GPS/GIS IDENTIFICATION OF POTENTIAL BUS STOP LOCATIONS AND PASSENGER’S ACCESS AND EGRESS POINTS Third International Conference on Geotechnique, Construction Materials and Environment,

8/17/2019 GPS/GIS IDENTIFICATION OF POTENTIAL BUS STOP LOCATIONS AND PASSENGER’S ACCESS AND EGRESS POINTS Thi…

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Third International Conference on Geotechnique, Construction Materials and

Environment, Nagoya, Japan, Nov. 13-15, 2013, ISBN: 978-4-9905958-2-1 C3051

GPS/GIS IDENTIFICATION OF POTENTIAL BUS STOP LOCATIONS

AND PASSENGER’S ACCESS AND EGRESS POINTS

Syahriah Bachok 1, Zakiah Ponrohono 1, Mariana Mohamed Osman 1 Zulfadly Azizi Bohari1

1 Kulliyah of Architecture and Environmental Design, International Islamic University Malaysia

ABSTRACT

This research reports the study of identification and determination of bus stop locations and passengers boarding

and alighting positions through the application of Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographical

Information System (GIS) methods. Previously, the locations of bus stop were designed without much

consideration to the access and egress points of prospective passengers and other users. Using the case study of

public bus operation in Kerian, Perak, a district in Malaysia, GPS method captured the locational points during

on-board surveys while the GIS method produced the points mapping. As a result, the possible bus stop locations

can be recorded and validated based on the passengers access and egrees points and volume patterns. This

research aims to analyse these empirical data to estimate the possible location of new bus stops within certain

distance ratios. From this findings, public bus operators and authorities can determine/allocate/distribute the bus

stop locations that may reduce the waiting time.

Keywords: GIS mapping, GPS points, Bus stop, passengers access, passengers egress

INTRODUCTION

This paper deals with the application and

implementation of Geographic Information and

Global Positioning System in the identification and

determination of bus stop locations and passengers

boarding and alighting positions. This research isfunded partially by the Government of Malaysia,

State of Perak. The case study has been selected to

be a district in Perak, a state still rapidly

experiencing economic and social growths, to

achieve its development mission by 2015. District of

Kerian, Perak has a population of approximately

180,340 people, with a density of 7 people per km².

Figure 1: Kerian District

District of Kerian (Figure 1) is located in the State ofPerak Darul Ridzuan. In the north are Penang and

Kedah states. In the east and south, Kerian borders

with Larut, Matang and Selama districts; and in the

west is the Strait of Malacca. The uniqueness of this

case study is that the public transport routes plies

through the Kerian River which is the borderline of

three states namely Penang, Kedah and Perak. There

are eight (8) sub-districts under the administration of

Kerian District Council: Parit Buntar, Bagan Tiang,Tanjung Piandang, Kuala Kurau, Bagan Serai,

Beriah, Gunong Semanggol and Selinsing [13 and

14].

Kerian has a good road and highway network. Thenetwork stretches approximately 225.0 km and

connects the eight sub-districts. The main north-

south road that cuts through this district is Ipoh-

Butterworth road. Kerian District road is accessible

from Kampung Dew, Simpang Ampat, Changkat

Lobak and Kuala Kurau. The major town is ParitBuntar that is located at the border of Penang and

Kedah. As the district has a large commercializedagricultural area with ample buildings and facilities,

Kerian contributes to Perak’s economics growth and

capital generation, with a 5.7% GDP growth rate in

2012 [13 and 14].

LITERATURE REVIEW

Transportation planning is an art and science of

arranging the transportation infrastructure and

facilities according to suitability and appropriateness

of the distribution basing on the population and

socio-demographic needs of the locality. It deals

largely with issues and problems encountered bytransportation services, operation, infrastructure and

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facilities, as highlighted by the contemporary

literature.

Public transportation system includes all multiple

occupancy vehicles services designed to transport

people/customers on local and regional routes andtheir sub-systems. The systems include vans, buses,

taxis, or rails or other conveyance, privately or publicly owned, providing their services to the

public general or segmented group of users.

Generally, the public transportation system in

Malaysia comprises bus, railway and taxi services

and plays a significant role in finding solutions tothe numerous challenges. Whether it is more jobs, a

cleaner environment, higher energy independence or

a better quality of life, public transportation gets the

right to be included [9, 10 and 11].

A more sustainable future can be promoted whenmore trips are made by public transport modes as it

will reduce the number of trips made by private

vehicles, leading to less congestion on the roads and

a more efficient road system. Apart from that,

efficient public transportation services enhance

personal opportunities, save fuel, provide economic

opportunities, save money and reduces carbon

footprint [5]. It will contribute towards rapid

economic growth and healthy social development of

a city. However, there are a number of issues

relating to public transportation services such as the

limitation of facilities, the use of low quality of

public transport facilities and interchanges,inconvenience of fleet, low passenger trips and long

waiting time [8].

All public transport demand will relate to what the

operators can offer to the passengers such as routefrequency, availability and affordibility.

