Incidents occur in public transportation and their negative effects, i.e. disturbances, cause problems for travellers and the incident handling process is therefore crucial. Based on a model approach of the public transportation process separating the transport system (with the traveller and the transport plan in focus) and the traffic system (the flow of vehicles in a given network at given points in time in focus) a classification of incidents has been made and applied in the Gothenburg city context. The existing communication platform, the KomFram system, is used as a data collection tool in four incident case studies. A way to better understand the dynamics of the incident effects (including the handling process) on traffic system performance is established and is seen as the first step towards a measure of public transport quality.
Abstract