Over the year, Kaohsiung Bus Companies has not been very successful in providing the kind of service the passengers need, as a result, today, more people are not using bus transportation, nor satisfied with the bus company¡¦s service quality. How to enhance quality services to meet customers¡¦ needs; how to reach the goal to improve metropolitan¡¦s commute environment and how to re-create business opportunity and make profit are the main concerns of Kaohsiung Bus Companies. Versus bus companies, customers are expecting metro transportation system to provide economical, rapid, secure and safe services while paying the fare. This research is based on customer¡¦s expectation (demands) and bus company¡¦s service (supplies) to build up the model. This model also explains the co-relationship of customer satisfaction degree and bus company quality service. To provide the evidence of presumption, this research goes through public opinion survey. This research has the following results 1). The co-relationship is low between (a) image of Kaohsiung Bus Company, and passenger expectation of quality service ; and (b) passengers¡¦ past experiences, knowledge of bus company and personal needs. 2). The co-relationship between (a) customer¡¦s over all comments; and (b) riding frequency is relative. 3). Bus service schedule (service time) does affect the sensation of passenger. 4). The satisfaction degree of customer from high to low of bus service schedule is as (a) off-peak, (b) afternoon peak, (c) morning peak. 5). For over all satisfaction degree of bus service, non-commuters are higher than commuters. 6). The better the quality service, the higher the sensation of satisfaction degree.

由於工商社會的發達，隨著生活步調之加速，大眾運輸日益重要。長途汽 車客運業，在此環境之下，必須致力於滿足社會大眾的服務需求，積極提 昇服務品質方能提昇經營績效並創造利潤。 本研究根據諸多學者所提 出之各種服務品質理論及模式，探討影響長途汽車客運業的各種服務品質 要素，以臺灣兩家客運公司為對象，針對在臺北市搭乘的旅客做調查。利 用單因子多變量分析、t 檢定、卡方檢定、因素分析、多元態度衡量法等 ，分別探討各服務品質要素之重要性程度彼此是否不同，並了解人口統計 變數是否會影響搭乘偏好和重視程度，同時比較兩家公司在各要素上之服 務品質差距，接著利用因素分析、多元態衡量法以了解個別之定位情形。 在經過統計分析之後，本研究有以下發現： (1) 各品質要素之重要 性程度彼此不同，所以可排列出重要順序。 (2) 除性別之外，其餘人口 統計變數會影響搭乘偏好。 (3) 各人口變數在多項品質要素之重視程度 上有顯著差異。 (4) 利用因素分析，可將14個要素縮減成五大因素。 (5) 利用多元態度衡量法，可以發現兩家公司之服務品質定位情形。 研究結果顯示，旅客最在意的三項品質要素皆與安全有關，而最不重視的 三項則和人員之態度、禮貌以及反應能力有關。在搭乘偏好部份，以臺汽 公司領先，而旅客認知與實際感受之差距，仍以臺汽客運較小，即旅客較 滿意臺汽之服務，此和搭乘偏好之分析結果相符。

It is the purpose of this study to show the bus transportation set up in the schools of Donley County, Texas and to show how it can be made more effective. The following factors will be considered in studying this problem: 1. Number of pupils transported, 2. Number of buses used, 3. Comfort of pupils en route to and from the school, 5. Length of bus routes, 6. Amount of time pupils spend on the bus, 7. Cost of transportation, 8. Type of equipment used, 9. Condition of roads, 10. Cooperation of home and school,11. Improvement of the above factors. Each of the above factors will be considered carefully in studying this problem.

This diploma deals with the changes and challenges that transportation companies will face at the beginning of 2010 due to the liberalization of the public transportation market. It is structured into a first part describing the theory and a second part that applies the theory into praxis. The theory focuses on the development of public transportation, the nomenclature, and specific terms related to the public transportation market, legal changes, financials and other influencing effects. The complete diploma is written with focus on bus transportation. The second part analyzes the current situation on the Czech public bus transportation market and further expected changes starting with 2010. General recommendations are made and possible strategies described how to establish in the market. Finally there is made an explicit recommendation for a specific bus company

