I added Waterloo. I couldn't find exact number for population and expenses, but they are close enough. The rest of the numbers are exact.
Quote:
Originally Posted by vid
A couple of our routes really suffer because the constant stopping due to high passenger loads prevents buses from reaching timing points on time, and recent system overhauls giving those routes an extra 2.5 minutes to reach their destinations haven't been as successful as planned. Our buses are combating high passenger volumes and crowded roads (all of our roads are four lanes or smaller, unlike Brampton, and don't handle heavy traffic very efficiently).
The area with the highest frequencies, around our mall (which is between the two downtowns) actually does have traffic jams. Several intersections back up into each other and it can take as much as 15 minutes to clear them, which sounds minor but it's actually quite extreme when you consider it only takes that long to get from one end of the city to the other when traffic is light.
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Sounds like the schedules do not give the buses enough time. Roads here in GTA experience traffic congestion too, obviously. And even the express buses need to be scheduled to account for traffic congestion and other delays. No matter what, the schedule needs to reflect the actual speed the buses travel at.
I looked at the schedule for 3 Memorial, and first problem I noticed was there doesn't seem to be any scheduled time at all for drivers to layover at the terminals. There needs to be time for the buses to layover at the terminals (e.g. 5 minutes), to allow them to catch up to the schedule if somehow they are late.
Also, I see that the running time in each direction for 3 Memorial is 30 minutes (i.e. the buses are scheduled to travel between both ends of the route in 30 minutes), and the frequency is 15 minutes (so that's 4 buses). If the buses are unable keep up with their schedule on a consistent basis at certain times (rush hour?), then the running time needs to be increased to account for the actual travel times and prevent the buses from running behind schedule. Unfortunately, this means that more buses will need to be added to the route (increasing cost), otherwise the frequency will decline.
For example, if the running time of 3 Memorial is increased to 35 minutes, plus an additional 5 minutes of layover, each way, it would result in the frequency of the route being reduced to 20 minutes. To make up for this, they could add more buses to the route increase the frequency back up, or they could add an express variant which would have a running time of 25 minutes, plus 5 minutes of layover, each way. Using 3 buses, this new route would also have a frequency of 20 minutes. 20 minute regular service combined 20 minute express service seems okay. (this is just an example, I'm not even sure this is Thunder Bay's busiest route or if it even experiences delays)
Reduced bus frequencies due to increased running time is a common phenomenon pretty much anywhere I think. It happens constantly in Mississauga, for sure - just last month MiWay reduced the Sunday frequencies for 22 Finch and 42 Derry from 40 minutes to 45 minutes. It wasn't a service cut, it was just increased running time. The buses became slower, so they had to reduce the frequency. Though in this case, since it was Sunday, I'm guessing the buses were slower simply because of higher ridership rather than congestion (more people waiting at stops means the buses have stop more often, and/or spend more time at each stop to let people on).
But whether it's due to traffic congestion and increased ridership, the buses are going to slow down, and the frequency will need to be reduced. That's just a fact of life. That's why there's such thing as BRT: a transitway takes care of the congestion problem, and regularly-spaced BRT stations combined with all-door boarding schemes reduce the time it takes to let passengers onto the bus.