OPERATIONAL FEATURES OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
SYSTEM OF KHULNA CITY: CASE STUDY OF DAULATPUR TO
BOYRA
Mahinur Rahman1* and Md. Raisul Islam2
1 Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Khulna University Engineering & Technology,
Khulna-9203, Bangladesh, [email protected]
2 Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Khulna University Engineering & Technology,
Khulna-9203, Bangladesh, [email protected]
*Corresponding Author: Mahinur Rahman, [email protected]
ABSTRACT
The objective of the research is to identify the present condition of fixed facilities and control systems
and determination of the operating characteristics of public transport system of Daulatpur to Boyra. For
performing that some core issues are focused on i) condition of existing physical features, ii) capacity
and the level of service of the road, iii) journey speed, spot speed, running speed iv) congestion level
through congestion index. This study was totally based on field survey. Field survey was categorized
into physical features survey, volume survey, and speed survey. The findings of this study shows that,
the condition of operational features is very poor but the level of service of this section is in level A.
The congestion index shows that the value of Daulatpur to Boyra and Boyra to Daulatpur are 0.04 and
0.14, which indicates that the level of congestion is low.
Keywords: Operational features, Congestion level, Level of service.
INTRODUCTION
The objective of the research is to identify the present condition of fixed facilities and control systems
and determination of the operating characteristics of public transport system of Daulatpur to Boyra high
way. Khulna is the country’s third largest city in Bangladesh having a higher transportation demand
(Asi, 2000). Khulna city area is separated from its outer eastern portion by Rupsha River (Rahman,
Kabir). Ferries over this river helped to share the transportation facility among south-western regions
and the eastern as well as the north-western regions of Bangladesh. It was the route to link the Mongla
sea port with Dhaka and north-western regions of the country. As a result, both sides of the river were
introduced as a place of trip generation with two bus terminals (Ripan, Islam, 2009).
The research is very important because it is the main highway of Khulna City Corporation and a huge
number of trips are generated from outside the city area due to various purpose (Rabbi, Hossain,
Rahman, 2015). The efficiency of a road depends on the efficiency of Operational features. The
operational features can improve traffic flow and safety (Datta, Rahman, Zannat, 2016). So the existing
condition of transportation facilities and control system of Khulna city should be assessed to find out
where improvement is needed and to provide a better, convenient, safe and efficient transportation
system in Khulna city. It is also necessary to know about the capacity, performance, operating
characteristics of the road and to take necessary steps for improving the physical condition of the
highway. Proper maintenance and efficiency of the operational features should be assessed to avoid
congestion and traffic jam. So the main purpose is to maintain the overall transport system.
The findings of this study shows that the existing condition of the physical features of the road are not
satisfactory, because the shoulder, curb, median, footpath are slight less than the standard. The control
system here is very poor. Traffic police maintain the traffic flows manually. The existing signals in the
study area are not working. The average traffic flow for direction towards Natun rasta lies between 750
PCU/hr to 1000 PCU/hr and for direction towards Goalkhali it is between 550 PCU/hr to 600 PCU/hr.
It has been found that mostly used vehicles are easy bike and Atul. The congestion index shows that the
1st International Conference on Research and Innovation in Civil Engineering (ICRICE 2018), 12 –13 January, 2018, Southern University Bangladesh (SUB), Chittagong, Bangladesh ISBN: 978-984-34-3576-7
value of Daulatpur to Boyra and Boyra to Daulatpur are 0.04 and 0.14, which indicates that the level of
congestion is low.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Operational features of public transport are divided into two types, i) fixed facilities and ii) control
system. Fixed facilities means which elements are not mobile. Carriage way, shoulder, median, kerb,
lane, right of way etc. are included in the fixed facilities. Transportation control system includes
roundabouts, signal sign, marking, pedestrian assistance, vehicle sensing technologies, safety products
etc. (Kadiyali, 1978)
The total number of vehicle that passes over a given point or section of a lane or roadway during a given
time interval is called traffic volume or flow. It may be expressed in terms of annual, daily, hourly or
sub-hourly periods. Volume is counted in both automatic and manual method. Usually it counted as
Volume per hour (vph) or Volume per Day (vpd). (Singh, 2012).
Traffic speed analysis is an important part for a proper transportation planning. Accident analysis, road
maintenance, and congestion are the fields of traffic engineer, which uses speed data as the basic. Spot
speed is the instantaneous speed of a vehicle at a specified location. Spot speed is determined by
measuring the time required for a vehicle to traverse a specified distance along a road. Journey speed is
the effective speed of the vehicle on a journey between two points and delay is defined as an extra time
spent by drivers against their expectation. Delay is divided into congestion delay, fixed Delay,
operational delay, stopped delay etc.
Capacity of a facility is defined as the maximum hourly rate at which persons or vehicles can reasonably
be expected to traverse a point or uniform section of a lane or roadway during a given time period under
prevailing roadway, traffic and control conditions. Highway services can be divided in six categories
which called Level of service (LOS). These categories are defined according to the volume to capacity
(Kadiyali, 1978).
