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Forethought in Timetable Planning aids service and economy
Page 97
Page 98
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Methods of Reducing Costs and Increasing Revenue by Scientific Arrangement of Journey Times
THE science of timetable building is one of the most important branches of the passenger-transport industry, for two main reasons. First, the expenses of operating a particular service are substantially increased or diminished, according to whether the minimum or maximum use be made of the vehicles and men employed in operating the service—a factor largely dependent on the efficiency of the planned timetable. Secondly, the patronage given by the public to any particular service depends largely on whether the journeys be operated at times convenient to the potential users of the service.
The majority of_smaller omnibus operators regard timetable making as a necessary evil and one to be got rid of with the minimum of trouble, so as to leave the operator free to " get on with the job" of running the buses. The consequence is that many operators are working with timetables which have been drawn up in a haphazard manlier. The object of this article is to indicate a few lines of approach to particular problems with which the small operator may be faced.
Let us, first, consider the problem of operating a service. as economically as possible, leaving the question of attracting the public to a later stage of the article. When a new, route is being opened, or a completely new timetable inaugurated for an existing -route, the primary essential— after seeing that the journeys are arranged so that the minimum number of vehicles is used (a mere matter of arithmetic in the simple case)—is to plan a timetable which can be " built upon. '
Providing for Future Changes.
By this is meant a timetable capable of being expanded by the inclusion of additional journeys at a later stage, should traffic increase, without having to provide more additional vehicles than need be and without recasting the whole timetable completely. Actually, the latter is often impossible, as the public does not respond kindly to drastic alterations, and, further, the Traffic Commissioners may have used existing journey times as a basis for co-ordinating other services.
The general rule for planning a timetable which can be " built upon " is to reduce the standing time at one terminal—which one depends upon the circumstances—to a minimum, thus increasing the standing time at the other. An example will show what is meant. A common form of timetable, where it is desired. to run an hourly service between two points, 40 minutes apart, is as follows:— A. dept. ... 0 mins. poet each hour B. dept. ... 0 mina. past each hour
B. arr. ... 40 mins, past each hour A. arr. ... 40 mine. past each hour
It is a simple and " obvious " timetable, and so it is frequently adopted by operators.
Consider, however, what will happen if it becomes necessary to increase the service to a half-hourly one. Journeys will have to be inserted in the timetable at 30 minutes past the hour, from each terminal, and the original number of two vehicles on the route will have to be increased to four—a particularly unwelcome increase if the half-hourly service only operates at certain busy times of the day. • Suppose, however, that the original timetable had reduced the standing time at B to 10 minutes and increased the standing time at A to 30 minutes (this in itself being
a possible advantage in arranging shifts, as the 30 minutes could be used as a statutory rest period), thus:—
A. dept. .,. 10 mine. past each hour B. dept. ... 0 mine. past each hour B. arr. ... 50 mine. past each hour A. arr. ... 40 mins. past each hour
The timetable is equally simple, but is much more economical if the service is to be increased to a half-hourly one, as follows:—
A. dept.
B. arr. ... 10 and 40 mine, past each hour ... 50 and 20 mins, past each hour B. dept.. A. arr. .. 0 and 30 mins, past each hour ... 40 and 10 mins, past each hour
The buses will turn straight round at A and depart again immediately for B, and the saving in standing time will mean that the hourly service requiring two buses can be increased to a half-hourly one with only one additional bus, as against two additions in the first possible timetable set out.
The Obvious Not the Best.
To give another example of an instance in which the rsuggeSted timetable has a substantial advantage over the first " obvious " one, consider the case where there is a village, C, within 15 minutes of A on the route to B. It may be found when the service has been running awhile that, whilst the hourly service between C and B is quite adequate, additional journeys are necessary between A and say, to provide a half-hourly service on this section of the route. The comparative timetables to do this would be as follow:— {I. air.
