Abstract: BRT is a fast, efficient and high-quality public transport system, implemented in a large number of cities around the world. However, there are specific gaps found in the relevant literature including limited focus on developing countries, neglect of smaller urban contexts, and lack of deploying appropriate techniques to analyse user perception. This research focuses on the determination of the users’ perspective with regarding travel cost, time and comfort for different trips length ranges, by comparing Metro bus system in Multan Pakistan with the existing modes of buses and rickshaws. In this regard, Metro Bus System Multan South Punjab, Pakistan is compared with other available public transport options. Considering the above-mentioned criteria, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to check the priority of BRT, Non-BRT Bus, and Rickshaws. As part of AHP, weightage of criteria is also computed to know the extent of user preference while planning a new BRT System in any region having similar demographics as the study area. It is revealed that passengers much prefer the BRT over the other alternatives i.e. Non-BRT Bus and Rickshaws for all travel ranges. Most importantly, the analysis highlighted a dramatic shift in user priorities. Wherein, travel time was paramount for trips up to 10 km evidenced by a time-cost trade-off value >12. While passenger comfort became the primary factor with a comfort-time trade-off value of 2.6 for longer trips (15 km+). These trade-offs provide clear guidance regarding BRT system design and operational policies which must prioritize travel time reliability for shorter corridors and passenger comfort for longer routes. The study provides important guidelines for increasing the ridership of current BRT systems and their future planning and design.

Keywords: bus rapid transit, travel time, travel cost, comfort, analytical hierarchy process, passenger preference

Pages: 17-29

WSEAS Transactions on