International Journal of Automotive Technology, Vol. 21, No. 5, pp.

12231231 (2020) Copyright © 2020 KSAE/ 11716

DOI 10.1007/s1223902001166 pISSN 12299138/ eISSN 19763832

SEATING PROVISION AND CONFIGURATION OF A 12M CITY BUS

CONSIDERING PASSENGER CROWDING

Yan Shengyu1), Cao Jing2)* and Zhao Zhuanzhuan3)

School of Automobile, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China
1)

College of Transportation Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 201804, China

2)

3)
School of Automobile, Shaanxi College of Communication Technology, Xi’an 710018, China

(Received 25 June 2019; Revised 5 December 2019; Accepted 25 December 2019)

ABSTRACTSeating capacity of a limited area significantly affects passenger crowding on a 12 m city bus, which is the
main type of buses for public transport in China. This study aimed to provide an optimal solution for the seating capacity to
adapt the passenger flow during operational periods. The study claimed that the seating capacity was defined by an overall
crowding effect considering both the standees and seated passengers, whose demands for seat supply are different. It
investigated the projected area of the seated passengers on board, defined the criteria regarding whether the current trip was
a peak shift, and proposed a passenger crowding index for optimizing the seating capacity during two operational periods. It
not only provided a recommended table between actual seating capacity and intensity coefficient varying along the two
periods, but also discussed the number of 12 m buses with different seating capacities allocated to the bus line. It demonstrated
the feasibility of the passenger crowding index through a case study and compared the effects of three main seat configurations
existing on the 12 m city bus. It displayed that a seat capacity preferably ranged from 21 to 43 while only one seat
configuration was allowed by the public transport enterprises.

KEY WORDS : Public transport, Passenger crowding, Seating capacity, Standee density, Intensity coefficient of passenger
flow

NOMENCLATURE SUBSCRIPTS

 : the passenger crowding index, pax/m2 a : subscript for off-peak hours

Q : the number of passengers on board, pax
A : the theoretical seating capacity for the bus, seats
A0 : the actual seating capacity for the bus, seats
S : the total seated and standing area supplied, m2
Qa : the passenger flow during off-peak hours, pax
Qb : the passenger flow during peak hours, pax
 : the intensity coefficient of passenger flow during
off-peak hours
 : the intensity coefficient of passenger flow during
peak hours
An : the deviation of all the seats of the buses, seats
mi : the number of ith type buses on the bus line, buses
k : the total number of seating capacity types, types
A0i : the seating capacity of the buses, seats
gj : the actual passenger crowding density, pax/m2
Quj : the number of get-on passengers, pax
Qdj : the number of get-off passengers, pax
p : the proportion of inter-stops, %
qj : the symbol of inter-stops, inter-stop
n1 : the total number of inter-stops, inter-stops
*Corresponding author. e-mail: jcao@tongji.edu.cn
b : subscript for peaks hours
i : subscript for classification of the seating capacity
j : subscript for the bus stops
u : subscript for the get-on passengers
d : subscript for the get-off passengers
1. INTRODUCTION
At present, 12 m city buses are the main type of buses for
public transport in China. For the convenience of the batch
purchase of public transport enterprises, city buses with the
same seating capacity are adopted for the bus lines in
urgent need. Unless marked changes are made in passenger
flow or bus route is adjusted, the number of buses in each
bus line can hardly be increased or reduced. In such a
situation, the mismatch between the intensity of passenger
flow during operational periods and crowding can hardly
be removed by adjusting the departure interval. Therefore,
the seating capacity of 12 m city buses was taken into
consideration.
The passenger crowding density refers to the number of
passengers in a unit effective area. It is an important
indicator to reflect passenger crowding during peak hours.

