University of Twente Student Theses
Effects of Changing a Part of a Busroute to an LRT : A case study on the Binnenas, Utrecht
Bonte, R. (2024) Effects of Changing a Part of a Busroute to an LRT : A case study on the Binnenas, Utrecht.
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| Abstract: | The city of Utrecht is growing enormously fast in terms of inhabitants, with the municipality expecting an increase of almost 30% in 2040. This requires improvements to be made in many aspects to keep the city liveable. Also, the transport possibilities of the city must adapt to this increase. The municipality of Utrecht prioritizes sustainable modes of transportation, such as walking, cycling or public transportation. One area in the city centre is already reaching its capacity in terms of transportation capacity. With 74 buses per hour per direction, 34 thousand cyclists per day and five thousand motorized vehicles per day, the Binnenstadsas can be seen as a busy area. Thus, plans are being made to change this area. There are plans for creating an improved Binnenstadsas, however the decision which plan to choose has not been taken yet. The plans include a cycling street, spatial optimalization, smaller buses, a city tram, or an LRT. The LRT seems a solution for the optimizing space, as at the Binnenstadsas it will go underground, creating a liveable and safe surface area. However, little is known about the total outcomes of this intervention. As it is an expensive intervention, knowledge should be gained on the effects. This research focuses on the effects of implementing an LRT in this area, especially on the effects on travel time. This will be done in actual travel time analyses and perceived travel time analyses. Also, this research will investigate what is the best location for the transfer hub, where buses and the LRT will have their transfers. This creates the research question: How does changing part of a current bus route to an LRT affect the absolute and perceived travel time on the Binnenstadsas in Utrecht? The three scenarios analysed are the current scenario, and the possible future scenarios with Oorsprongpark or Rijnsweerd-Noord as transfer station. In the new scenarios, the total trip will consist of a bus trip, a transfer, an LRT trip and an egress trip, while in the current scenario it will only consist of a bus trip and an egress trip. For the perceived travel time perception factors and penalties are used to provide an accurate estimation. In the results it was visible that the new situation had higher travel times than the current situation. While for the perceived travel time results, the new situations were better for areas. As for the comparison between the scenarios using either Oorsprongpark or Rijnsweerd-Noord as transfer station, no significant better station was found based on actual or perceived travel times. Oorsprongpark looks better in both comparisons, however in absolute numbers it does not differ to much between both locations. To conclude, in this research it does not look like the LRT has a positive effect on either the perceived or actual travel time. However, only the most negative trips are considered in this research. Trips that only use the LRT and do not have to transfer, are better of than currently as the LRT is faster than the buses. Also, there is no significant better transfer station based on the results and many other variables will have a larger influence on that decision than the few minutes difference on travel times. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | ET: Engineering Technology |
| Programme: | Civil Engineering BSc (56952) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/105206 |
| Export this item as: | BibTeX EndNote HTML Citation Reference Manager |
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