Additionally, the demand also depended on the

facilities and accessibility to the bus stop [1]. A bus

stop is the first point of contact between the

passengers and the bus services. The spacing,

location, design, and operation of bus stopssignificantly influence the transit system

performance and customer satisfaction. As a basicnecessity for public bus service, the design of bus

stop location should fulfill certain parameters such

as distance from origin/destination point to the bus

stop and the walking time, its physical conditionsshould be ergonomic and weather proof [1].

The consideration of bus stops location is an

important aspect for operational purposes as the

strategic location of bus stop will ensure a

comprehensive coverage and easy accessibility to all

categories of users [7]. Bus stops should also be

visible for users. Safety and easy access to the

servicing buses are essential. Bus stops must fulfill

the criteria of comfort and convenience. Moreover,

bus stop keep passengers away from the fear of

crime [1]. There are various issues relating to the bus stop location provided in the current public

transportation services, [3] including that:

I. In certain areas, two bus stops maybe are

closely located resulting depletion ofresources.

II. In other areas the bus stops are sparselysited forcing the people to walk far

distances or to take other modes of

transport to reach their destinations.

III. Some bus stop locations are found to be

hazardous, posing danger to other vehicles

and may also cause traffic congestion.

One method to locate the best location of bus stop is

by applying Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

GIS also offers a better solution in overcoming the

above issues. The use of GIS in determining and planning the public transport facilities particularly

bus stop location is very common nowdays [2]. This

approach to locate the bus stop will help in

modelling preferred solutions to different forms of

spatial issues [3]. In short, the review of literature

has established the following problem statements:i. There are inconsistent hierarchy,

operation systems and supply-demand gaps

of bus services in Kerian District.

ii. Bus stops locations and passengers’

pick-up and drop-off points in Kerian

District have not been clearly identified for

policy making and implementation purposes.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND OBJECTIVES

Research questions arising from the above problem

statements are:

i. What are the hierarchy, operation

systems and supply-demand gaps of bus

services in Kerian District?

ii. How best can bus stops locations and passengers’ pick-up and drop-off points in

Kerian District be identified for policy

making and implementation purposes?

The objectives are:

i. To identify the existing of hierarchy,operation systems and supply-demand gaps

of bus provided in Kerian District.

ii. To evaluate possibility of determining

bus stops locations and passengers’ pick-up

and drop-off points in Kerian District using

geographical information and geo-

positioning systems.

In order to provide convenient bus services, some

performance indicators such as bus operationcharacteristics were analysed to determine the

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effectiveness of the bus service [8]. These

performance measurements are known as levels of

services or LOS and the variables of measurement

are shown in the Table 1 and 2:

Table 1: Fixed-route Service Frequency LOS

LOSAverage

Headway

(min)

Vehicle

per hour

Comments

A 6Passengers do not need

schedules

B 10-14 5-6Frequent service, passengers

consult schedules

C 15-20 3-4Maximum desirable time towait if bus/train missed

D 21-30 2Service unattractive to choice

riders

E 31-60 1Service available during thehour

F >60


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ii. Use of spatially referenced data

For this study the co-ordinates/GPS points of

passenger’s access and egress were recorded through

the on-board survey, where the points were plotted

on the projected map using GIS.

DATA FINDINGS

The generalization of findings from this study is

subject to the data collected according to the specific

time and routes. Survey was conducted during the

both peak and off-peak of public transport services.

Travel Time, Schedule, Fare and Regularity of

Bus Service for Inter-city and Intra-city

Bus services in Kerian district offered both intra-city

and inter-city services that can be accessed by thecase study population. The inter-city bus services to

Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Singapore, and Pulau Pinang

were offered by the express bus operators. The intra-

city bus routes were within the Kerian district and

the concentration of service was within residential in

Kuala Kurau, Tanjung Piandang and Kuala Kurau

(Table 3) [4]. However, there was only one bus

under one operator to cover each intra-city route. As

such, the frequency of bus was low, i.e. one service

per up to 45 - 70 minutes. Previously there was

additional route to Selama but the route has been

discontinued recently. The minimum bus fare was

RM1.00 and the maximum bus fare was RM5.20.

Table 3: Intra-city Bus route and frequencyRoute Number and

Route

No.

of buses

Frequency

(min)

Distance

(km)

Travel

time(min)

Bus services at Parit Buntar station

A Parit

Buntar-Taiping

1 70 98 60

B Parit

Buntar-Kuala

Kurau

1 45 16 30

C Parit

Buntar-Tanjung

Piandang

1 45 13 30

Bus services at Bagan Serai station

A BaganSerai-

Tanjung

Piandang

1 70 36 60

B Bagan

Serai-

KualaKurau

1 70 44 60

Existing Bus Condition and Ticketing System

Observation on the existing bus condition showedthat buses were not equipped with air conditioning

system and some of the bused needed to be

upgraded. The buses also used the ring button

system that was located at the bottom of passengers’

seats. The system was not universally designed to

cater for physical disability users. Bus conductors

and paper tickets were the operational systems

applied by Red Omnibus Sdn. Bhd, which was thesole intra-city bus service operator. The fare rate was

calculated based on the distance and interval time.

