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Report n°6: Urban Public Transport

Renewed offer on an exclusive right-of-way dedicated to guided buses

A detailed comparison of situations before and after entry into service of TEOR is not easy since all the existing lines were reorganised. However, some measures of the extent of change can be outlined. Initially, TEOR's transport offer can be compared to the metro's, used as a reference (table 7).

Independently of any proportionate measure of urban density and the potential ridership of lines, the TEOR transport offer is a little lower at peak hours than the metro's. At off-peak hours in the morning it is very comparable on all three branches, but slightly differentiated in the afternoon off-peak time. The difference between peak hours and off-peak hours is small: a maximum of 4.5 minutes on the metro branches and 2 to 5 minutes for TEOR. More specifically, between the afternoon off-peak time and afternoon peak time, a very active journeying period, the difference is 2 minutes for the metro and 2 to 4 minutes on TEOR, varying with the different branches.

Altogether, it can be estimated that the TEOR offer, expressed in headways, is less than the metro's by 5 to 15% varying with time and with the various lines. It is of course invidious for the operator to make this comparison without taking any account of the urban characteristics of the routes and the amount of feeder service. However, putting oneself in the shoes of the city dweller, one must take into account the fact that the image of the network is based on individual experience, whereas the operator counts in ridership totals and quantitative potentialities of routes. This difference leads the regular or potential user to evaluate the intensity of the offer independently of its collective utility. It is likely that differences between metro headway and TEOR headway play a role in the image given by the two forms of public transport if it is too large (the analysis of a user-satisfaction survey highlights this point at a later date).

Table 7. Headways on the metro branches and on TEOR

Time of day

Metro (1)

TEOR 1 (1)

TEOR 2 (1)

TEOR 3 (1)

Morning peak hours

5.5 min

5 min

6.5 min

 8 min
Morning off-peak hours 10 min 10 min 9.5 min 10 min
Afternoon off-peak hours 7.5 min 9 min 10 min 10 min
Evening peak hours 5.5 min 7 min 6 min 8 min

(1) not including common trunk sections.

Journey speeds which are an important dimension as regards the quality of an alternative to private car travel can also be compared. For TEOR, they are around 15 to 16 km/h and even as much as 18 to 20 km/h for TEOR 3, to be compared to the 18 to 19 km/h of the metro on its surface portion, that is on a route which is comparable to TEOR's. Altogether, the difference of commercial speed between the two modes of transport can be evaluated at 18%. However, it must be remembered that TEOR does not yet have its exclusive right-of-way all along the route. If the comparison is limited to the exclusive right-of-way already in operation, speeds are very close.

Table 8. Commercial speeds of journeys on the metro branches and on TEOR

Time of day

Metro (1)

TEOR 1 (2)

TEOR 2 (2)

TEOR 3 (2)

Morning peak hour

18.6 km/h

15.1 km/h

 15.2 km/h 18.8 km/h

During the day

 19.2 km/h 15.8 km/h 15.2 km/h

20 km/h

(1) two branches, section not underground.

(2) the entire line, including the common trunk.

There was also a specific comparison made of the performance of the number 2 bus line in 1998 with those of TEOR 2, which uses the same route, limiting the comparison of course to the section entirely equipped with exclusive right-of-way. Between the two time periods, it must be noted that road traffic altogether has changed and that, with or without right-of-way, busy intersections during rush hours can slow buses down.

Results seem fairly clear: during the morning peak hour, speed has increased by 20 to 25%, progressing from 14.4 km/h to 17.9 km/h in the suburbs-to-city centre direction. Reduction of travel time is 3.5 minutes for an initial time of 25 minutes. There is also great improvement during off-peak hours. In contrast, the afternoon peak hour speed has deteriorated despite the exclusive right-of-way: from 18.3 km/h, it dropped to 16.4 km/h in the city centre-to-suburbs direction. This represents 2 extra minutes over the 20 minute ride initially. It must be mentioned that the right-of-way is not bi-directional throughout and that in the suburbs there is an extensive section with alternate one-way traffic. This is an illustration of the fact that any interruption in the right-of-way can compromise the global results of a construction and also that the characteristics of road networks inherited from the 19th century can hamper designers in a European context.