Travel Time and Delay Study to Improve Public Transit Systems in Jordan

Abstract

Transportation is essential for any nation's development and growth. Transportation has played a significant role by facilitating trade, commerce, and social interaction, while consuming a considerable portion of time and resources. Many organizations and agencies exist to plan, design, build, operate, and maintain transportation systems. The movements of people and goods, which is the basis of transportation, has always been undertaken to accomplish those basic objectives or tasks that require transfer from one location to another. Every day, millions of people leave their homes and travel to a workplace, office, classroom, or distant city. Public transit system is one of the most important among transportation systems.

This research paper presents a travel time and delay study on the public transit system inside Amman area in Jordan. Amman–Sweileh line is a busy, essential, and vital line connecting major areas inside Amman. The main importance of this study is to convince and attract the public to use the public transit system for travel instead of using their private cars. If that can be achieved, many advantages can be attained. By using the public transit system instead of using private cars, the following advantages can be attained: reducing the congestion on the road network especially during peak hours, reducing the cost of traveling for the public, increasing the efficiency of the road network, increasing safety, reducing the maintenance cost of the roads, improving traffic flow and traffic operations, and reducing air pollution and preserving the environment.

The main objective of this study is to improve the public transit system in Jordan. That can be done through making a comparison between the travel time by using the public transit system and by using private cars. Also, to study the delay due to using the public transit system, and study the variables affecting this delay to find the best solution to minimize this delay in order to reduce the trip travel time to minimum value. It was found that there is a major difference in travel time between using the public transit system and using the private car. Also, it was found that the main variables that affect the trip travel time are: The total delay time due to stopping to pickup and discharge passengers and due to stopping at fixed interruptions, the bus model, and the bus size.

Delay and travel time can be reduced to a practical and reasonable value by decreasing the number of times that the bus stops for pickup and discharging the passengers, using small buses, and by using newer, faster models of buses. There must be a continuous improvement on the public transit systems in order to be able to attract and convince more people to use it. Finally, it is hoped that in the near future there will be more practical and efficient public transit systems in Jordan.

Key Words: Air Pollution, Environment, Travel Time, Running Time, Delay, Public Transit System, Intelligent Transportation System ITS, Pickup and Discharge of Passengers, Traffic Operations, Amman, Sweileh, Jordan.