URBAN TRANSPORTATION
PLANNING
MODULE-1
Scope of Urban Transport Planning
Transport planning is a science that seeks to study the problems that arise in
proving transportation facilities in an urban, regional or national setting and to
prepare a systematic basis for planning.
Since the developed countries where this science has evolved are mainly urban-oriented the
emphasis is more on urban transport planning.
The principles of urban transport planning can be applied to regional or national transport
planning as well with due changes.
Town and country planning is a science that deals with the study of the urban or country
“system” covering the interacting activities using adopted spaces linked by communications
through channels
Transport planning is an important part of overall town and country planning, since it deals
with the transport network which is an important channel of a communications.
Through motor vehicles have revolutionised our life and brought comfort,
pleasure and convenience, they have created problems of congestion, lack of
safety and degeneration of the environment
Urbanization
Urbanization is a process whereby populations move from rural
to urban area, enabling cities and towns to grow. It can also be
termed as the progressive increase of the number of people
living in towns and cities. It is highly influenced by the notion
that cities and towns have achieved better economic, political,
and social mileages compared to the rural areas.
Majority of people move to cities and towns because they view
rural areas as places with hardship and backward/primitive
lifestyle. Therefore, as populations move to more developed
areas (towns and cities) the immediate outcome is urbanization.
This normally contributes to the development of land for use in
commercial properties, social and economic support
institutions, transportation, and residential buildings.
Eventually, these activities raise several urbanization issues.
Causes of Urbanization
Industrialization
Commercialization
Social benefits and services
Employment opportunities
Modernization and changes in the mode of
living
Rural urban transformation
URBAN CLASS GROUP
According to the Census definition of India, an urban area consists of (Census
of India, 2011). 1) All Statutory Towns: All places with a Municipality,
Corporation, Cantonment Board or Notified Town Area Committee, etc. so
declared by State law; and 2) Census Towns: which places and satisfy following
criteria:- a minimum population of 5000 ; at least 75% of male working
population engaged in non agricultural pursuits; and a density of population of
at least 400 persons per sq km. Furthermore, Population Census in India
classifies urban settlement into six size classes as per the limits indicated below
( Kundu, 2001 ): Population Size Category
100,000 and more Class I
50,000 to 100,000 Class II
20,000 to 50,000 Class III
10,000 to 20,000 Class IV
5,000 to 10,000 Class V
Less than 5,000 class VI
URBAN TRANSPORT PROBLEMS
Road congestion
Parking problems
Air pollution
Deteriorating road safety
Impacts of Urbanization
Positive effects of urbanization
Housing problems
Overcrowding
Unemployment
Development of slums
Water and sanitation problems
Poor health and spread of diseases
Traffic congestion
Urban crime
BASIC ELEMENTS OF
TRANSPORTATION PLANNING
Situation definition: Inventory transportation
facilities, Measure travel patterns, Review prior
studies.
Problem definition: Define objectives (e.g.,
Reduce travel time), Establish criteria (e.g.,
Average delay time), Define
constraints,Establish design standards
Search for solutions: Consider options (e.g.,
locations and types, structure needs,
environmental considerations)
BASIC ELEMENTS OF
TRANSPORTATION PLANNING
Analysis of performance: For each option,
determine cost, traffic flow, impacts
Evaluation of alternatives: Determine values for the
criteria set for evaluation (e.g., benefits vs. cost,
cost-effectiveness, etc)
Choice of project:Consider factors involved (e.g.,
goal attainability, political judgment,
environmental impact, etc.
Specification and construction: Once an alternative
is chosen, design necessary elements of the facility
and create construction plans
URBAN MASS TRANSPORTATION
SYSTEMS
“Mass Transit, also referred to as public transit, is
a passenger transportation service, usually
local in scope that is available to any person
who pays a prescribed fare “ Mass Transit
System is designed to move large numbers of
people at one time.
