CIV516 S: Public Transit Operations and Planning

Midterm exam, March 2nd, 2017

TIME: 1hr 50mins

Examiner: Ehab Diab, Ph.D.

Question 1 (50%)
The figure below shows a small network that is serving a suburban area consisting of three LRT lines. The lines
are defined as follows: Line 1 (A,B,C, D,E,F,G), Line 2 (A,B,C,D,H,I), and Line 3 (J,K,C,D,L,M,N). Line 3 is a
new line that has been introduced recently by the transit agency, which is operated only during the morning peak
(6:00 to 9:00 am) and the afternoon peak (3:00 to 6:00 pm). The tables below show the existing passenger
boarding and alighting volumes at each station in the peak direction during the peak hour.

Line 1 and 2
Station A B C D E F G H I
Boarding (prs/hr) 1120 720 700 500 734 730 0 400 0
Alighting (prs/hr) 0 300 830 700 440 640 1110 384 500

Line 3
Station J K C D L M N
Boarding (prs/hr) 200 100 400 340 200 100 0
Alighting (prs/hr) 0 120 210 460 220 260 70

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 For any given line, the operating time in either direction of travel is the same. The labor union contract requires
that the terminal times at both terminals together (for each line) should be at least 15% of the cycle time, but not
less than 4 min. The passenger activity on the trunk section (between A and D) is distributed as follows: 60% of
the total passengers use Line 1, while the other 40% use Line 2. C and D are major transfer stations along the
system. The table below summarizes the lines characteristics.

Line Characteristics Line 1 Line 2 Line 3

Maximum Load Factor 0.85 0.85 0.8
Maximum Speed (km/hr) 50 50 30
Policy Headway (min) 15 20
Peak Hour Coefficient 1.2
Number of Vehicles per Transit Unit 3 2
Vehicle Capacity (spaces) 110 70
Stopping Time at Typical Stations (sec) 20
Stopping Time at Transfer Stations (sec) 40
2
Acceleration Rate (m/sec ) 1.25
Deceleration Rate (m/sec2) 1.45

a. Determine an appropriate service frequency and headway for each LRT line.
b. Determine for each LRT line the following: fleet size requirements, cycle times, and terminal times.
c. Determine the average (or combined) headway at Station B and Station C during the morning peak
period and midday period (i.e., off-peak period).
d. For Line 1 only: draw the passenger volume profile, and show the MLS and scheduled line capacity on
the graph.
e. Consider the home, child care service and work locations shown on the schematic, and determine the
path and mode which minimizes the passenger total travel time during the morning peak. Compute this
minimum while considering the following points:
 The user will need to go from home to the child care service first to drop his/her child, and then
he/she will go from the child care service location to work.
 The user could walk or cycle to any destination in order to minimize his/her total travel time,
instead of taking transit.
 The walking speed is 4.8 km/hr and cycling speed is 12 km/h. The transit system accepts taking
bikes on LRT vehicles.
 The transit service is on-time with almost no variation. This is a synchronized transit system
with an average transfer time of 2 min.

Question 2 (50%)
a. Discuss the following points:
i. Different types of transit service operating environment (or Rights-of-way (ROW)).
ii. The difference between terminal time, deadhead time, and platform time.
b. Explain the concept of “interlining” and use an example to illustrate how it can be done, while
discussing the benefits.
c. Discuss three different types of simultaneous standing of multiple TUs that are used to increase line
capacity. Use schematics as needed.
d. Explain what are the conditions and performance measures that should be used while reporting capacity
values, and why.
e. Explain briefly the strategy of skip-stopping operation, while elaborating on its benefits, drawbacks and
considerations used for designing routes with such operation. Use schematics as needed.

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 The following table includes formulas that can be used to solve the problem:

CTU = n * Cv C  Cv . c  Cv . n . f
Nf = N + Nr + Nm w = f . n . Cv . L
f = 60/h wp =  pi . Si
Tsi = tri + tsi To =  Tsi =  (tri + tsi)
3 .6 S Vmax 1 1 2( a  b ) S '
Ts   Tl Tl  (  )  ts Ts '  t s 
Vmax 7 .2 a b ab
Pd = Pmax * PHC Tod = ta + tw + to + tf + te
T = To’ + To” + tt’ + tt” E{h} Var{h}
E{t w }  
tt = (T – 2To) / 2 2 2 E{h}
f = Pd / (αd.n.Cv) E{tw} = 2.28 + 0.29 * E{h}
α = (Pd . h)/(60n.Cv) h = 60 / f = (60.αd.n.Cv)/Pd
NTU = T / h T = h . N TU k1 . h1 + k2 . h2 = T

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