Planning for Public Transport

This chapter focuses on demand forecasting methods, the evaluation of public transport technologies and the use of attitudinal surveys in planning for public transport. It outlines historical trends in patronage and operating costs and indicates the difficulties facing public transport operators in planning for the future. The widening gap between public transport operating costs and revenues has required massive government subsidies to maintain services to a current standard. Various social and economic factors have added to the difficulties facing public transport operators. In the post-war period the advantages of private transport—flexibility, privacy and low labour costs—have resulted in increasing car ownership and use, despite its higher resource cost per passenger kilometre. Public transport operators have always been faced with catering for temporal fluctuations in demand, but the loss of off-peak patronage has enlarged the peak demand for public transport.