B. arr.
B. dept.
C. depr. A. arr. ... 0 and 30 mins, past each hour ... 15 and 45 mitts, pest each hoUr .. 40 — wins, past each hour
— and 0 mine. pas-. eat h hour ... 0 and 50 mins, past each hour ... 15 and 45 wins. past each hour
A. dept. ... 10 and 40 mins. past each hour C. arr. ... 25 and 5,5 mine, pest cash hour 13. arr. BO — mins, past each hour B. dept. 0 — mine. past.each hour' C. dept. .. 25 and 55 mina, past each hour
A'. arr. ... '40 and 10 nuns. past 'each boor
• In Method No I an extra bus will be required to rum a shuttle service between A and C. In Method No. II the two buses already operating the through A-B service will work the extra journeys between A and C.
Two examples can be given of the application of similar principles to groups of routes operated from a central point. First, take two-hourly services, operating from X to Y and Z respectively, on routes taking 1 hour 10 minutes and 45 minutes for the single journey. The following is Method No. I (wrong method), each service being operated independently:-:– The X-Y service requires ti ree_ vehicles and the X-Z service two vehicles, a total of live.
Method No. II, the two services being operated together, and vehicles running through from one route to the other, thus: Four vehicles will now be sufficient to provide the same service, a saving of one.
The following is another example-of three services radiating from.Q to X, Y and Z: a two-hourly service to X (40 minutes), a two-hourly service to Y (40 minutes) and an hourly local service to Z (15 minutes). . Method No. 1 (wrong method), each service operated nd ependently Each service will require oue vehicle (three in all). Method No. II is as follows:
1 Q. dept. ... 7.40 and every 2 hours X. dept. _. 8.20 and every 2 hours X. arr. ... 8.20 and every 2 hours Q. arr. ... 9.0 and every 2 hours Q. dept. . 8.40 and every 2 hours I Y. dept. 9.20 and every 2 hours Y. arr. ,.. 9.20 and every 2 hours Q. arr. ... 10.0 and every 2 hours .. 8.0 and hourly I Z. dept. ... . 8.20 and hourly
8.15 andheurly Q. arr. ... 8.35 and hourly
In this arrangement the service to Z will be operated alternately by the buses primarily working. the services to X and Y, thus the X bus will operate to Z at 9.0, arriving back in time for the 9.40 journey to X, the Y bus to Z at 10.0, and so on-two buses in all being required as against' three.
Another means of achieving the desired end, where more than one service is operated, is by eliminating mileage by means of connections.
A common type of timetable for two country routes 4.1 this sort is: These services are quite adequate to serve the district, but they have an expensive drawback for the operator. The service from C terminates at X and is dropping•passengers • at every village en route, so that the bulk of the load has left the bus at V and only a few passengers remain for points between Y and X. Consequently, a nearly empty bus is running between these points on a road on which there is another quite adequate service (that between A and B), with, seats available for those passengers. A slight rearrangement of journey times will enable the service to and from C to terminate at Y and the A-B service buses meet the C buses there to enable passengers from X to C to travel just the same by changing at Y-no great hardship to those few passengers and a substantial saving in mileage for the operator. Examples of the suggested timetables follow, from which it will be observed that immediate connections to and from X and C are available at 17 on each journey: Even if the Y-C service bus merely waits at V. during ' the timetable intervals, there is a saving in running costs, but it may he found that the time saved can be used in • revenue-earning ways. For instance, if traffic between C ' and Y grows, say, on Saturday afternoons, the serviee : could be doubled, the same bus operating additional journeys from Y at 12,20, 3.20 and 6.20, and C at 1.0, 4.0 and 7.0, thus providing a service with an even li-hourly headway. Or it may he that there is a demand for a service. to and from D, 20 or 30 minutes from Y, as shown ccthe diagram, and the service can be extended to D, giving through facilities from D to C and facilities, by en immediate connection at V. from D to B. Thus:
Finally, I will say a word about attracting additional traffic by providing a timetable convenient to the public. Most important of all, make the service one which has an even headway-hourly, or two-hourly, or half-hourly, and so 00-50 far as possible.
Then study local conditions. One so often finds buses leaving at 8.30, when the local picture show terminates r-t 8.35, and that kind of thing. Bear in mind arrival and departure times of other people's services to other places on which through passengers might travel if the connection be convenient. If you have a bus leaving town for country or seaside at 1.0 p.m., consider whether it would not be worth while retarding it to 1.10 p.m. on early closing days. If you serve an " anglers' district," an early bus on Sunday mornings may be profitable.