Terminal and Bus Stop

Kerian District has two bus stations: Hentian Raya

Parit Buntar and Hentian Raya Bagan Serai. Thestation design was a sheltered ground floor building

with the waiting seats at each route’s bus bay. Both

of the bus station buildings were of two levels with

the upper level providing the public toilets and

prayer room facilities. The ground level has the

ticket counters placed facing the bus bays. Thelocation of bus station was in the middle of town

center and it was easy to access with ample size of

road width for buses to reverse or manouver. Bus

stations’ main entrance were diverted from the main

road of the town centre and managed to avoid the

traffic flow conflicts at the main access point.However, there was no specific bus layover

provided in Kerian bus stations.

The bus stops were provided along the Kerian main

road with no specific standard design. Each of the

bus stop were of different types of shelter and size.

Some of the bus stops were not equipped withseating facilities and there was no loading and

unloading kerb for passengers. Most of the bus stops

were not provided with proper lighting or public

phones. Additionally, from the secondary sources

and observation conducted, the buses services wereonly till 7.00pm and most passengers embarked and

disembarked at door-to-door points along the main

road of the routes.

Bus Route, Bus Stop Locations and Passengers’

Access and Egress Points

Three major bus service routes (Figures 2, 3 and 4) provided by the Red Omnibus Sdn. Bhd were

selected as the case study. The data recorded was

presented in the GIS route map with attached the

attributes of GPS data table. There were five possible points along route 3 to be proposed as bus

stop locations. Along route 5, there were 7 points

identified as potential locations for future bus stops.

For route 8, there were 15 points of possible bus stop

locations, determined using the number of

passengers accessing and egressing.

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Figure 2: Route 3 Bagan Serai – Kuala Kurau

Passengers’ Drop Off Points Map.

Figure 3: Route 5 Parit Buntar-Tanjung Piandang

Passengers’ Drop Off Points Map.

Figure 4: Route 8 Parit Buntar-Taiping Passengers’

Drop Off Points Map.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

Overall findings showed that the Kerian District

needed better bus services operations. The

dependency on the future demand of public

transportation service in the district was still highwith 68% of respondents expressing their

willingness to use public bus at least 3 days per

week. It is recommended that the local authority and

state government to provide an allocation to upgrade

and enhance the public transport service and its

facilities to sustain the mobility of Kerian District’s

people in economic and other daily activities. Levelof Service (LOS) of public transport service analysis

was very important in determining the efficiency and

the quality of current service provided. The LOS is a

factor that influences the future demand on public

transport services. Table 4 shows the LOS matrix.

Table 4: Matrix of LOS for Public Transport

Services in KerianMark

Criteria

Bus Service Taxi

Service

Train

Service

R 3

R 5

R 8

S t a t i o n 1

S t a t i o n 2

S t a t i o n B a g a n

S e r a i

S t a t i o n P a r i t

B u n t a r

Fixed-route Service

Frequency LOSA A C - - D D

Fixed-route Hour of

Service LOSD D C - - A A

LOS Scheme for

transit speedD E E - - - -

Passengers Loading

LOS Thresholds(Off-peak)

A A C A A - -

Service Frequency

LOS Thresholds(Off-peak)

E E E A A - -

Source: Kerian Bus Services Surveys, November 2012.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

The points where high number of passengers were

dropped off can represent the possible suitable

locations to designate a bus stop. However, therewere some issues arising during the stage of plotting

the GPS points into GIS maps. Some maps showed

errors in alignment of their north points. This may

be due to the GPS readings being recorded on

moving buses and determination of points was

influenced by the satellite connectivity in cloudy

areas. The level of accuracy of the GPS points were

accepted, with 90% from the points recorded being

able to be plotted into the maps. Those errors in GPS

points were eliminated to avoid inconsistency and

can be represented using the nearby points where the

east points were referred. Even though the GPS

points were accepted, there was a 5% to 10%

inaccuracy of actual points on the ground. As a

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result, a mapped GPS points in GIS application can

model the overview of bus routes and passengers’

access and egress points for the purpose of

determining possible areas to locate bus stop

facilities.

In general, the overall bus service in Kerian has

many areas to be improved based on the passengers’ perception of overall bus service, trip frequency, bus

condition, bus punctuality, bus efficiency and

effectiveness. Based on the responses obtained from

the survey, it can be concluded that:

i. Route 3 from the station to Kuala Kurau

respondents needed more frequent bus trips

with at least 30 minutes interval for waiting

time. 13 respondents had chosen the 30

minutes interval, 4 respondents preferred

the 20 minutes interval and 19 respondentsselected the 15 minutes interval.

ii. All respondents of the three routes

agreed to pay higher fares if services were

upgraded with comfortable bus interiors

with air conditioning system.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research was funded by Institute Darul Ridzuan

(IDR) http://www.idrperak.com . The authors wish

to thank IDR for funding this research.

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GPS/GIS IDENTIFICATION OF POTENTIAL BUS STOP LOCATIONS AND PASSENGER’S ACCESS AND EGRESS POINTS Third International Conference on Geotechnique, Construction Materials and Environment,