Modeling Travel Time with Travelers’ Experience

This paper presents results from analysis of travel time model of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system. It meant to consult BRT operators and other parties concerning vehicles scheduling and maintenance, customer care, customer service, and structural improvement in future with regards to travelers’ perceptions. It used descriptive survey research design and survey questionnaire to collect data on the six routes of Dar es Salaam BRT system. It applied Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to organize and analyze the data. Analysis of travelers’ responses shows that, travel demand volume is low on Sunday and is high on Monday and Friday. The travel time total calculated from these responses ranges from lowest travel time to highest travel time. Certainly, through Kimara - Kivukoni route, the travel time total ranges between 53 to 112 minutes, Kimara - Morocco 47 to 101 minutes, Kimara - Gerezani 49 to 103 minutes, Morocco - Kivukoni 40 to 87 minutes, Morocco - Gerezani 36 to 78 minutes, and Gerezani - Kivukoni 29 to 64 minutes. The time that a traveler should add to an average travel time when planning for a trip in a dense traffic in order to ensure on time arrival through any of these routes are as follows: Through Kimara - Kivukoni route, a traveler has to add at least 17 minutes, while through Kimara - Morocco 13 minutes. Likewise, through Kimara - Gerezani 16 minutes, Morocco - Kivukoni 11 minutes, and Morocco - Gerezani 9 minutes. The planning time a traveler should allow in a dense traffic to ensure on time arrival varies from one route to another and at a point in time. Through Kimara - Kivukoni route, a traveler has to plan at least 65 minutes, Kimara - Morocco 48 minutes, Kimara - Gerezani 61 minutes, Morocco - Kivukoni 41 minutes, and Morocco - Gerezani 34 minutes. Some underlying factors that influences high travel time variations and delays on the BRT system include inadequate number of express-articulated buses, inappropriate vehicles scheduling and maintenance plans, imbalance between travel demand volumes and availability of travel facilities, inadequate on/off-boarding systems, failure to adhere to set schedules, and other reckless behaviors by some drivers. Among the measures that the responsible parties should put on board to mitigate these underlying factors include having in place proper maintenance plan, introducing new buses with equitable carrying capacity, and developing flexible scheduling plans that comply with the changing travel demand volumes. Other measures are improving ticketing services even outsides the existing facilities and establishing direct routes that strategically connect all terminals on the system. Keywords: Travel Time Reliability, 90th or 95th Percentile, Buffer Time Index and Planning Time Index DOI: 10.7176/MTM/9-8-05 Publication date: August 31st 201