Planning Considerations for Bus Terminal

INTRODUCTION

Transportation is an integral part of the functioning of the society. The transport system
improves the social, economic, industrial, commercial progress and transfers the society
into an organized one. It is one of the most essential services, vital force for determining
the direction of development. To achieve the desired transportation balance and the
system to be efficient, it is essential to provide organized facilities in the system, one
such facility is a Bus Terminal. Buses forms the backbone of the public transport in any
country and might also be the sole public transport available in some cases. Thus it
becomes very important to to take into account the planning considerations for bus
terminals.

As transportation involves the movement of the people and goods, there is a need of an
access point in transport system to use it. These access points are known as
Terminals or the fixed facilities. Terminals are one of the main components of any
mode of transportation.

BUS TERMINAL

Bus terminals are predominantly used for inter-city and intra-city movement because of
the higher accessibility of bus terminals. These are the places with vary high volume of
pedestrians which might be looking for another transport mode to continue their
journey and reach their destination. There are various functions associated with bus
terminals and a well planned bus terminal must cater to all the purposes listed below.

TERMINALS SERVE AS A POINT OF

Concentration
Dispersion
Loading/unloading of the passengers
Interchange of mode
Storage of passengers and vehicles
Maintenance of vehicles
Facilities and amenities for the users and crew
Documentation of movement
Information system
Facilitation of these activity makes them more and more user friendly. This also helps in
saving time and money of users along with providing a good journey experience. The
significance of a particular type of activity may vary depending on location, purpose
being served, types of users etc.

Not all the activities take place in all type of terminals and thus the facilities provided
are generally restricted on the basis of the hierarchy of bus terminal. The mathematical
standards forms a part of design and civil engineering and varies from country to
country. No standard measurements are adopted worldwide as the needs of differ
throughout the world. The number, nature and type of facility increases with the
hierarchy which is based upon the population being served. A workable hierarchy of bus
terminals is as follows:

Road based bus stop

Road side bus bay
Bus stop distributed
Sub-nodal terminal
Nodal bus terminal
Inter-city bus terminal and inter-state bus terminal(ISBT)

PLANNING CRITERIA
In general, the four basic planning criteria for planning of terminals are

Need
Size
Location
Design

Need of the terminal arises with increase in the demand. An organized bus terminal
should meet the following requirements-

Accessibility
Comfort and convenience
Safety
Easy processing and size
The following factors are considered to characterize the size of the terminal and its
functions-

Flow of traffic
System characteristics
User characteristics
Location

Design
Following points should be kept in mind for efficient workability of terminal-

Segregation of bus and non-bus traffic

Segregation of pedestrian and vehicular movement
Elimination of vehicular traffic conflict
Segregation of pedestrian flows
Minimum processing for the buses
Segregation of transportation and no-transportation activities
Terminal performance and efficiency indicators

Terminal performance and efficiency parameters for the management of bus terminal
includes-

of buses that can be handled in one day

of buses arriving at the terminal during peak hour (handling capacity)
Average alighting time and boarding time (should be minimum)
Average bus idling time
Waiting time at the counters
Fees collection
of complaints
TURNING RADIUS OF BUS:
The turning radius or turning circle of a vehicle is the size of the
smallest circular turn that the vehicle is capable of making.
Two different measurements can be quoted for a vehicle. A curb or curb-to-
curb turning circle will show the distance traveled by the wheels. The wall or wall-
to-wall turning circle will include an allowance for the width of the whole car,
including the overhang of the bodywork.

Curb to curb radius

The physical dimensions and
maneuverability of the bus dictates the
measurements of:

Width of the roadway

Shape of the platform

Column spacing

Ceiling heights

Bus level design

Types of boarding bay: