Planning of Fixed-Route Fixed-Schedule Feeder Service to Bus Stops in Rural India
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 138, Issue 10
Abstract
Rural feeder service between villages and bus stops is largely a missing component in developing countries such as India. Traditionally, planning of rural feeder service has been carried out without due consideration to indirect costs associated with hard factors (e.g., walking distance and waiting time) and soft factors (e.g., crowding inside vehicles) of the service. A case study is presented for the planning of rural feeder service with due consideration to direct and indirect costs to users and operational viability of the service. Direct and indirect costs to users are expressed in terms of a comprehensive measure called generalized cost (GC). GC is developed on the basis of the willingness to pay (WTP) of rural commuters with respect to various attributes of rural feeder service. The work demonstrates the effect of catchment characteristics (i.e., number of villages, size of villages, and spatial separation represented by road network connecting villages to bus stop) on feeder service attributes (i.e., type of vehicle, route, headway of service and fare). It is also shown that planning of feeder service could be instrumental in bringing benefits to rural communities. The results presented in the paper are case specific, but the methodology can be applied to the planning of feeder services in other rural regions.
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Acknowledgments
The work presented in this paper is carried out with support from Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD) and Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung. The authors express their sincere thanks to Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD) and Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung for their support towards international exchange and research.
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© 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 4, 2011
Accepted: Feb 13, 2012
Published online: Feb 16, 2012
Published in print: Oct 1, 2012
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