مسیرهای اتوبوس کراس شهر به عنوان یک راه حل برای سفر غیرمتمرکز: تجزیه و تحلیل هزینه - فایده برای مونتری، مکزیک

Travel patterns have become more decentralized as employment has dispersed throughout metropolitan areas and has become less highly concentrated in central business districts (CBD). Decentralized travel patterns have lead several transit authorities to complement traditional radial networks, where all transit routes radiate from the CBD, with cross-town transit routes from one suburb to another. The main characteristic of cross-town routes is that neither end of the bus line originates in the CBD. Peripheral cross-town routes totally bypass the CBD. The objective of this article is to use an urban transportation planning (UTP) model to simulate the productivity gains or losses in the transit system in Monterrey, Mexico following the introduction of 16 new cross-town routes. The study analyzes the financial productivity of the transit lines as well as their economic viability by measuring welfare gains and losses to bus users, automobile users and bus operators. Monterrey, capital city of the state of Nuevo Leone in Mexico, is used as a case study because it is typical of a large number of developing cities in many respects, particularly, the high rates of growth in population and auto ownership, and the limited road capacity. Tripmakers, particularly, those traveling to the CBD or passing through it, continue to face high and increasing levels of congestion. The following section provides a background of the bus routes in Monterrey both prior to the introduction of the cross-town routes and after their introduction. Section 2 provides a conceptual discussion of the nature of gains and losses associated with the new policy. 3, 4 and 5 present the methodology used, the simulation results and the conclusions, respectively.

The analysis of morning peak-hour travel indicates that the introduction of the cross-town routes in Monterrey, Mexico, has resulted in time and monetary savings for their users. Redeploying buses from radial routes to cross-town ones reduced congestion and resulted in slightly higher travel speeds. As a result, automobile users enjoy a reduction in vehicle operating costs and average trip time. The main losers are bus operators who forego the revenues on eliminated transfers without any corresponding reduction in operating costs. Many radial route users also lose because of the reduced frequencies of buses on the radial routes and the subsequent longer wait times. The net gain resulting from the new service indicates that the losers can be compensated if necessary. In the case of Monterrey where the concessionaires running the bus companies enjoy economic rents, compensation may not be needed. In the more common cases where bus companies are not earning economic rents, a redistribution of the gains may be required for the sustainability of the new service. In such cases, a differentiated tariff that takes into account both operating and congestion costs may be desirable. There are large variations in productivity and the profitability among the cross-town routes, perhaps suggesting that the design of some of them can be improved. A final decision on whether to modify, or perhaps even eliminate, a route will have to be based on the overall financial and economic impacts of the changes on the entire network. Routes operating close to the periphery of the city and relatively far from the CBD have high levels of ridership and productivity and their users enjoy the largest time savings. The overall success of these cross-town routes, as exhibited by their financial and economic viability, suggests that a policy of introducing such routes even if it means cutting back on the radial routes should be considered more in developing cities. Given that most cities are likely to have, or should have, some form of a UTP model, the impacts of such a new service can be analyzed with relative ease. This policy appears even more attractive once one realizes the negligible investment levels associated with its implementation.