OPERATIONAL FEATURES OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

SYSTEM OF KHULNA CITY: CASE STUDY OF DAULATPUR TO

BOYRA

Mahinur Rahman1* and Md. Raisul Islam2

1 Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Khulna University Engineering & Technology,

Khulna-9203, Bangladesh, mahinrahman081@gmail.com

2 Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Khulna University Engineering & Technology,

Khulna-9203, Bangladesh, shuvokhanurp@gmail.com

*Corresponding Author: Mahinur Rahman, mahinrahman081@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

The objective of the research is to identify the present condition of fixed facilities and control systems

and determination of the operating characteristics of public transport system of Daulatpur to Boyra. For

performing that some core issues are focused on i) condition of existing physical features, ii) capacity

and the level of service of the road, iii) journey speed, spot speed, running speed iv) congestion level

through congestion index. This study was totally based on field survey. Field survey was categorized

into physical features survey, volume survey, and speed survey. The findings of this study shows that,

the condition of operational features is very poor but the level of service of this section is in level A.

The congestion index shows that the value of Daulatpur to Boyra and Boyra to Daulatpur are 0.04 and

0.14, which indicates that the level of congestion is low.

Keywords: Operational features, Congestion level, Level of service.

INTRODUCTION

The objective of the research is to identify the present condition of fixed facilities and control systems

and determination of the operating characteristics of public transport system of Daulatpur to Boyra high

way. Khulna is the country’s third largest city in Bangladesh having a higher transportation demand

(Asi, 2000). Khulna city area is separated from its outer eastern portion by Rupsha River (Rahman,

Kabir). Ferries over this river helped to share the transportation facility among south-western regions

and the eastern as well as the north-western regions of Bangladesh. It was the route to link the Mongla

sea port with Dhaka and north-western regions of the country. As a result, both sides of the river were

introduced as a place of trip generation with two bus terminals (Ripan, Islam, 2009).

The research is very important because it is the main highway of Khulna City Corporation and a huge

number of trips are generated from outside the city area due to various purpose (Rabbi, Hossain,

Rahman, 2015). The efficiency of a road depends on the efficiency of Operational features. The

operational features can improve traffic flow and safety (Datta, Rahman, Zannat, 2016). So the existing

condition of transportation facilities and control system of Khulna city should be assessed to find out

where improvement is needed and to provide a better, convenient, safe and efficient transportation

system in Khulna city. It is also necessary to know about the capacity, performance, operating

characteristics of the road and to take necessary steps for improving the physical condition of the

highway. Proper maintenance and efficiency of the operational features should be assessed to avoid

congestion and traffic jam. So the main purpose is to maintain the overall transport system.

The findings of this study shows that the existing condition of the physical features of the road are not

satisfactory, because the shoulder, curb, median, footpath are slight less than the standard. The control

system here is very poor. Traffic police maintain the traffic flows manually. The existing signals in the

study area are not working. The average traffic flow for direction towards Natun rasta lies between 750

PCU/hr to 1000 PCU/hr and for direction towards Goalkhali it is between 550 PCU/hr to 600 PCU/hr.

It has been found that mostly used vehicles are easy bike and Atul. The congestion index shows that the

1st International Conference on Research and Innovation in Civil Engineering (ICRICE 2018), 12 –13 January, 2018, Southern University Bangladesh (SUB), Chittagong, Bangladesh ISBN: 978-984-34-3576-7

value of Daulatpur to Boyra and Boyra to Daulatpur are 0.04 and 0.14, which indicates that the level of

congestion is low.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Operational features of public transport are divided into two types, i) fixed facilities and ii) control

system. Fixed facilities means which elements are not mobile. Carriage way, shoulder, median, kerb,

lane, right of way etc. are included in the fixed facilities. Transportation control system includes

roundabouts, signal sign, marking, pedestrian assistance, vehicle sensing technologies, safety products

etc. (Kadiyali, 1978)

The total number of vehicle that passes over a given point or section of a lane or roadway during a given

time interval is called traffic volume or flow. It may be expressed in terms of annual, daily, hourly or

sub-hourly periods. Volume is counted in both automatic and manual method. Usually it counted as

Volume per hour (vph) or Volume per Day (vpd). (Singh, 2012).

Traffic speed analysis is an important part for a proper transportation planning. Accident analysis, road

maintenance, and congestion are the fields of traffic engineer, which uses speed data as the basic. Spot

speed is the instantaneous speed of a vehicle at a specified location. Spot speed is determined by

measuring the time required for a vehicle to traverse a specified distance along a road. Journey speed is

the effective speed of the vehicle on a journey between two points and delay is defined as an extra time

spent by drivers against their expectation. Delay is divided into congestion delay, fixed Delay,

operational delay, stopped delay etc.

Capacity of a facility is defined as the maximum hourly rate at which persons or vehicles can reasonably

be expected to traverse a point or uniform section of a lane or roadway during a given time period under

prevailing roadway, traffic and control conditions. Highway services can be divided in six categories

which called Level of service (LOS). These categories are defined according to the volume to capacity

(Kadiyali, 1978).

Congestion index computed by using the formula (C – C0) / C0 where C is the total travel time and C0

is the free flow time. Free flow travel time can be defined as the time taken to travel the distance when

the traffic density is nearly zero.