NEED FOR MASS TRANSIT SYSTEM
Generates low travel times and travel costs for
people and goods
Permits equal access to urban life opportunities
(social services, education, Health, recreation)
Provides adequate support to desired form,
size, and density of the city-region
contributes to the improvement of air quality
and urban environment
Classification of mass transit system
The classification of modes can be done for transit
are based on three characteristics
Right of way
Technology
Type of service
RIGHT OF WAY
Right of way is the strip of land on which the transit vehicle operates.
There three basic right of way categories, distinguished by three
degree separation from other traffic.
Category A : “grade separated or exclusive” It is a fully
controlled right of way without grade crossing or any legal
access by other vehicles. In some way it resembles a free way
system.
Category B: Includes right of way types that are longitudinally
physically separated from other traffic, but with grade crossing
for vehicles and pedestrians, including regular intersections. A
light rail transit system that crosses a few streets at the surface
falls into this category.
Category C: surface streets with mixed traffic. Most bus system
and streetcar system fall into this category.
TECHNOLOGY
The technology of transit concerned with the mechanical
features of the vehicle and riding surface there are at least
four important characteristics of transit modes
The support between the vehicle and riding
surface – rubber tires on bituminous roads,
steels tires on steels rails.
The steering or guidance of vehicle
The method of propulsion
The means of regulating or controlling the
vehicles longitudinally
TYPE OF SERVICE
Type of service can be classified into three groups by the
types of routes and trips served
Short haul is low speed service within small
areas with high travel density, such as central
business districts
City transit, which is the most common type,
serves people needing transport in the city
Regional transit serves long trips, makes few
stops, and generally has high speeds. Rapid rail
and express bus system fall into this category.
Urban Transport System planning process
Transport planning is a science that seeks to study the problems that
arise in providing transportation facilities in an urban, regional or
national setting and to prepare a systematic basis for planning such
facilities.
Motor vehicles have revolutionised life and brought comfort,
pleasure and convenience but on the other hand created problems of
congestion, lack of safety and degeneration of the environment.
The primary aim of transport planning is to identify the nature of
these problems and to formulate proposals for future transport needs.
The fundamental objective of transportation is to provide efficient
and safe levels of mobility required to support a wide spectrum of
human needs for a heterogeneous variety of societal groups.
Because these needs, goals, and objectives are continuously changing,
transportation planning is also an ever-evolving process.
Types of transit systems
Public, Private and Para-transit transport
Transit could be defined as a public
transportation system intended for the mass
movement of passengers.
Urban transportation is generally classified into
private, for-hire and public transportation or
mass transit. The transit modes are defined by
their right-of-way (ROW) category, technology
and types of operations.
Classification based on the type operation
and use:
(a) Private transportation system
(b) Paratransit system or for-hire
transportation
(c) Urban transit system, mass transit system or
public transportation
Private transportation system: consists of
privately owned vehicles operated by owners
for their personal use, usually on public streets.
Most common modes: pedestrian, bicycle &
private cars.
Paratransit system: The term paratransit is used to cover certain
types of operations which are midway between conventional
transit and the private automobiles.
It also includes transportation provided by operators and available
to parties which hire them for individual or multiple trips. Taxi,
dial-a-car and jitney are the most common modes.
Modes that are demand responsive and provide shared rides are
within the scope of the Committee on Paratransit. Compared to the
fixed routes and at fixed schedules in other mass transit systems,
paratransit have a variable route and time schedule.
They are similar to transit in that their services are available to the
public; they are similar to the private car in that they operate on
demand - not following a fixed route or fixed time schedule. In
general, paratransit appears to be more economical and efficient in
low density and suburban settings where the level of demand may
not accommodate conventional transit.
These modes are therefore sometimes referred to as demand-
responsive transit. The demand-responsiveness occurs in two
ways:
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Routing - vehicles go exactly where the
passenger wants them to; they have no
predefined routes, though they operate within
designated areas or zones.