1223
1224 Yan Shengyu, Cao Jing and Zhao Zhuanzhuan
The limit load of a city bus in Europe and the United States
is 5–6 pax/m2 (Standards Development Program of
American Public Transportation Association, 2013).
According to the surveys, the standee density of a bus in
Xi’an during peak hours reached 9–10 pax/m2 (Yan and
Xiao, 2015), resulting in reduced ride comfort and
overloaded buses. Effective standing area determines the
standee density, which is closely related to the seating
capacity in the limited area on the 12 m city bus. Within the
maximum allowable total mass, the seating capacity plays
a role in adjusting the distribution of the standing
passengers in the carriage (Graa et al., 2016). The
definition of passenger crowding concerns both seated and
standing passengers (Tirachini et al., 2013; Björklund and
Swärdh, 2017). However, the feeling of standees is
significantly different from that of seated passengers. Thus,
passenger crowding should be distinguished and evaluated
separately, so that a more suitable seating configuration for
the crowding density in buses can be proposed (Lee, 2015).
This study aimed to make clear the relationship between
the seating capacity of 12 m city buses and intensity of
passengers during operational periods. First, a
comprehensive review of the crowding effects on public
transport vehicles and seating capacity was presented,
including crowding cost, choice probability, passenger
crowding, and the size of a seat. Second, a passenger
crowding index to extract the optimal solution of the
seating capacity was proposed, and the target function of
the seating capacity based on the intensity of passenger
flow was built up. Finally, the feasibility of the crowding
index was verified by the data from bus lines, which
represented the passenger flow intensity during all
operational periods.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Recently, passenger crowding in public transport has
gained increased interest among researchers. Many
documents on bus seating capacity have been proposed
based on the prediction of passengers’ demand and
congestion cost, which have produced positive effects on
the quality of service of public transport. In terms of
passengers’ demand, the supply of seats was taken into
consideration to optimize the scheduling frequency of
metro vehicles (Tirachini et al., 2017). Also, the comfort
cost of passenger crowding in public transport and the
willingness of passengers to choose a moderately relaxed
trip were evaluated (Haywood and Koning, 2015). From
the perspective of crowding cost, the application
requirements were analyzed to propose a discrete public
transport choice probability model (Batarce et al., 2016).
The efficiency cost of buses was evaluated using seating
capacity (Ayadi and Hammami, 2015). The use of a neural
network algorithm was proposed to evaluate the seating
capacity as an important parameter of the quality of bus
service (Rokibul et al., 2016). In addition, it was found that
reducing the number of seats during peak hours could yield
a better result than increasing the bus departure frequency
(Hörcher et al., 2018).
The concept of passenger crowding involves seated
passengers and standees. It was found that the seating
capacity had an internal relationship with passenger
crowding, by the means of estimating the willingness of
passengers to choose a spacious area under different
standee density (De Palma et al., 2015). A
multidimensional analysis on passenger crowding was
conducted, and an optimization model was proposed to
improve the passenger load level (Tirachini et al., 2014). A
design method for the seats of city buses was proposed
based on the size ratio parameters of the seat and
anthropometric dimensions (Hoque et al., 2017). A follow-
up survey concluded that door crowdedness was affected
by multiple bus-design parameters, including aisle length,
presence of the front-seated area, and service type (Jara-
Díaz and Gschwender, 2003). The needs of young and
elderly passengers for the seat configuration of a typical
bus were proposed (Carlos and Sharon, 2015).
The aforementioned studies provided unique
perspectives of passenger crowding considering
passengers’ demand and congestion cost. However, it was
rare to find a study concerning the adaptation of seating
capacity to the intensity of passenger flow on the bus line
from the perspective of passenger crowding, which
considered both seated passengers and standees.
3. PRINCIPLES OF ARRANGING SEATS
A carriage has a limited area for seating configuration. The
necessary areas on the floor of a carriage of every 12 m city
bus include driver operating zone, control cabinet, no-
standing areas at the front and rear doors, and seated and
standing areas, including passenger aisle (Transpotation
Research Board, 2003). Considering the consistency of
seating configuration, the raised portion, such as the wheel
intrusion into the carriage, is projected onto the carriage
floor to calculate the projected area.
The surface area available for the passenger
compartment is equal to the total projected area minus
some functional areas (Standardization Administration of
the People’s Republic of China, 2005). Basically, no
difference is found in the area occupied by the driver’s
operating zone, control cabinet, and no-standing areas at
the front and rear doors of 12 m city buses (Cai et al.,
2017). Measurements show that the projected area onto the
carriage floor is 3.3 m2. In addition, a driving console area
of 0.3 m along the length of the bus is reserved at the front
of the bus, and the engine room of 0.5 m is at the back. The
access cover and steps on the rear aisle occupy a total area
of 0.8 m2, where no seats can be placed. Therefore, the
seated and standing area S is 22 m2 in total.
The seats of a bus are not randomly laid out. First,
seating configuration should give priority to the needs of
 SEATING PROVISION AND CONFIGURATION OF A 12M CITY BUS CONSIDERING PASSENGER CROWDING 1225

Table 1. Projected area of the seated passengers in China.

