estimating time-based bus service area using the time-based bus service area tool

225 Pages·2008·16.62 MB·English

ESTIMATING TIME-BASED BUS SERVICE AREA USING THE
TIME-BASED BUS SERVICE AREA TOOL (TBSAT)

A Planning Report
Presented to
The Faculty of the Department of
Urban and Regional Planning

San José State University

In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Urban Planning

By

Chao-Lun Cheng
May 2008

Copyright

By

Chao-Lun Cheng

2008

All Rights Reserved

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
It has been a long process for me both to complete this research and also to develop
TBSAT. I owe a deep debt of to all who generously shared their wisdom and expertise in
guiding me through each step of the process. My greatest gratitude goes to my advisor, Dr.
Asha Weinstein Agrawal, for all her countless efforts in providing professional,
constructive advices to the content of this research, as well as assisting me overcoming the
language barrier of writing in my second language. I also want to address all the efforts
that Ms. Nancy Hannaford made to improve my writing through her writing expertise. I
would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Richard Taketa, Mr. Che-Yao Kuo, and Mr.
Richard Kos, from all of whom I have learned many GIS techniques that are critical to the
development of this research. Also, my thanks go to those who have dedicated their
valuable time proofreading my many drafts. Finally, I would like to thank all the
colleagues, classmates, friends, and my family from whom I have received much advice on
different parts of this research. Without the support of everyone mentioned above, I could
not have finished this research or completed my study toward the Master of Urban and
Regional Planning degree.
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ABSTRACT
This research proposes a new type of bus service area measurement: the time-
based bus service area (TBSA). TBSA visually indicates the area that a person can reach
by bus from a designated location within his/her given travel time budget. This research
describes the Time-Based Bus Service Range Tool (TBSAT), developed by the author, to
measure TBSA. This computer application incorporates the ESRI ArcGIS application (for
geographical computations) and Microsoft Access (as its bus information database). To
apply TBSAT to a designated location, a user sets values for pertinent conditional factors,
such as the total travel-time budget, the acceptable length of time to access bus service, and
the traffic conditions. TBSAT then calculates and maps the TBSA for that location.
This report first explains the theory behind TBSAT, and describes its operation.
Then, it demonstrates the tool with real-world data from the Santa Clara Transit Center, in
Santa Clara, CA. The resulting sample TBSA maps demonstrate a method for planners to
analyze visually bus service quality under various transportation scenarios.
TBSAT’s mapping and analysis capabilities present the possibilities of numerous
potential applications for planners, developers, or private individuals working to create
transit-accessible communities. As such, TBSAT can support applications in many of the
most important aspects of contemporary urban planning, including support of smart-
growth planning efforts and the assessment of equity issues, such as the ability of the
transit-dependent to commute within their urban area to reach jobs and social services.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................................ III 
ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………V 
TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................................... VII 
LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................................... IX 
LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................. XI 
CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................. 1 
1.1.  Research Goal ............................................................................................................................ 1 
1.2.  Research Value .......................................................................................................................... 3 
1.3.  Content of this Report ............................................................................................................... 6 

PART I:TRANSPORTATION SERVICE AREA ANALYSIS: THE TRADITIONAL
APPROACH ....................................................................................... 9

CHAPTER 2 : THE UNIQUE VALUE OF TIME‐BASED BUS SERVICE AREA MEASUREMENT .......................... 9 
2.1  The Importance of Measuring Bus Service Area in Order to Maximize Service ......................... 9 
2.2  Previous Bus Service Area Measurements ............................................................................... 10 
2.3  Propose a Trip Origin and Travel‐Time Specific Bus Service Area Measurement .................... 14 

PART II: DEVELOPMENT OF THE TIME-BASED BUS SERVICE AREA TOOL
(TBSAT) ....................................................................................... 17

CHAPTER 3 : TBSAT CONCEPTS ............................................................................................................. 19 
3.1  Define a Simple Bus Trip .......................................................................................................... 19 
3.2  Define and Calculate Time‐Based Bus Service Area ................................................................. 20 
3.3  Generate the Time‐Based Bus Service Area Map by Steps ...................................................... 27 
CHAPTER 4 FACTORS AND VARIABLES IN TBSAT ................................................................................... 33 
4.1  Step 1: Find Accessible Stops ................................................................................................... 34 
4.2  Step 2: Find Accessible Routes ................................................................................................. 38 
4.3  Step 3: Calculate Remaining Available Time at Disembarkable Bus Stops .............................. 40 
4.4  Step 4: Find Reachable Stops ................................................................................................... 58 
4.5  Step 5: Generate Reachable Area from Reachable Stops ........................................................ 59 
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4.6  Step 6: Merge All Reachable Areas into the Complete Time‐Based Bus Service Area Map ..... 62 

PART III: APPLICATION OF THE TBSAT: BUS SERVICE AREA MAP FOR THE
SANTA CLARA TRANSIT CENTER ................................................. 63

CHAPTER 5 : HOW FAR CAN I REALLY GO? APPLYING TBSAT TO THE SANTA CLARA TRANSIT CENTER IN 
SANTA CLARA, CA .......................................................................................................... 65 
5.1  Scenario 1: How Early Should You Get Up? Varied Travel‐Time Budget .................................. 68 
5.2  Scenario 2: Be Athletic! Varied Acceptable Access Time ......................................................... 77 
5.3  Scenario 3: Get on the Bicycle! Varied Access/Destination Access Mode................................ 84 
5.4  Scenario 4: Bad Traffic is a Drag! Varied Traffic Conditions .................................................... 92 
5.5  Scenario 5: Collect More Potential Riders! Potential Rider Estimate through Joint Work 
between TBSAT and Social Statistics ....................................................................................... 98 
5.6  Chapter 5 Summary ............................................................................................................... 109 

CHAPTER 6 : CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................. 113 
6.1  Future TBSAT Improvements ................................................................................................. 113 
6.2  Conclusion.............................................................................................................................. 117 

BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................................. 119 

APPENDIX A: TBSAT USER’S QUICK MANUAL ...................................................................................... 125 
APPENDIX B: DEFAULT ACCESS SPEED ................................................................................................ 147 
APPENDIX C: DEFAULT ACCEPTABLE ACCESS TIME .............................................................................. 153 
APPENDIX D: DATA PREPARATION FOR THE SCTC APPLICATION ......................................................... 157 
APPENDIX E:  PROGRAMMING TBSAT ................................................................................................ 165 
APPENDIX F: GLOSSARY ..................................................................................................................... 207 
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