Evaluation of Urban Bus Transport Failure in Gujranwala City of Pakistan

This research work has evaluated the performance of urban public bus transport service operating in Gujranwala city of Pakistan. The assessment has been made in terms of financial viability, bus condition, operational performance and user perception. Based on the data requirements, various traffic/transport surveys were conducted including Passenger Boarding and Alighting Survey, Bus Count Survey, Bus Inspection Survey, Illegal Operations Survey and Public Transport User Interview Survey in consultation with concerned department/agencies. Field surveys were also conducted to get input from passengers and local people. Initial investigation informed that out of four operational bus routes, only two routes are profitable. The overall bus operation is running in loss (only 0.3% net profit). It has barely any profit for the bus operator against its investment thereby making the urban bus operation financially non-viable. The whole revenue flow is dependent on passenger ticketing revenue only. Around 35% of the buses are in poor condition with major issues of quality of tyres, no speedometer, worse condition of seats, floor and ceiling, and display of route. Illegal operation of Qingqis/Rickshaws (as para-transit mode) along the bus routes is also decreasing the revenue by capturing the passenger volume. According to passenger opinion analysis, around 55% of the passenger are not satisfied with the service quality and prefer other modes of transport. Their major concerns are absence of facilities for disables and bus stops, bus seating and standing capacity, poor bus condition and pick pocketing. Collectively, these factors are contributing towards the failure of bus public transport in Gujranwala city.


INTRODUCTION
repercussions can be felt in every field of life. Transport systems are a very important aspect in the lives of people who live in cities as it provides mobility and access to most activities, but many transport systems are beginning to threaten the very livability of the cities they serve [1].
T ransportation facilities are deemed as backbone for the socio-economic development of a country.
A country cannot thrive if its transportation facilities are not up to the mark. Scarcity of transport facilities bodes ill for the progress of a country and its With rapid urbanization and economic growth, motorization has been accelerating in cities in developing countries. For example, in the Asian region, the number of motor vehicles per one thousand people has more than tripled in the past 30 years. Owning a private car or a motorized two-wheeler is a major aspiration for people in these cities, in particular, where public transport service is often inadequate and unsafe [2]. The introduction of an efficient public transport can decrease these ascendant problems in the developing world's largest cities.
For an optimal working of any transport service in a city its evaluation and monitoring are the two most important factors. Stable and profitable revenue flows are the biggest challenges in transit services especially within the realm of public transport in larger cities. In order to raise more revenue from this sector, it is vital to introduce an optimal level of service within the sector and it is expected that alternative revenue sources can be generated this way [3].
Evaluation of urban transport can be measured in terms of benefits which can be viewed in different ways, and it is essential to distinguish between these approaches.
Much of the debate about benefits stems from the chosen point of view. Three common viewpoints are financial, economic, or political. But the financial evaluation is most important one when it comes to fruitful and sustainable operation of public transport [4].
A financial viewpoint includes only those benefits that can be recovered as income. Benefits are those things that contribute to the rate of return on the investment in transit. Returns (benefits of transit) should occur directly to the agency to pay the expense of providing service.
There are many factors which adversely effects the financial sustainability and viability of urban transport system. One of the common factors these days is the regular use of Para-transit modes like Qingqi/Rickshaws which has a negative impact on the safe, efficient, timely and environment friendly movement of public transport.
It also effects the revenue generation process by capturing the passenger volume thereby resulting in revenue loss and making it financially unviable in absence of some subsidy policy or enforcement by the Government Agencies [5].
For performance evaluation of bus service, condition of buses is also vital for successful bus operations as poor conditions of buses will compel the passengers to shift to other available modes of transport which will result in loss of passenger revenue. In addition, input of daily commuters can also contribute a lot in the improvement of urban transport system as they are the end user of this service. Thus, passengers satisfaction is necessary for sustainable operation of public transport.

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION INDICATORS
Performance indicators are powerful tools for monitoring and improving transit service. While there are many possible indicators that can be used, typically a small subset is used on a regular basis to monitor the important aspects of transit system performance. The

FIG. 1. STUDY AREA MAP ALONG WITH OPERATIONAL BUS ROUTES (SOURCE: AUTHOR)
approach for using indicators to assess performance is relatively easy to implement. Some of the indicators used to evaluate service performance are readily available in most systems and others can be collected and analyzed as conditions warrant.
In a system as complex as transit, there can be hundreds of measures to assess performance. However, experience has shown that in many situations a relatively small number of measures can be used effectively [8].

Data Collection
The data like operational and maintenance costs, salary of staff and the specified route along with their length and location of bus stops has been collected/gathered from District Regional Transport Authority Gujranwala

Data Analysis
The collected data is coded, validated against the data provided by the bus company, digitized and analyzed using softwares like ArcGIS 10, Excel 2007 and SPSS 19.

Characteristics of Operational Bus Routes in Gujranwala
The frequency of buses observed, average headway on each route, total number of trips per day, and total passenger volume travelled through the buses are given in Table 2. These results were achieved from bus count survey conducted at GBS (General Bus Stand) in both directions.