Seat Height Projected Sitting
Seat
height range area samples
direction
(m) (m) (m2) (pax)
Normal [1.55, 1.75) 0.34 56
0.45
seats [1.75, 1.95) 0.37 33
Figure 1. Flow direction of standees on the bus floor. Side-facing [1.55, 1.75) 0.34 58
0.55
seats [1.75, 1.95) 0.38 27
passenger flow of the bus line. Second, it should facilitate
position changing between standing and seated passengers,
and among the standees. Finally, the load should be and Hadas, 2015).
symmetrically distributed on both sides to avoid the stress In the limited area supplied, the projected area of each
concentration on the floor (D’ Souza, 2014). Therefore, the seat with the passenger seated is totally the same. The
specifications are the following (Guo et al., 2017): average projected area indicated by a survey on different
(1) Side-facing seats on the front aisle are generally used buses is shown in Table 1.
to increase the area utilization rate. According to the survey, the average projected area of a
(2) Within the buses’ wheelbase, at least one row of seats seated passenger in Xi’an is 0.35 m2, meaning that 2.9 seats
should be placed near the bus window. can be laid out in 1 m2. However, at most eight passengers
(3) Only 1 + 1 or 2 + 1 seating model should be used can stand in 1 m2. The value of laying out one less seat is
within the wheelbase area; 1 + 1 or 2 + 2 symmetrical notable in China.
seating configuration should be used on the rear floor. Based on Tirachini’s theory, in this study  was
(4) A column of seats should be laid out at the back of the introduced as the passenger crowding index in the carriage.
carriage. The intensity of passenger flow varies along the
(5) Standing area should not be placed behind each seat. operational periods. Based on the aforementioned
A narrow rear aisle is present with the higher floor on the considerations, in a moment, the passenger crowding index
seat configuration of a 12 m city bus of “1 + 1 within the during operational periods can be expressed as:
wheelbase, 2 + 2 on the rear floor.” The rear aisle is an
 Q, a  = st Q, A  + se Q, A  (1)
uncomfortable standing area (Shafie et al., 2016), and
long-distance passengers choose this seat. Arranging more where  is the passenger crowding index; st is the standee
seats on the rear floor helps meet the passengers’ demands, crowding index; se is the crowding index of the seated
which should also conform to the standing passenger flow passengers; Q is the number of passengers on board; and A
(Figure 1). is the theoretical seating capacity with no aisle supplied for
The standing area within the wheelbase is spacious; the standees, including one driver’s seat.
passenger crowding within the wheelbase area can be Assume that passengers choose the seat spontaneously
relieved by the rear area, where the passengers are more and that other passengers would sit immediately when a
likely to get a seat (Ji et al., 2018). The theoretical seating vacant seat was available. After distinguishing between the
capacity A of each 12 m city bus on the bus line can be seated and standing areas, the passenger crowding index
greatly adjusted within the wheelbase area and the rear could be developed and described as:
floor. If more seats are laid out, the standing area is
insufficient in the limit area. Therefore, distinguishing Q – A – 1 -
 -------------------------------- + 2.857, Q > A – 1
between the seated and standing areas is necessary when  S – 0.35  A – 1 
 Q, A  =  (2)
analyzing the crowding.  Q
-------------------------
- , Q  A1
 0.35 A – 1 
4. METHODOLOGY
where S is the total seated and standing area supplied.
  Q, A  is continuous at Q = A  1, and serves as an
Passengers’ demands for seat supply are surely different in
increasing function. The higher the   Q, A  , the more
the off-peak and peak hours. Assuming that the capacity of
crowded the passengers.
the seats of each bus is the same, during off-peak hours,
The total seated and standing area supplied can be
basically, more seats are desirable for a greater chance of
measured manually. For each 12 m city bus, S = 22 m2 is a
getting a seat. On the contrary, during the peak hours, the
constant. In Equation (2), when Q > A  1, the index of the
number of passengers must be greater than the number of
seated crowding is considered, as the discomfort of
seats or even three times greater than the latter, so that the
crowding for both standees and seated passengers is
standees care about a more spacious standing area,
important. Equation (2) indicates that the smaller the A, the
indicating that the supply of fewer seats is better (Herbon
1226
denser the seated passenger crowding, when Q  A – 1 ,
with no standees existing. Moreover, the smaller the
standing area supplied, the denser the standee crowding
(Rahman et al., 2013), when Q > A  1, with all vacant
seats occupied.
Passenger flow of the bus line varies along the
operational periods. The aforementioned two cases were
