Evaluation of premium bus service in Dhaka city

Abstract

The Premium blls Service. a ncwly introduced public transport mode in the transportation system of Dhaka city and operating under the government's newly declared fare structure applicable only to improved bus services, was eval<.mtcdmainly with a view to identify characteristics of the passengers, detennine acceptability of different service attributes. quality of service provided, and economic viability of operation, and to examine overall prospect of the service in Dhaka city. It was found that the users were almost exclusively literate persons, most with private service, business, or commerce, as a profession, using predominantly auto-rickshaw as an alternative to the Premium Bus Service. Acccptability index values calculated for the eight selected service auriblltes namely, fare rate, travel time, waiting time, cleanliness, crowdiness, temperature, crew behaviour, and safety were 0,6844,0.7642,0,6870,0.8181, 1.0000,0.8493,0,8902 and 0.9155, where 0 indicated acceptable to none and I indicated acceptable to all the passcngers. Level of service provided by the Premium Bus Servicc and its competitor BRTC Cily Service was measured by means of a Ievel-of-service or LOS model adapted from Quium and Tanaboriboon (1994). wherein five indicators or pcrformanee measure (PMs), namely, tmvel time, waiting time, load factor, regularity of scrvice and in-vehicle comfort wcre selected for comparison. From the LOS evaluation it was found that the Premium Bus Service was providing scrvices at defined A category of service against the waiting time, load factor and comfort PMs, whereas the corresponding service levels provided by thc BRTC City Service were found to be at B. A and B. respectively. Against the PM regularity of service, both the bus !'ypeswere found to provide services at category C, and for thc rest PM, the travel time, both the bus types were found to provide services at very low levels - the Premium Bus Service at D, and the BRTC City service at F. only. However, service levels against the PMs travcl time and regularity of service involved much scope for improvement through some feasible improvement measures, like adopting bus priority options and proper rescheduling ofthc services, Application ofWaltrs' (1979) "pproach in economic assessment of Premium Bus operation showed that the Premium Bu~was being operated in Dhaka City with an annual operating cost of Tk. 939038.00, a gross profit of Tk. 210272.00, a consumer surplus of Tk. 67186.00, and a producer's surplus Tk. 97587.00 per Bus per year for an assumed economic life of 8 ycars. For a longer economic life of 10 years, the Premium Bus Service was found to be operated with an annual operating cost ofTk. 879646.00, a gross profit of Tk, 269664.00, a consumers' surplus of Tk. 67186.00, and a producer's surplus Tk, 164106.00 per bus per year. Thus, with positive values for both the producer's surplus and the consumer surplus. the Premium Bus Service operation on Utlara-Motijheel route of Dhaka city was found to be economically viable and socially desirable. Finally the overall prospect of Premium Bus Service in the transportation system of Dhaka city was critically examined on different considerations besides acceptability of service attributes, quality of service provided and economic viability of operation. It was found that the Premium Bus Service had vast prospect (provided operation of the service is similarly acceptable and ~iable in other routes) in ameliorating the transportation and traffic situation of Dhaka city, through contribution to reduction in congestion, unreliability, delay and environmental pollution; and providing high quality services at reasonable fares.