Scheduling - the vehicles arrive when desired
by the passenger
Their types of operation- routing and scheduling
and methods of obtaining service by users
makes different modes rather than strictly
defined types of vehicles by technology. Car
sharing, Taxis, dial-aride, jitney are some of the
modes available in this transit system.
Urban transit, mass transit or public
transportation:
: includes systems which are available for use by
all persons who pay the established fare. These
modes, which operate on fixed routes and with
fixed schedules, include bus, light rail transit,
metro, regional rail and several other systems.
Urban public transportation, strictly defined,
includes both transit and paratransit categories,
since both are available for public use. However,
since public transportation tends to be identified
with transit only, inclusion of paratransit is
usually specifically identified.
Classification of transit system
Right-of-way (ROW) Category
Right-of-way (ROW) Category, is the travel way
or strip of land on which transit vehicles
operate, is the most important characteristic of
transit modes. There are three ROW categories:
ROW Category C
ROW Category B
ROW Category A
ROW Category C: are public streets with general traffic.
ROW Category B: represents transit ways that are
partially separated from other traffic. Typically they are
street medians with rail tracks which are longitudinally
separated, but cross street intersections at grade. Bus
lanes physically separated from other traffic also
represent in ROW category B. This ROW requires a
separate strip of land and certain investment for
construction.
ROW Category A: is fully separated, physically
protected ROW on which only transit vehicles operate.
This category includes tunnels, aerial (elevated)
structures or fully protected at-grade tracks or
roadways. Thus, vertical position of the ROW is not as
important as its separation from other traffic
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because total independence of transit units
allows many physical and operational features
that are not possible to use on ROW categories
B and C. Therefore, the modes with ROW
category A are guided (rail, exceptionally
rubber-tired) systems with trains, electric
traction and signal control which offer very
high capacity, speed, reliability and safety
Advantages of ROW B compared to ROW C
Higher performance – speed, reliability,
capacity, comfort, safety
Use of longer vehicles
Stronger identity / image
Lower per passenger operating cost
Can be electrified
Advantages of ROW A compared to ROW B
Highest performance
Electric guided technology
High safety
Short dwell time
Disadvantages of ROW B to ROW C
Require space for ROW
Higher investment
Special signals or control / priority measures
Disadvantages of ROW A to ROW B
Highest investment cost
Rigid alignment
Grade-separated stations require and land
longer access
Mass and rapid transit systems
The best-known classification of transit modes
is into three generic classes based mostly, but
not entirely on right-of-way (R/W) type (Gray
et.al., 1979). They are
1. Street transit or surface transit,
2. Semi rapid transit and
3. Rapid transit or mass rapid transit systems.
Continuation…
It shows performance of transit modes on the abscissa, and
their required investment cost on the ordinate.
Performance is represented by the product of line capacity
and operating speed; investment cost is in $/line-km.
On this diagram it can be seen that street transit modes,
which have ROW category C, require very low
investment. They offer relatively low performance,
however.
Modes with ROW category B, semirapid transit, have a
significantly higher performance, but they also require
higher investment.
By far the highest performance, as well as the highest
investment characterizes modes with ROW category A:
rapid transit or metro systems.
1) Street Transit
It designates modes operated on streets with
mixed traffic (ROW Category C).
The quality of street transit services, particularly
speed and reliability, depends on traffic
conditions.
The speed is generally lower than that of the traffic
flow owing to the time lost at passenger stops.
Being slower than general traffic, transit cannot
compete effectively with private cars, unless other
conditions discourage car use
The most common transit modes in this class
are
Minibus
Regular bus
a. Minibus : These are the smaller diesel or petrol
driven buses and have their present use largely
in private operation. They are useful for
narrow, crowded streets, where large buses
have a problem in maneuvering and also for
low demand routes where the provision of
large buses may prove to be uneconomical.
b) Regular bus : It consists of single-decker buses
operating along fixed routes on fixed
schedules. Buses comprise by far the most
widely used transit mode. The more the travel
demand is concentrated along corridors, the
more advantageous the regular bus becomes.
