are discussed. These results suggest firstly that the effect of implementing such strong bus priority measures is as dependent on the characteristics of the local travelers as on the scheme itself and secondly that implementing too strong a scheme may not benefit public transport overall.