Monday, November 26, 2012

Sub-regional Transit and Road Statistics

As I posted about earlier, TransLink has started a public consultation for proposed 2013 bus service optimization which will see the redistribution of transit service in the region. TransLink released a rather large Bus System Performance Review report earlier this year. One of the interest sections in the report was a comparison of a few key metrics by sub-region which you can see below.

Median boardings per revenue hour. Click image to enlarge.

Median capacity utilization. Click image to enlarge.

What I find really interesting is that both the North East Sector and Southern Delta areas seem to have a transit network that is underutilized. It’s really interesting when you consider that the North East Sector is getting SkyTrain while Surrey may just be getting a B-Line service in 2013. Now, I’m not suggesting that transit service be cut in the North East Sector or Southern Delta, but it would be interesting to know why transit service isn’t utilized as much in those areas.

Overall TransLink had an 88% capacity utilization in 2011 which is much higher than the Port Mann Bridge (which in December will have double the current capacity) with an average daily capacity utilization of 51% or the George Massey Tunnel (which is being slated for replacement) with an average daily capacity utilization of 47%. Transit is certainly more efficient than the road network even on the worst of days.

Port Mann Bridge average 2011 24-hour volume of 109,978 vehicles with maximum 24 hour capacity of 216,000 vehicles.

George Massey Tunnel average 2011 24-hour volume of 81,729 vehicles with a maximum 24 hour capacity of 172,800 vehicles.

2 comments:

Blair said...

Nathan,

Your stats are simply meaningless as you must well know. Comparing Trankslink's daily capacity utilization to a bridge is of course specious since Translink does not provide 24 hour service 365 days of the year. Certainly the Port Mann is not at 100% capacity at 3:30 am but then again Translink's entire fleet is at 0% capacity at that time and that fact is not included in the figures quoted. For commuters requiring access to Surrey at 3:30 am Translink is useless but the Port Mann quite useful.

Any meaninglful evaluation would compare hour-to-hour utilization figures in a head-to-head manner.

Nathan Pachal said...

Hour by hour would be really useful, but I should poit out that TransLink does run 24 hour service with Night Bus.