Congestion index computed by using the formula (C – C0) / C0 where C is the total travel time and C0
is the free flow time. Free flow travel time can be defined as the time taken to travel the distance when
the traffic density is nearly zero.
Congestion index = (C – C0)
C0 (1)
METHODS AND MATERIALS
Study Area For this research Daulatpur to Boyra high way is the study area. This is a small segment of Khulna
Jessore Highway. Daulatpur is one of the busiest road in Khulna city. The Boyra more is actually well
known for Khulna girl’s college. Inside the allotted area a very busy and important intersection point
known as “Natun Rastar More” is situated. Some major road connections are found which are connected
with the highway. Among them “Natun rasta to Sonadanga” is a major connection with the highway.
In Daulatpur, Goalkhali, Mojgunni, Boikhali, Boyra also exists some minor connectivity with the
highway. Some study area related information are shown in Table 1. Table 1: Study Area at a Glance
Source: Field Survey, 2017
Methodology
At the beginning of the study, some conceptual knowledge was collected. From secondary
source some data was collected about the study area like connectivity, location, characteristics
Starts from Daulatpur (in front of save n safe)
Ends at Boyar College More
Distance 3.7 km
Distance from Shibbari Circle 8.7 km
Distance from Sonadanga 3.7 km
1st International Conference on Research and Innovation in Civil Engineering (ICRICE 2018), 12 –13 January, 2018, Southern University Bangladesh (SUB), Chittagong, Bangladesh ISBN: 978-984-34-3576-7
Of the study area. From the field survey, information’s about the operational features was
collected. The volume of vehicle at the study area was counted by the manual counting method.
Tally was used for counting the vehicles. Spot speed was also calculated manually. Spot speed
was calculated at a suitable distance of 60m to 100m where vehicle had a free speed flow. The
time, vehicle has taken to cross the distance was measured. The data was taken for each vehicle
and finally the average speed was calculated.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Physical features The overall physical features of the road from daulatpur to Boyra are similar all the way except some
special place like Safe & save, Ad-din medical college. The carriage way condition is average, it is
more widen in the notun rasta because there is a large roundabout with sonadanga and khalispur link
road. Provided kerb & shoulder are slight less than the standard. There are a good numbers of speed
breaker in Doulatpur, Boikali bazer, Boya. They are shown in Table 2. There is no formal parking, so
most of the vehicles are parked beside the road and is caused traffic congestion. The traffic control
system in the study area is manual. Though there are some formal signal, they are not working at present. Table 2: Width of Physical Features
Volume Survey The analysis is based on the data collected from field survey of vehicular volume of half an hour in
different times of a day. This data is analyzed to identify the fluctuation of vehicles, traffic volume,
directional traffic distribution, conflicting nodes, pedestrian flow which will ease making decisions for
improvement or change. The Survey data is presented in Table 3. Table 3: Vehicle composition of traffic stream
Features
Location
Width(ft)
Safe ‘N’ Save More Notun Rasta More Goalkhali Boyra More
Carriage way 29.3 36.78 31.5 31.6
Speed Breaker 4.7 - 6.10, 6.5 4
Shoulder 11 8 8.8 8.5
Kerb .83 - - -
Fig. 1 Study Area (Daulatpur to Boyra), Author 2017
Source: Field Survey, 2017
Source: Field Survey, 2017
1st International Conference on Research and Innovation in Civil Engineering (ICRICE 2018), 12 –13 January, 2018, Southern University Bangladesh (SUB), Chittagong, Bangladesh ISBN: 978-984-34-3576-7
Conflicting Point
Natun rasta is one of the most conflicting zone. It is the most busiest and important conflicting area in
the study area. A major sub-road is joined with the main road from the Sonadanga bus terminal and it
generate a huge number of trips there. So a large amount of conflict is occurred in the area. There are
10 conflicting point in the area. So the intersection point occurs a big congestion and traffic problems.
Goalkhali bus stop is another conflicting zone. This is the lowest merge diverging point overall. As this
is small intersection and it gives access to residential area movement of easy bikes and other slow
moving vehicles are observed regularly. There are 11 conflicting points overall among them 4 are
merging and 4 are diverging points.