integrated into an index to display the crowding throughout
the day, with the weight coefficients taken into account.
Therefore,   Q, A  is expected to hit the minimum.
It was assumed that two kinds of operational periods
exist: the peak hours and the off-peak hours. As the number
of passengers on board of the former is always larger than
the latter, three cases exist as follows:
(a) When Q  A – 1 during all the operational periods:
Q
min = min --------------------------
0.35  A – 1 
This means always fewer passengers on the bus line, and
the more the capacity of the seat A, the smaller the  value.
To adapt to the passenger flow, reducing a total sum of
buses while providing the bus line with a bus type of more
seats would be a better solution.
(b) When Q > A  1 during all the operational periods:
Q – A – 1
min = min --------------------------------- + 2.857
S – 0.35  A – 1 
This means always lots of passengers on the bus line.
The less the seating capacity A, the smaller the  value. To
adapt to the passenger flow, each bus should be accorded
with the same type of seating capacity minimum. If it does
not work, then buses should be added with the type of
minimum seating capacity, as indicated by Hörcher.
(c) When Q  A – 1 of the off-peak hours, Q > A  1 of the
peak hours. This situation stands for the most common bus
lines. It can be concluded that:
 Q Q – A – 1
min = min  -------------------------- +  --------------------------------- + 2.857  (5)
 0.35  A – 1  S – 0.35
where  and  are the intensity coefficient of passenger
flow during off-peak hours and peak hours, respectively.
The coefficients  and  are related to the daily passenger
flow volume during off-peak and peak hours, and the data
for these come from the statistics of the public transport
enterprise. The problem is how to distinguish the off-peak
hours and peak hours.
Transit capacity and quality of service manual
(Transpotation Research Board, 2003) mentions: it is
suitable for a new public transport system in America to
define the peak hours by a passenger crowding density of 2
pax/m2. However, the code for the design of metro in China
(Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the
People’s Republic of China, 2013) recommends that the
passenger crowding density should be within 5 pax/m2, and
the proportion of inter-stops (refers to the section between
Yan Shengyu, Cao Jing and Zhao Zhuanzhuan
every two bus stops) with a passenger crowding density
exceeding 5 pax/m2 should be controlled within 20 % of
the total based on ergonomics.
In this study, the passenger crowding density and the
proportion of inter-stops are defined as the criteria
regarding whether the current trip was a peak shift.
Therefore, the judgment logic can be described as:
n
j = 1 Quj – Qdj 
gj = -------------------------------- (6)
S
n
j = 1 qj
p = ------------
- (7)
n–1
 1, gj  5
qj =  (8)
 0, gj  5
(3) where j is the jth bus stop; n1 is the total number of inter-
stops; gj is the passenger crowding density when the bus
departs from the jth bus stop; Quj is the number of get-on
passengers at the jth bus stop; Qdj is the number of get-off
passengers at the jth bus stop; p is the proportion of inter-
stops; and is the symbol of inter-stops whether gj < 5 or
gj  5 .
Quj and Qdj can be obtained by a manual survey or data
collection system of passenger flow. If the proportion of
(4) inter-stops p > 20 % when gj  5 pax/m2, the whole trip
from the departure to the destination is defined as the peak
hour trip. The passenger flow during the peak hour trip per
day is defined as Qb. Otherwise, the passenger flow of the
trip is Qa. Hence, the coefficients  and  are expressed as:
Qa Qb
 = ---------------- ;  = ---------------- ;  +  = 1.0 (9)
Qa + Qb Qa + Qb
To avoid passengers’ crowding, passengers in most
cities in China get on the bus by smart card (or in cash).
However, no limit exists for getting off. According to the
divided method mentioned, Qa and Qb can be obtained by
 counting the passengers (Yap et al., 2017). The coefficient
 A – 1    represents the importance of the daily peak hours to the
bus line (Amiripour et al., 2014).
Equation (5) means that the seating capacity of every
bus influenced by the passenger crowding exhibits a
balanced value to achieve the ideal effect in daily operation
periods, which can meet the demands of passengers during
off-peak hours and also provides a spacious standing area
during peak hours. To get an optimal solution of A, the
partial derivative of  was considered, and was made 0 as
follows:
  -------------------------
Q - Q – A – 1 
------  +  --------------------------------- + 2.857  = 0 (10)
A  0.35  A – 1  S – 0.35 A – 1  
The optimal solution of the seating capacity is
2
S Q – SQ –  SQ
A = 1 + -------------------------------------------------------- (11)
0.35  Q – S – Q 
 SEATING PROVISION AND CONFIGURATION OF A 12M CITY BUS CONSIDERING PASSENGER CROWDING 1227