O sistema de transporte público por ônibus no Brasil tem sido afetado por influências variadas que exigem do setor uma maior eficiência e redução de custos. A queda da demanda de passageiros nos centros urbanos e o aumento do preço dos insumos das empresas de transporte acima da inflação oneram significativamente o sistema de transporte. Considerando que o ativo operacional mais importante da empresa é o ônibus, uma política de substituição destes equipamentos viabiliza uma gestão mais eficiente e econômica da empresa. O objetivo desta Dissertação é o de desenvolver uma sistemática para Política de Substituição de Frotas de Ônibus para Transporte Coletivo Urbano, integrando aspectos econômico-financeiros, quantitativos e qualitativos com o uso da Engenharia Econômica e da Análise Multicritério. A metodologia do estudo foi baseada na pesquisa-ação, no sentido de desenvolver a sistemática com a participação dos colaboradores da empresa estudada e de validar a mesma com a sua aplicação. A sistemática foi implementada em uma empresa pública de transporte coletivo urbano por ônibus, a Companhia Carris Porto-Alegrense. A Vida Econômica da frota foi calculada assim como os benefícios intangíveis através de um método híbrido multicritério, combinando MAUT, AHP e QFD. Gerou-se um índice benefício/custo, o qual classificou o modelo ideal de ônibus para a empresa e a faixa ideal de substituição em função do tipo e nível tecnológico do ônibus. A análise dos resultados revelou que quanto mais avançado tecnologicamente, mais curta é a vida econômica do ônibus. Os resultados da análise econômica e multicritério da aplicação da sistemática proposta indicam que a empresa deveria adquirir tecnologia compatível com a sua prestação de serviço. Veículos com alta tecnologia, mas inadequados a determinados itinerários das linhas da empresa, podem provocar uma operação ineficiente e um aumento substancial nos custos de manutenção e operação dos mesmos. Portanto, os resultados enfatizam a necessidade de um processo de aquisição que priorize principalmente os custos de operação e manutenção do veículo e não apenas o custo de aquisição do mesmo. / The public bus transportation system in Brazil has been affected by varied influences, which in turn have created a demand for higher efficiency and cost reduction from the sector. The decrease in the number of passengers in the urban centers, plus the price increase of the inputs of transportation companies above the inflation rate burdens the transportation system significantly. Considering that the most important operational asset of the company is the bus itself, an Equipment Replacement Policy makes it possible to have a more efficient and economic management of the company. The main purpose of this Dissertation was to develop a systematic procedure for a Fleet Replacement Policy for public buses, thus integrating economic-financial, quantitative and qualitative aspects coupled with the use of Engineering Economy and Multicriterial Analysis. The methodology of the study was based upon the action research approach, since company employees participated in the development of the systematic procedure that was implemented in an urban public bus transportation company, the Cia. Carris Porto-Alegrense. The Economic Life of the fleet was calculated as well as the intangible benefits with the use of a hybrid multicriteria method, combining MAUT, AHP and QFD. A benefit/cost index was determined, based upon which the ideal bus model for the company and the timing of replacement according to type and technological level of the buses were determined. The results disclosed that the more advanced technology of the equipment, the shorter is the economic life of the bus. The economic and multicriteria analysis of the application indicate that the company should acquire compatible technology with its rendering of services. High technology vehicles assigned do inadequate itineraries or campany routes, can result in an inefficient operation and a substantial increase in the maintenance costs and operation of the same ones. Therefore, the results emphasize the need for an acquisition process that mainly prioritizes the costs of operation and maintenance of the vehicle and as well as the cost of its acquisition.

