Waiting for the Magic Bus: Unravelling the Impact of Bus Design on Station Dwell Time : A Comprehensive Analysis and Case Study

Sammanfattning: With the continuous decrease in average speed in cities, public transport operators need to think of new ways to improve operation efficiency and shorten total trip durations. This thesis investigates how bus design aspects, like door configuration and engine type, can affect the station dwell time, in this case, service time per passenger. Using Nobina’s data in Malmö as a case study, a comprehensive matching algorithm was developed, and several statistical tests were utilized to explore the relationship between dwell time and contributing factors – bus design, passenger demand and behavior, boarding procedures, stop characteristics, and temporal factors. The results show that different bus types vary in level of efficiency. Moreover, engine type has a significant effect on performance, with electric vehicles performing worse in many cases. In addition, 4-door bi-articulated buses were found to be slower in handling passengers compared to their 3-door articulated counterpart, while articulation by itself did not cause any significant difference. Passenger demand was the absolute most important aspect in determining dwell time, as expected. Stop characteristics showed, in some cases, a significant effect on performance with stops located on public transport lanes as harmful to efficiency. Although not every aspect of bus design could be tested due to data limitations, the results suggest that operators should have a more through consideration of which buses to acquire for future contracts.