Table 2. Change in the seating capacity A0 with the number of passengers on board Q.
Intensity Range of the number of passengers on board Q (pax)
coefficient [30, 40) [40, 50) [50, 60) [60, 70) [70, 80) [80, 90)
 = 0.9,  = 0.1 (35.4, 37.6] (34.3, 35.4] (33.7, 34.3] (33.3, 33.7] (33.0, 33.3] (32.7, 33.0]
 = 0.8,  = 0.2 (31.1, 34.0] (29.7, 31.1] (29.0, 29.7] (28.5, 29.0] (28.1, 28.5] (27.8, 28.1]
 = 0.7,  = 0.3 (27.7, 31.0] (26.2, 27.7] (25.3, 26.2] (24.8, 25.3] (24.4, 24.8] (24.1, 24.4]
 = 0.6,  = 0.4 (24.6, 28.2] (23.0, 24.6] (22.1, 23.0] (21.5, 22.1] (21.1, 21.5] (20.8, 21.1]

The part under the square root in Equation (11) should

be greater than 0, indicating that only when Q > S, it makes
sense to discuss the crowding. To get the optimal solution
of A, it shows that the number of passengers Q and the
coefficient  are crucial factors, owing to  = 1  .
The aisle within the wheelbase area is included in the
total supplied area S, and the seats cannot be laid out within
the minimum width of the aisle, but can serve as an
effective area for standing passengers. According to the
Chinese human body size, it is measured that the minimum
width of the aisle is 600 mm (Wei et al., 2018). After
removing the driving console and the engine room, the
minimum aisle area is 6.06 m2 (Shanghai Municipal
Bureau of Urban Transportation, 2009). When the
projected area of the seated passenger is 0.35 m2 per seat, it
is equivalent to 17 seats (Shao et al., 2012). The actual
seating capacity A0 can be obtained as follows: A  17.
The aforementioned analysis was based on the
consideration that the seating capacity of the buses was of
the same type. What if two seating capacity types exist in
the bus line? How to distribute it?.
If there are k seating capacity types, and mi buses have
the seating capacity A0i on the bus line, the deviation of all
the buses’ seats will reach its minimum for deriving a
better solution to the crowding (Islam et al., 2016).
k correspondence between  and A0 (Figure 2).
min  An  = min  mi  A0i – A0 ; 21  A0i  43 (12)
i=1
Where i is the ith seating capacity; k is the total number of
seating capacity types; An is the deviation of all the seats
of the buses.
As Hörcher found, reducing the seating capacity during
peak hours could get a better solution than increasing the
buses. In this case, if two seating capacity types are
provided by manufactures, the recommended A01 with the
seats fewer than A0 is to be used during peak hours, while
A02 with the seats more than A0 will meet the seating
configuration during off-peak hours. Generally, the total
number of buses is fixed; by the solution of A0, m1 and m2
can be obtained. Also, the more seating capacity types
arranged, the more difficult the supervision. If only one
type of seating capacity is present, it is suitable for the bus
line with the volatility of passenger flow not being so
obvious, which cannot simply be adapted to that of a
Figure 2. Change rules of A0 with .
significant fluctuation.
The statistics of passenger flow volume in off-peak and
peak hours in Xi’an display  varies from 0.01 to 0.40. The
actual seating capacity A0 is calculated according to the
range of  (Table 2).
Under the condition that  is determined, the change in
Q has little effect on A0, and A0 is more sensitive to the
change in . Thus,  is crucial for affecting A0. As Q has
little effect on A0, the median value of 35, 45,..., 85 of each
range of Q is taken as a base to establish a direct
When  is 0.01 and 0.40, the curve with a median value
of 85 passengers is close to the maximum and minimum
values of A0, 43 and 21, respectively. The six curves are
diffused in the range of   (0, 0.4] , with A0 gradually
slowing down. The larger the value of Q, the smaller the
change in A0. A0 ranges from 21 to 43 seats, which also
meets the actual setting rules.
5. FEASIBILITY VERIFICATION
After calculation, the coefficient  of all the 292 bus lines
in Xi’an varies in the range 0.012–0.375. Of the 292 bus
lines, 7 with larger passenger flow were selected for
analysis. These had their typical and representative features
of passenger flow volume, and the bus seating capacity of
the bus in each bus line was the same according to the
regulation of public transport enterprise in Xi'an. All the 7
bus lines are 12 m city buses, which are mostly used in
1228 Yan Shengyu, Cao Jing and Zhao Zhuanzhuan

