Transit Part 7: Local Area Bus

Local Area bus routing involves having a bus leave from and return to the same hub.  This requires that the bus end up driving in some kind of loop or circle away from and back to same hub.


An important part of planning effective Local Area Bus routes is tied into Customer Goal Oriented trip planning.  If a customer is going to an address that is not serviced by their local hub, then that customer doesn’t need to be picked up by the Local Area Bus routed to their door until that bus is on its way back to the Hub.  When a passenger is going to an address that is within the area serviced by their local hub, but which the bus that picks them up won’t be going to, then these passengers can also be picked up when the bus in on its way back to the Hub.

In each of these two examples, the passenger is arriving at the hub at the same time, they are simply spending less time on the Local Area Bus.

Picking a passenger up who will need to transfer off at the Hub soon after the Local Area Bus has left the Hub won’t get that passenger to their final destination any sooner.  What would happen is that the passenger will have to get ready sooner and spend more time on that first bus.  Passengers often comment when they see a driver passing very close to where they were picked up that they feel like they are simply being driven around in circles.  Passenger Goal Oriented routing means that we take every reasonable step we can to move each passenger in as direct a path as we can from origin to destination.

Ideally, when a Local Area Bus leaves from its hub, it will have passengers on board that are being delivered to one or more addresses.  The bus will also be routed to pick up and drop off passengers who are traveling between two addresses that are within the area the bus they are on will be traveling through on that loop.  When the bus is on its way back to the Hub it would then pick up passengers who are going to be transferred to another bus once back at the Hub.

While on a half hour looping run, a Local Area Bus has the potential to travel significant distances from the Hub, based on the size and shape of the area serviced by that Hub.  This may necessitate changing from the ideal concept of routing so that the bus isn’t expected to drive circles around all sides of the same city block or to pass the same way through the same city block twice just because of who is and who isn’t transferring.  By keeping Local Area Bus routes within the planned half hour requirement, passengers will have a greater potential to be understanding even when they have to be picked up at the early end of the route before getting back to the Hub to transfer.

When there is enough passenger activity within an area that would normally be serviced by one Local Area Bus, it may also be advisable to use two or more buses, with one routed to pick up and drop off on the north – south streets and the other being routed to pick up and drop off on the east – west streets.  This could help reduce the number of times a bus would have to drive around the same block or blocks just to pick up and drop off all scheduled passengers.

Thank you for taking time to read my program.  Obviously, if I didn't believe in my own program, I would not have published it for others to read and ponder on.

An Opinion Article by Dave Kemper
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It has been said that: "One definition of insanity is to do the same thing, the same way, over and over and over again, each time expecting to achieve a different result."
Therefore, we must either CHANGE the way we live, or we bind our future to our past as if with CHAINS.
"I do not consider myself to be better than anyone else.  But I do believe in exercising my right to not stay stupid."

David W. Kemper, Author
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