O sistema de transporte público por ônibus no Brasil tem sido afetado por influências variadas que exigem do setor uma maior eficiência e redução de custos. A queda da demanda de passageiros nos centros urbanos e o aumento do preço dos insumos das empresas de transporte acima da inflação oneram significativamente o sistema de transporte. Considerando que o ativo operacional mais importante da empresa é o ônibus, uma política de substituição destes equipamentos viabiliza uma gestão mais eficiente e econômica da empresa. O objetivo desta Dissertação é o de desenvolver uma sistemática para Política de Substituição de Frotas de Ônibus para Transporte Coletivo Urbano, integrando aspectos econômico-financeiros, quantitativos e qualitativos com o uso da Engenharia Econômica e da Análise Multicritério. A metodologia do estudo foi baseada na pesquisa-ação, no sentido de desenvolver a sistemática com a participação dos colaboradores da empresa estudada e de validar a mesma com a sua aplicação. A sistemática foi implementada em uma empresa pública de transporte coletivo urbano por ônibus, a Companhia Carris Porto-Alegrense. A Vida Econômica da frota foi calculada assim como os benefícios intangíveis através de um método híbrido multicritério, combinando MAUT, AHP e QFD. Gerou-se um índice benefício/custo, o qual classificou o modelo ideal de ônibus para a empresa e a faixa ideal de substituição em função do tipo e nível tecnológico do ônibus. A análise dos resultados revelou que quanto mais avançado tecnologicamente, mais curta é a vida econômica do ônibus. Os resultados da análise econômica e multicritério da aplicação da sistemática proposta indicam que a empresa deveria adquirir tecnologia compatível com a sua prestação de serviço. Veículos com alta tecnologia, mas inadequados a determinados itinerários das linhas da empresa, podem provocar uma operação ineficiente e um aumento substancial nos custos de manutenção e operação dos mesmos. Portanto, os resultados enfatizam a necessidade de um processo de aquisição que priorize principalmente os custos de operação e manutenção do veículo e não apenas o custo de aquisição do mesmo. / The public bus transportation system in Brazil has been affected by varied influences, which in turn have created a demand for higher efficiency and cost reduction from the sector. The decrease in the number of passengers in the urban centers, plus the price increase of the inputs of transportation companies above the inflation rate burdens the transportation system significantly. Considering that the most important operational asset of the company is the bus itself, an Equipment Replacement Policy makes it possible to have a more efficient and economic management of the company. The main purpose of this Dissertation was to develop a systematic procedure for a Fleet Replacement Policy for public buses, thus integrating economic-financial, quantitative and qualitative aspects coupled with the use of Engineering Economy and Multicriterial Analysis. The methodology of the study was based upon the action research approach, since company employees participated in the development of the systematic procedure that was implemented in an urban public bus transportation company, the Cia. Carris Porto-Alegrense. The Economic Life of the fleet was calculated as well as the intangible benefits with the use of a hybrid multicriteria method, combining MAUT, AHP and QFD. A benefit/cost index was determined, based upon which the ideal bus model for the company and the timing of replacement according to type and technological level of the buses were determined. The results disclosed that the more advanced technology of the equipment, the shorter is the economic life of the bus. The economic and multicriteria analysis of the application indicate that the company should acquire compatible technology with its rendering of services. High technology vehicles assigned do inadequate itineraries or campany routes, can result in an inefficient operation and a substantial increase in the maintenance costs and operation of the same ones. Therefore, the results emphasize the need for an acquisition process that mainly prioritizes the costs of operation and maintenance of the vehicle and as well as the cost of its acquisition.

O sistema de transporte público por ônibus no Brasil tem sido afetado por influências variadas que exigem do setor uma maior eficiência e redução de custos. A queda da demanda de passageiros nos centros urbanos e o aumento do preço dos insumos das empresas de transporte acima da inflação oneram significativamente o sistema de transporte. Considerando que o ativo operacional mais importante da empresa é o ônibus, uma política de substituição destes equipamentos viabiliza uma gestão mais eficiente e econômica da empresa. O objetivo desta Dissertação é o de desenvolver uma sistemática para Política de Substituição de Frotas de Ônibus para Transporte Coletivo Urbano, integrando aspectos econômico-financeiros, quantitativos e qualitativos com o uso da Engenharia Econômica e da Análise Multicritério. A metodologia do estudo foi baseada na pesquisa-ação, no sentido de desenvolver a sistemática com a participação dos colaboradores da empresa estudada e de validar a mesma com a sua aplicação. A sistemática foi implementada em uma empresa pública de transporte coletivo urbano por ônibus, a Companhia Carris Porto-Alegrense. A Vida Econômica da frota foi calculada assim como os benefícios intangíveis através de um método híbrido multicritério, combinando MAUT, AHP e QFD. Gerou-se um índice benefício/custo, o qual classificou o modelo ideal de ônibus para a empresa e a faixa ideal de substituição em função do tipo e nível tecnológico do ônibus. A análise dos resultados revelou que quanto mais avançado tecnologicamente, mais curta é a vida econômica do ônibus. Os resultados da análise econômica e multicritério da aplicação da sistemática proposta indicam que a empresa deveria adquirir tecnologia compatível com a sua prestação de serviço. Veículos com alta tecnologia, mas inadequados a determinados itinerários das linhas da empresa, podem provocar uma operação ineficiente e um aumento substancial nos custos de manutenção e operação dos mesmos. Portanto, os resultados enfatizam a necessidade de um processo de aquisição que priorize principalmente os custos de operação e manutenção do veículo e não apenas o custo de aquisição do mesmo. / The public bus transportation system in Brazil has been affected by varied influences, which in turn have created a demand for higher efficiency and cost reduction from the sector. The decrease in the number of passengers in the urban centers, plus the price increase of the inputs of transportation companies above the inflation rate burdens the transportation system significantly. Considering that the most important operational asset of the company is the bus itself, an Equipment Replacement Policy makes it possible to have a more efficient and economic management of the company. The main purpose of this Dissertation was to develop a systematic procedure for a Fleet Replacement Policy for public buses, thus integrating economic-financial, quantitative and qualitative aspects coupled with the use of Engineering Economy and Multicriterial Analysis. The methodology of the study was based upon the action research approach, since company employees participated in the development of the systematic procedure that was implemented in an urban public bus transportation company, the Cia. Carris Porto-Alegrense. The Economic Life of the fleet was calculated as well as the intangible benefits with the use of a hybrid multicriteria method, combining MAUT, AHP and QFD. A benefit/cost index was determined, based upon which the ideal bus model for the company and the timing of replacement according to type and technological level of the buses were determined. The results disclosed that the more advanced technology of the equipment, the shorter is the economic life of the bus. The economic and multicriteria analysis of the application indicate that the company should acquire compatible technology with its rendering of services. High technology vehicles assigned do inadequate itineraries or campany routes, can result in an inefficient operation and a substantial increase in the maintenance costs and operation of the same ones. Therefore, the results emphasize the need for an acquisition process that mainly prioritizes the costs of operation and maintenance of the vehicle and as well as the cost of its acquisition.