Table 3. Optimal solution A0 and results of the selected seven bus lines.
Bus line No. 46 No. 210 No. 600 No. 308 No. 30 No. 215 No. 21
Off-peak passenger flow per day Qa/pax 15,540 16,832 18,905 21,659 22,828 14,301 15,630
Peak passengers flow per day Qb/pax 9,088 9,765 8,210 8,753 6,034 3,399 2,062
Peak passenger flow coefficient  0.369 0.367 0.303 0.288 0.223 0.192 0.117
[30, 40) 27 27 29 29 31 32 35
[40, 50) 25 25 27 27 29 31 34
Actual seating capacity [50, 60) 23 24 26 26 28 30 33
A0/seats [60, 70) 23 23 25 25 28 29 32
[70, 80) 22 22 24 25 27 29 32
[80, 90) 22 22 24 25 27 28 32
Maximum number of passengers on the
89 86 84 88 89 80 80
bus/person
Passenger crowding index  (pax/m2) 9.5 9.0 9.1 9.7 10.4 9.0 9.8

Xi'an. The number of passengers approved for the 12 m

city bus is usually 87 in China, and the maximum number
of passengers on the 7 bus lines is basically more than 80.
According to Equation (11), the median values of Q in each
section are used to derive A0 (Table 3).
The bus lines with the coefficient < 0.3 are bus lines
No. 30, No. 21, No. 215, and No. 308. Among them, the
bus lines No. 30 and No. 21 run almost on the same route
with the metro. Affected by the metro’s attraction for long-
distance commuters, the passenger flow during the peak
hours is significantly less. For bus lines No. 215 and No.
308, the larger passenger flow during the off-peak hours
and the short departure interval make the coefficient 
small.
Table 3 shows that the larger the coefficient , the Figure 3. Deviation rate of passenger crowding.
smaller the A0, indicating that the larger the standing area,
the looser the passenger feels. The results are in line with
the actual situation. The A0 deviations of the 7 bus lines can seating capacity could be selected by public transport
be arranged as fewer than 5, the variation range of which is enterprises. However, the daily seat configuration was
not large. The actual seating capacity A0 varies from 22 to limited by the specifications; excessive or insufficient seats
35, which meets the actual requirement for 12 m city buses were common and should be handled flexibly. Considering
(Hans et al., 2015). The coefficient  = 0.01 was the bus lines No. 30 and No. 210 as examples, when the
extreme case, and A0 was calculated to be 43. In actual recommended A0 cannot meet the actual requirements, let
operation, the coefficient  is not so low. When = 0.1, A0 Q of the 2 bus lines be 89, and then the recommended A0 is
was 35 seats. Although the passenger flow volume during reduced one by one (Figure 3).
the off-peak hour was small, the departure frequency was As the seat deviation of A0 decreased, the deviation rate
significantly higher than those during peak hours. of  increased gradually, and was distributed in a nonlinear
Therefore, A0 was recommended when Q  [30, 40) , pattern. When the deviation of A0 was fewer than 2 seats,
meaning that a larger A0 should be selected. Based on the the deviation rate of  was less than 1.63 %. Also, the
maximum number of passengers on the bus,  of the bus smaller the , the smaller the deviation rate. To ensure the
line No. 30 was 10.4 pax/m2, with  of 0.223 and the accuracy, the deviation of A0 should be fewer than two
minimum A0 of 27. As  reached the most reasonable state, seats. Limited by the principles, three main seat
it could only adapt to passenger flow by increasing the configurations exist for the 12 m city bus in China (Figures
number of buses (Kapałka, 2015). 4, 5, and 6).
According to the results in Table 3, the most suitable The actual seating capacity A0 in Figure 4 is 28 seats,
 SEATING PROVISION AND CONFIGURATION OF A 12M CITY BUS CONSIDERING PASSENGER CROWDING 1229
Figure 4. Seat configuration of wheelbase 1 + 1 and rear
aisle 1 + 1.
Figure 5. Seat configuration of wheelbase 1 + 1 and rear
aisle 2 + 2.
which are deviated from the recommended value of 27 by
one seat. It is suitable for bus lines with larger passenger