The most typical bus services are street transit
routes, which may represent the entire transit
network or supplementary or feeder services to
rail networks.
2) Semi rapid Transit
It consists of modes utilizing mostly ROW
category B (i.e. ROW types which are
longitudinally physically separated [by curbs,
barriers, grade separation etc.] from other
traffic, but with grade crossings for vehicles
and pedestrians, including regular street
intersections).
Compared to street transit, the semirapid
transit are characterized by…
Higher performance capacity
Reliability
Speed
Passenger attraction
With partially separated ROW category B, the
most common transit modes in this class are
1) Bus Semirapid Transit – BST
2) Light Rail Transit - LRT
1. Bus Semirapid Transit – BST or BRT
The BST has recently been named Bus Rapid
Transit - BRT.
This is an inaccurate designation because “Rapid
Transit” represents by definition transit modes
which have ROW category A on their entire
routes, which is never the case with buses.
This includes bus system which offers better
performance, reliability, and comfort to
passengers compared to the regular bus
system.
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Most of the lines are of ROW category B, and in
limited lines it can go for ROW C
Well designated bus stops with passenger
amenities and the spacing should be of 300-
500m apart.
Physical size, aisle width, number of doors and
their width and position, and seating numbers
and configuration are important determinants
of BRT system capacity.
Bus priority is a key feature of BRT. One cannot choose a minibus
for BRT system. Vehicles should have high passenger appeal, be
environmentally friendly, easy and convenient to use, and
comfortable. Desirable features include air conditioning, bright
lighting, panoramic windows, and real-time passenger
information. Vehicles should be easy and rapid to board and
alight. Low floor heights (i.e., less than 15 inches [38 cm]) above
pavement level) are desirable unless technologies permitting safe
and reliable level boarding and alighting (e.g., rapidly deployed
ramps/bridges, some type of precision docking mechanism) can
be used. A sufficient number of doors having sufficient width
should be provided, especially where off-board fare collection is
provided.
Frequency of the service should be frequent so that it makes BRT
system as a regular transit
With the help of ITS, one can organize and control various
operations such as movement of bus along a line, Automated
vehicle location, Transit signal priority, Safety and security
system, Communications and Vehicle guidance and control.
2. Light Rail Transit – LRT LRT mode mainly utilizes ROW B, sometimes
ROW A and very rarely ROW C. Its electrically propelled rail vehicles
operate singly or as two to four cars trains. It provides a wide range of LOS
and performance characteristics. The main elements that a rail system must
have to be defined as LRT are the following:
Securing of ROW B or ROW A as compared to the street cars in mixed
traffic
Stronger image and identify of lines (rail technology). Track crossings of
streets are regulated by the signals, usually with priority in signal control.
LRT tracks are usually in curbed medians or in reserved lanes, in park
areas, sometimes on short flyovers or underpasses at major intersections, or
in tunnels through high density areas.
The stops are separated from the street road way and have passenger
protection, amenities and information. The average spacing between the
stops is 300 to 600 m.
The vehicles are articulated with high capacity units. Maximum speeds are
70 kmph or higher, with protected grade crossing in the latter case. LRT
takes advantage as a unique feature in rail technology as guided vehicle
technology. Though it run on streets and mix up with highway, and make
use of all types of ROW on the same route compared to street transit
modes, guided vehicle technology formulated LRT as a better performing
one.
3) Rapid Transit
These modes operate exclusively on right-of-
way category A (i.e. a fully controlled right of
way without grade crossings or any legal
access by other vehicles or persons) and have a
high speed, capacity, reliability and safety.
All existing rapid transit systems utilize
guided technologies (rail or rubber tire) that
permit operation of trains (high capacity) and
automatic signal control (high safety). This
class includes the following modes.…
Continuation…
