Case Study: Public Transport

In the last generation designing a suitable transport network has become a fundamental issue, since the transport sector charges the environment and the society of significant burdens. As a consequence, multimodal freight transportation has received growing attention. Public Transport (P.T) is very important means to reduce traffic congestions, to improve urban environmental conditions and consequently affects people social lives. Planning, designing and management of P.T are the key issues for offering a competitive mode that can compete with the private transportation. This transportation designing, planning and management issues are studied in the Transport Network Design Problem (TNDP). The purpose is to discuss a list of innovative practices

The need for a large scale development has to be identified by the state. If the need analysis is ratified, initial feasibility studies are undertaken and a detailed project report (DPR) is developed either by the state itself or by experienced domain specialists. Technical feasibility and economic viability of the project are examined later, in addition to evaluation and analysis of available alternatives. Various issues, such as conceptualization, detailed scope of development, time planning, human resources management, cost management, risks prevention and management, change requirements planning as version control and quality control have to be functionally managed by the project managers. In this paper, the focus is also domain specific on challenges in urban transportation, in addition to the functional challenges of large scale infrastructure planning and development. The transport operation and planning process generally includes five basic activities, usually performed in sequence: (1) network route design, (2) frequency setting, (3) timetable development, (4) vehicle scheduling, and (5) crew scheduling [1-3]. The output of each activity positioned higher in the sequence becomes an important input for lower-level decisions. In practical, first and second component are combined under the Transport Network Design

Generally it comprises the design of route layouts and determining associated operational characteristics like frequencies and rolling stock types. Network design elements comprise the overall operational planning process for public transportation networks which includes five steps: (1) design of routes; (2) setting frequencies; (3) developing timetables; (4) scheduling buses; and (5) scheduling drivers. Route layout design is guided by passenger flows: routes are established to provide direct or indirect connection between locations and areas that generate and attract demand for transit travel, such as residential and activity related centres (Levinson 1992). For example, passenger flows between a central business district (CBD) and suburbs dictate the design of radial routes while demand for trips between different neighbourhoods may lead to the selection of a circular route connecting them. Anticipated service coverage, transfers, desirable route shapes, and available resources usually determine the structure of the route network. Route shapes are usually constrained by their length and directness (route directness implies that route shapes are as straight as possible between connected points), the usage of given roads, and the overlapping with other transit routes. The desirable outcome is a set of routes connecting locations within a service area,