flow volume and its significant fluctuation, of which the
coefficient   [0.18, 0.33) , and the standing area within
the wheelbase is loose. Also, a large standing area appears
on the rear aisle. Although the choice of obtaining a seat is
reduced, the overall passenger crowding in the carriage is
alleviated, and the overall effect is ideal.
The actual seating capacity A0 in Figure 5 is 34, which is
deviated from the recommended value of 35 by one seat. It
is suitable for bus lines with the coefficient
  [0.07, 0.18) , as the standing area within the wheelbase
is loose. Passengers have a preferred choice of obtaining
seats in the rear aisle area. Although the standing area in
the rear aisle is limited, a larger number of seats is
provided, and it is suitable for the bus line with long
distances between stations and a stable passenger flow.
The actual seating capacity A0 in Figure 6 is 39, and it is
suitable for bus lines with the coefficient   [0.03, 0.07) .
Although the standing area within the wheelbase is quite
narrow, a great choice of obtaining a seat is preferred both
within the wheelbase area and the rear aisle. For the
convenience of moving of standees between the doors,
Figure 6. Seat configuration of wheelbase 2 + 1 and rear
aisle 2 + 2.
another row seat cannot be arranged along the door side in
the wheelbase area. The largest number of seats is
provided, and it is suitable for the bus line with long
distances, many ramps, and low and stable passenger
traffic.
6. CONCLUSION
This study offered an optimal solution to the seating
capacity for a 12 m city bus to adapt to the operational
periods. A passenger crowding index was proposed
considering the crowding of both standees and seated
passengers. Intensity coefficients were used to express the
two existing operational periods, and a direct
correspondence was created between the seating capacity
and the intensity coefficients.
The investigation has revealed that the projected area of
seated passengers is 0.35 m2 in China. Based on this
parameter, the present study found that the seating capacity
considering passenger crowding depended on the intensity
coefficients and the number of passengers on board.
The intensity coefficient had a more significant effect on
the seating capacity, and the actual seating capacity
preferably ranged from 21 to 43 seats. With more seats, the
crowding during off-peak hours improved, while that
during peak hours reduced, and vice versa. The deviation
of the optimal solution was recommended to be less than
two seats. If multiple the seating capacity types were
arranged, the effect of using fewer seat types is to be used
during peak hours was more notable.
The analysis in this study might serve as a basis for
further research on seating configuration. A promising
topic is the distribution of standee density along lengthy
city buses to address the passengers’ preference for the
standing area.
Finally, the results may be used for public transport
enterprises to choose reasonable buses to match the
passenger flow of the bus line. The seating capacity plays a
positive role in avoiding the hard configuration of the bus.
Buses with different seating capacities can be used on the
same bus line to show the best effect of adapting to the
passenger flow.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTThis study was supported by the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC),
“Research on composition and characteristics of particulate
matter of vehicle emission” (Grant 21607104 P.I. HAO Yanzhao),
and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central University,
CHD (Grant 300102229110 P.I. YAN Shengyu). The authors also
acknowledge support from the Transportation Science Institute of
Chang’an University, and the Key Laboratory for Automotive
Transportation Safety Enhancement Technology of the Ministry
of Communication PRC.
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