One of the most problematic aspects of road-based public transport in Western Europe - in comparison to automobile traffic - is the need to stop at bus stops. Even if the bus - with only a few people inside - drives directly past a passenger's destination, it is normally not allowed to stop there. Extensive German discussions about more user-friendly public transport schemes started an initiative on this relevant topic. It was the Kassel transport company which first used a paragraph of the German passenger transport law (Personenbeforderungsgesetz) relating to experimental operations. The result being that, as of 1987, its buses stop nearly everywhere. During the last two years, years, 13 other transport companies joined this "wish-to-stop-group". The reason for this seems to be the change of the German public transport scene. EU-regulations and new national laws make it necessary to increase the number of passengers especially in off-peak periods, and it is a cheap public relation measure. Following a telephone enquiry survey, the results were positive: as a rule, most of the interviewed companies were allowed by their supervising authorities to stop once, within a distance of one hundred meters from the last or next bus-stop, provided it is later than eight p.m.
Abstract