Capacity
Table 4 represents the overall volume to capacity ratio whose calculation has been conducted for
different points in Daulatpur, Natun Rasta, Goalkhali and Boyra. Table 4: Volume to Capacity Ratio
Level of Service
In level ‘A’ condition road gives the opportunity of free flow, with low volumes and high speed traffic
and the traffic density is low with speeds controlled by driver’s desired speed limits and physical road
way conditions. Little or no restriction in maneuverability due to presence of other vehicles and drivers
can maintain their desired speeds with little or no delay. Different vehicles moves at 30-35 Km/hr. speed
in average in the section. Sometimes traffic jam occurs in some intersections in Natun rasta, Boikali
bazer, Boyra more. But some problems are found which affects the road’s level of service. The LOS of
Natun Rasta and Goalkhali is shown in Table 5. Table 5: Level of Service
Spot Speed
It is seen that in Figure 2 & 3 in the Goalkhali section the spot speed is more than the natun rasta’s spot
speed because there are two small link road with the main road. But Natun rasta is a large intersection
Section
PCU
Peak Hour Off Peak Hour
Goalkhali to Notun Rasta 573 591
Goalkhali to Boyra 524 602
Notun Rasta to Goalkhali 703 739
Notun Rasta to Daulatpur 1013 998
Volume to Capacity Ratio
Place Peak hour Off-peak Hour
To Daulatpur To Boyra To Daulatpur To Boyra
Notun Rasta 0.39 0.30 0.28 0.25
Goalkhali 0.32 0.21 0.26 0.20
Intersection
Point
Time Volume of
Capacity
Ratio
Range Level of Service
Level Service
Notun Rasta
Peak 0.20 <= 0.6 A Free flow, with low volumes and high
speeds
Off Peak 0.30 <= 0.6 A Free flow, with low volumes and high
speeds
Goalkhali
Peak 0.14 <= 0.6 A Free flow, with low volumes and high
speeds
Off Peak 0.21 <= 0.6 A Free flow, with low volumes and high
speeds
Source: Field Survey, 2017
Source: Field Survey, 2017
1st International Conference on Research and Innovation in Civil Engineering (ICRICE 2018), 12 –13 January, 2018, Southern University Bangladesh (SUB), Chittagong, Bangladesh ISBN: 978-984-34-3576-7
with an important link road called Sonadanga road which generate a huge trips and make congestion in
the intersection.
Moving Observe Method Table 6: Flow of the vehicle, Mean Journey Time, Mean Journey Speed and Running Speed
From the Table 6 it is seen that the running speed of our study area is similar to the other area and
running speed Daulatpur to Boyra is low than the opposite direction Boyra to Daulatpur because in the
time a large number of vehicles are coming from the opposite direction which is generated from the
Sonadanga bus terminal. But in the Boyra to Daulatpur this number of vehicles are not so enough. But
the journey speed and the running speed is slight less than the standard.
Congestion Index
For Daulatpur to Boyra,
Congestion index = (516 – 494)
494 = 0.04
For Boyra to Daulatpur,
Congestion index = (366 – 318)
318 = 0.15
Congestion index for Daulatpur to Boyra is 0.04 and Boyra to Daulatpur is 0.14. Which is near to zero.
From the definition of the congestion index if the value is near to zero than the congestion level is very
low. The value of congestion in study area is near to zero so the congestion level is very low.
Section Flow of the
Vehicle (PCU
per Hour)
Mean Journey
Time (Sec)
Mean Journey Speed
(KPH)
Running
Speed
(KPH)
Daulatpur to Boyra 608 515.95 30.70 30.71
Boyra to Daulatpur 608 365.995 43.28 43.34
0
20
40
60
Off Peak Hour Peak Hour
Natun rastaBus ATUL TruckEasy-bike Rickshaw Private CarMotorbike Microbus By-cycle
0 20 40 60
Off Peak Hour
Peak Hour
By-cycle Microbus MotorbikePrivate Car Rickshaw Easy-bikeTruck ATUL Bus
Fig. 2: Spot Speed of Notun Rasta Section, Source: Field Survey 2016
Source: Field Survey, 2017
Fig. 3: Spot Speed of Gaolkhali Section, Source: Field Survey 2016
1st International Conference on Research and Innovation in Civil Engineering (ICRICE 2018), 12 –13 January, 2018, Southern University Bangladesh (SUB), Chittagong, Bangladesh ISBN: 978-984-34-3576-7
CONCLUSION
The transportation system plays a vital for to achieve a sustainable growth in all aspects such as social,
economic, environmental etc. In the study area the satisfactory level is very low. Because most of the
section of road has no footpath, median, signal and shoulder which create congestion in the road and
also reason for accidents. There is no formal parking and it creates congestion. By the help of volume
survey the most congested time of the Daulatpur to Boyra section is identified. Congestion Index is
used for identify the congestion level of study area. By the help of Congestion Index, it is identified that
the congestion level is low. If proper steps are taken by some quality measure, then the condition can
be changed.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Special thanks to Md. Mokhlesur Rahman, Assistant professor and Mr. Palash Chandra Das, Lecturer,
Department of Urban and Regional Planning, KUET for their co-operation and valuable comment on
this research.
REFERENCES
Kadiyali. (1978). Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning. New Delhi: Khanna Publishers
Singh, G. (2012). Highway Engineering
Datta, Rahman, Zannat, 2016. Service area analysis of transit stations for public bus
Rabbi, Hossain, Rahman. (2015), Performance Analysis of Public Transport In Khulna City
Rahman, Kabir. (n.d.). Towards A Sustainable Public Transport System
Ripan, Islam. (2009). Managing efficiency of an urban road toward better
Strategies, Asian City Development. (2000)
1st International Conference on Research and Innovation in Civil Engineering (ICRICE 2018), 12 –13 January, 2018, Southern University Bangladesh (SUB), Chittagong, Bangladesh ISBN: 978-984-34-3576-7