TITLE:
Patron Survey of Acceptable Wait Times at Transit Bus Stops in the District of Columbia
AUTHORS:
Stephen A. Arhin, P. E. PTOE, Adam Gatiba, Melissa Anderson, Melkamsew Ribbisso, Babin Manandhar
KEYWORDS:
Acceptable Wait Time, Bus Patrons, District of Columbia
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Civil Engineering,
Vol.9 No.4,
October
21,
2019
ABSTRACT: The wait time of bus patrons at bus stops is one of
several measures for assessing reliability
of transit services, especially in urban areas. The uncertainty associated with
waiting affects bus patrons’ perception of quali
of the service provided. Studies in this subject area have therefore been of
interest to transit service agencies and officials. This paper presents the
findings of a study conducted to determine patrons’ maximum acceptable wait
times (beyond the scheduled arrival time) at bus stops in an urban area. In all,
3387 bus patrons at 71 selected bus stops were surveyed over a period of 9
months. The results of the survey showed that the least acceptable wait time
beyond the scheduled arrival time was 1 minute, while the maximum acceptable
wait time was reported to be 20 minutes. Also, only one-third (33%) of the
total number of patrons surveyed were willing to wait up to 5 minutes beyond the scheduled
arrival time of buses. In addition, patrons are willing to wait longer in warm
weather. On average, white patrons were found to have the least maximum
acceptable wait times, followed by Hispanics, Asians, and then Blacks.