PLANNING AND DESIGN FOR ON-ROAD PUBLIC TRANSPORT

The importance of public transport as a means for reducing costs to the community of congestion, pollution and environmental degradation in urban areas has generated an awareness amongst traffic engineers of the needs to enhance the operations of the public modes. This is particularly relevant for the operation of on road public transport, eg, buses and some tram and light rail transit services that share rights of way with other transport modes. The nature of transit route operations, with frequent stops to pick up and deposit passengers, means that transit vehicles may be placed at some disadvantage in a traffic stream, with little means to catch up to schedule once delayed by congestion and other influences. Some direct intervention in traffic planning and management may thus be warranted. This section reviews several aspects of the planning and design of on road public transport which are able to be influenced by the traffic engineer, including: public transport definitions and classifications; on street public transport; and traffic engineering measures to improve public transport performance (A).