Vehicle km per Platform Hour (“Speed Made Good”)

 

	1972	1982	1987	1992	1997	2002
Speed Made Good                            (Bus km per Platform Hour)	16.79	22.10	21.94	23.28	23.61	23.57
Bus mi per Platform Hour	10.41	13.70	13.60	14.50	14.64	14.61
Index (1982 = 100)	76	100	99	105	107	107
Std Equ km per Platform Hour	N/A	21.77	23.17	25.35	25.23	25.71
Std Equ mi per Platform Hour		13.50	14.37	15.72	15.64	15.94
Index (1982 = 100)		100	106	116	116	118

 

The ratio of vehicle km per platform hour (labeled “Speed Made Good” by OC Transpo) indicates the relative efficiency of labor utilization by management. The underlying “causal factors” reflect service-planning issues. This indicator reflects operating “speed” (e.g. commercial speed) to some degree but the relationship is relatively weak.

Prior to the start of transitway construction, OC Transpo anticipated that “higher speed” facilitated by transitways would lead to “lower costs.” This was based on alternatives-analysis results during early planning stages, and might be described today as “a theory that was not tested.” Despite visible increases in commercial (passenger) speed, the transitways did not facilitate large increases in bus km per platform hour. In other words, the undertaking was not able to substantially increase the efficiency of labor utilization as the transitway network expanded.

The 1972-1982 increase in bus km per platform hour coincides with the expansion of OC Transpo service to suburban areas. The authors believe this change reflects characteristics “typical” of suburban services, e.g. less-frequent stops and higher operating speed than purely “urban” services.

In theory, transitway development reduced the negative impacts of increasing street traffic congestion on OC Transpo operations; the slight upward trend in bus km per platform hour during 1982-2002 might have reversed without the transitways. The authors believe this to be true but lack supporting data.

 

Trends - Bus km per Platform Hour; Standard Equivalent km per Platform Hour

The authors calculated “standard equivalent km per platform hour” to demonstrate the one significant (i.e. positive change greater than 10 percent; clear upward trend; identifiable causal relationship) productivity gain associated with the period of transitway development. Adjustment for relative vehicle size in this manner demonstrates an increase in “capacity” (seat-km or place-km) per platform hour. This was not sufficient to offset other factors underlying the increase in real unit operating cost (e.g. per revenue service hour and standard equivalent km).