The purpose of this paper is to develop a fleet size model serving as a useful and simplified tool to estimate the number of vehicles needed in maximum service for Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems in the early stages of corridor planning or system analysis. In evaluating transit systems, cost estimation is a major factor. However, cost estimation will be insufficient if an adequate fleet size has not been taken into calculation. For this reason, to establish a fleet size model for LRT and BRT would be the first step in the process of cost estimation. The model established in this paper takes transit demand, right-of-way configurations, number of stations, headway, type and size of vehicle, and traffic signal timing at the intersection into consideration. The developed model is verified by selecting several existing systems. Besides, an example was brought forth to illustrate how the model can be applied in the real world situations.
Abstract