Cost Analysis of Operational Bus Routes in Gujranwala City
Operating cost on each bus route is calculated on the basis of some assumptions and the financial data   the quality of service. Table 4 shows the summary of profit/loss on each route and in total.
It is in practice, that the authority set fare level of service on the basis of operating cost and bus ridership. Thus, more ridership is desirable by all operators to enhance profit/yield from fixed resources. Revenue is primarily derived through daily sales of passenger tickets only.
Some of the reasons associated with the losses on these operational bus routes are overleaping of bus routes, improper headway between the buses during peak and off-peak hours and fleet size mismanagement on each route. These losses can be minimized by adjustment of fleet size on each route based on the passenger volume and increasing/decreasing headways in specific time periods to cater the varying demand.

Illegal Para-Transit Operations
Illegal para-transit transport operation is the major issue that directly affects the operations and sustainability of legally operating bus public transport. The illegal operations survey was conducted to determine number of illegal boarding along GT Road, Gujranwala through Qingqi rickshaws and modified illegally designed Auto rickshaws. However, it was not possible to carry-out assessment along the full length of GT road due to limited resources. Fig. 3 shows the selected key locations to estimate the illegal boarding trend in the city and their percentage share.
The results from illegal transport assessment survey have indicated that more than sixteen thousand passengers daily use illegal transport along GT Road between Chanda Qilla and Pindi Bypass. Majority of passengers using para-transit transport; board between Sheikhupura Morr and Gondlanwala due to markets and shopping arcades. Fig. 4 shows the total number of passengers boarding along GT Road.

Public Transport User Interview Survey
The

Evaluation of Urban Bus Transport Failure in Gujranwala City of Pakistan
Qingqi or Rickshaw particularly for short travel distance. Fig. 6 shows results of user opinion about public transport and facilities. Table 5 shows the summary of findings of this research work based on the analysis and results.   s  r  o  t  a  c  i  d  n  I  l  a  i  c  n  a  n  i  F  r  o  t  a  c  i  d  n  I  d  e  i  f  i  t  n  e  d  I  m  e  l  b  o  r  P  n  o  s  a  e  R  n  o  i  t  u  l  o  S   e  s  n  e  p  x  E  s  e  s  n  e  p  x  E  s  s  e  l  d  e  e  N  f  o  y  c  n  e  u  q  e  r  f  d  n  a  y  a  w  d  a  e  h  r  e  p  o  r  p  m  I  s  e  t  u  o  r  s  u  b  f  o  g  n  i  p  p  a  l  r  e  v  o  d  n  a  s  e  s  u  b   h  c  a  e  n  o  e  z  i  s  t  e  e  l  f  d  n  a  s  y  a  w  d  a  e  h  s  u  B  d  n  a  k  a  e  p  g  n  i  r  u  d  d  e  t  s  u  j  d  a  e  b  n  a  c  e  t  u  o  r  g  n  i  y  r  a  v  n  o  d  e  s  a  b  s  r  u  o  h  k  a  e  p  -f  f  o  e  h  t  e  c  u  d  e  r  o  t  d  n  a  m  e  d  r  e  g  n  e  s  s  a  p  e  b  n  a  c  5  -B  d  n  a

CONCLUSIONS
From the analysis of current situation of bus routes it is concluded that route B1 is almost at breakeven with net profit of 1%. B2 is in loss; this is mostly due to merging of two routes and overlapping of merging route with other bus routes. The bus route B4, is the most profitable route with 9% net profit. B5 is also in loss due to this partially shared route with other public service vehicles and low headway gap. When the whole scenario is expanded for overall bus operation per day it is evident that the current operation of urban buses is not financially viable with a bare marginal net profit of 0.3 % against the recommended profit gain of 15-20%. Furthermore, poor condition of the buses are also encouraging the passengers to shift to other transport modes like illegal para-transit modes of Qingqis/ Rickshaws particularly for short travel distance thereby resulting in loss inform of decrease in passenger revenue. Around 16,000 passengers are using Qingqis/ Rickshaws for their daily commuting along GT road.
It is also concluded that the performance of public bus transit in Gujranwala has also declined due to dissatisfaction of passengers from the quality of transport service thereby encouraging them to adopt other modes of transport. Overall, all these factors are contributing in the failure of successful and sustainable bus operations in Gujranwala city.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the analysis and input from passengers and local people, following are some recommendations can be adopted to improve revenue flows and improve public transport performance in Gujranwala city: (i) Adjust headway at certain times on specific routes to cope with passenger demand.
(ii) Penalizing the commuters for travelling without tickets as approved under the Motor Vehicle Act 1965.
(iii) Output based operational subsidy must be provided by the Government sector inorder to make bus operations in Gujranwala city financially viable; which in result will make the operator interested in improving the efficiency and service of bus operations.
(iv) The enforcement of the available acts and laws about illegal operations should be thoroughly implemented through traffic police, District Regional Transport Authority and Motor Vehicle Examiners to reduce revenue loss to bus operator.
(v) The improvement and construction of quality bus-stops at busy locations may attract more passengers towards urban transport.
(vi) Improved user information for example bus schedules, route information, bus arrival, & departure time to build passenger confidence and attract passenger towards Public transport use.
(vii) The roadway infrastructure like bus stops, pedestrian underpasses/footbridges, bus lanes, footpaths, etc. should be constructed for passenger and public ease to promote public transport in the city.
(viii) A public awareness campaign should be launched regarding safety threats and hazards associated with Qingqi (Motorcycle) rickshaws and other illegal modes of transport causing pollution, congestion, safety issues and other chronic diseases.