The diploma thesis deals with the bus transportation in Prague and surrounding areas in the Central Region. It compares the Prague integrated transport system and Central integrated transport system. It deals with the question whether the use of two unrelated integrated transport systems is efficient on the same route and whether bus transportation is operated efficiently in selected region Praha - Neratovice. The survey of utilization is accompanied by information about carriers that perform bus transport in selected region, and information about their fleet. The aim of the thesis is assesing current situation, pointing out the differences between integrated transport systems and designing alternative solution.

Artificial intelligence has become a hot topic in the past couple of years because of its potential of solving problems. The most used subset of artificial intelligence today is machine learning, which is essentially the way a machine can learn to do tasks without getting any explicit instructions. A problem that has historically been solved by common knowledge and experience is the planning of bus transportation, which has been prone to mistakes. This thesis investigates how to extract the key features of a raw dataset and if a couple of machine learning algorithms can be applied to predict and plan the public bus transportation, while also considering the weather conditions. By using a pre-processing method to extract the features before creating and evaluating an k-nearest neighbors model as well as an artificial neural network model, predicting the passenger count on a given route could help planning of the bus transportation. The outcome of the thesis was that the feature extraction was successful, and both models could successfully predict the passenger count based on normal conditions. However, in extreme conditions such as the pandemic during 2020, the models could not be proven to successfully predict the passenger count nor being used to plan the bus transportation.

Bus rapid transit (BRT) is an innovative bus system with sophisticated vehicles and inflexible busways integrated in the cities, high capacity and high quality, high speed and frequency, distinctive image and comfort. Many in Sweden believe that is impossible to introduce BRT, even though the Swedish towns and cities can benefit from the image, speed and frequency that BRT symbolizes. The archipelago-like urbanization, urban sprawl and the uncompetitive journey times of public transportation compared with the private car are identified as main obstacles. New questions emerged: Is it possible to transform and adjust the Swedish towns and cities for BRT? What demands BRT? How is transit-oriented development (TOD) applicable in a Swedish context as a policy to integrate cities and BRT? In this licentiate thesis I investigate the interrelationship between bus transportation and neighborhoods, between BRT and urban form as well as the possibilities to introduce busways and BRT, to trigger TOD and to transform the Swedish towns and cities for BRT. Much has been written about BRT, but seldom by architects or urban planners and designers. BRT and TOD are seen though urban form and processes of urbanization within a morphological tradition established by Kevin Lynch. BRT is represented by paths and nodes that disperse distinctive attractiveness pattern of desirability cores that shape neighborhoods as districts. TOD is about synchronizing the everyday urban life with public transportation systems. BRT-TOD is defined as a policy to recognize desirability cores spread by the different infrastructures of BRT and promote development of urban form within their attractiveness pattern at urban and regional scale. BRT-TOD is discussed as a concept of BRT metropolis in context of the urbanization of Swedish towns and cities.  TOD is defined morphologically as public transport cities. A public transport city is a city that in its development adapted to specific public transportation systems. TOD is nothing new in Europe or Sweden. To find regularities of the effect of public transportation systems on cities I do a historical overview of the Swedish towns and cities. In the end the position of bus and BRT, public transport cities and TOD and possibilities of future urban transformation of the smaller and larger Swedish cities towards BRT metropolises are discussed in context of today’s “‘system’ of automobility” and widespread car society and the emerging knowledge society and its postmodern fringes of urbanization. / <p>QC 20130917</p>