Congestion index = (C – C0)

C0 (1)

METHODS AND MATERIALS

Study Area For this research Daulatpur to Boyra high way is the study area. This is a small segment of Khulna

Jessore Highway. Daulatpur is one of the busiest road in Khulna city. The Boyra more is actually well

known for Khulna girl’s college. Inside the allotted area a very busy and important intersection point

known as “Natun Rastar More” is situated. Some major road connections are found which are connected

with the highway. Among them “Natun rasta to Sonadanga” is a major connection with the highway.

In Daulatpur, Goalkhali, Mojgunni, Boikhali, Boyra also exists some minor connectivity with the

highway. Some study area related information are shown in Table 1. Table 1: Study Area at a Glance

Source: Field Survey, 2017

Methodology

At the beginning of the study, some conceptual knowledge was collected. From secondary

source some data was collected about the study area like connectivity, location, characteristics

Starts from Daulatpur (in front of save n safe)

Ends at Boyar College More

Distance 3.7 km

Distance from Shibbari Circle 8.7 km

Distance from Sonadanga 3.7 km

1st International Conference on Research and Innovation in Civil Engineering (ICRICE 2018), 12 –13 January, 2018, Southern University Bangladesh (SUB), Chittagong, Bangladesh ISBN: 978-984-34-3576-7

Of the study area. From the field survey, information’s about the operational features was

collected. The volume of vehicle at the study area was counted by the manual counting method.

Tally was used for counting the vehicles. Spot speed was also calculated manually. Spot speed

was calculated at a suitable distance of 60m to 100m where vehicle had a free speed flow. The

time, vehicle has taken to cross the distance was measured. The data was taken for each vehicle

and finally the average speed was calculated.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Physical features The overall physical features of the road from daulatpur to Boyra are similar all the way except some

special place like Safe & save, Ad-din medical college. The carriage way condition is average, it is

more widen in the notun rasta because there is a large roundabout with sonadanga and khalispur link

road. Provided kerb & shoulder are slight less than the standard. There are a good numbers of speed

breaker in Doulatpur, Boikali bazer, Boya. They are shown in Table 2. There is no formal parking, so

most of the vehicles are parked beside the road and is caused traffic congestion. The traffic control

system in the study area is manual. Though there are some formal signal, they are not working at present. Table 2: Width of Physical Features

Volume Survey The analysis is based on the data collected from field survey of vehicular volume of half an hour in

different times of a day. This data is analyzed to identify the fluctuation of vehicles, traffic volume,

directional traffic distribution, conflicting nodes, pedestrian flow which will ease making decisions for

improvement or change. The Survey data is presented in Table 3. Table 3: Vehicle composition of traffic stream

Features

Location

Width(ft)

Safe ‘N’ Save More Notun Rasta More Goalkhali Boyra More

Carriage way 29.3 36.78 31.5 31.6

Speed Breaker 4.7 - 6.10, 6.5 4

Shoulder 11 8 8.8 8.5

Kerb .83 - - -

Fig. 1 Study Area (Daulatpur to Boyra), Author 2017

Source: Field Survey, 2017

Source: Field Survey, 2017

1st International Conference on Research and Innovation in Civil Engineering (ICRICE 2018), 12 –13 January, 2018, Southern University Bangladesh (SUB), Chittagong, Bangladesh ISBN: 978-984-34-3576-7

Conflicting Point

Natun rasta is one of the most conflicting zone. It is the most busiest and important conflicting area in

the study area. A major sub-road is joined with the main road from the Sonadanga bus terminal and it

generate a huge number of trips there. So a large amount of conflict is occurred in the area. There are

10 conflicting point in the area. So the intersection point occurs a big congestion and traffic problems.

Goalkhali bus stop is another conflicting zone. This is the lowest merge diverging point overall. As this

is small intersection and it gives access to residential area movement of easy bikes and other slow

moving vehicles are observed regularly. There are 11 conflicting points overall among them 4 are

merging and 4 are diverging points.

Capacity

Table 4 represents the overall volume to capacity ratio whose calculation has been conducted for

different points in Daulatpur, Natun Rasta, Goalkhali and Boyra. Table 4: Volume to Capacity Ratio

Level of Service

In level ‘A’ condition road gives the opportunity of free flow, with low volumes and high speed traffic

and the traffic density is low with speeds controlled by driver’s desired speed limits and physical road

way conditions. Little or no restriction in maneuverability due to presence of other vehicles and drivers

can maintain their desired speeds with little or no delay. Different vehicles moves at 30-35 Km/hr. speed

in average in the section. Sometimes traffic jam occurs in some intersections in Natun rasta, Boikali

bazer, Boyra more. But some problems are found which affects the road’s level of service. The LOS of

Natun Rasta and Goalkhali is shown in Table 5. Table 5: Level of Service

Spot Speed

It is seen that in Figure 2 & 3 in the Goalkhali section the spot speed is more than the natun rasta’s spot

speed because there are two small link road with the main road. But Natun rasta is a large intersection

Section

PCU

Peak Hour Off Peak Hour

Goalkhali to Notun Rasta 573 591

Goalkhali to Boyra 524 602

Notun Rasta to Goalkhali 703 739

Notun Rasta to Daulatpur 1013 998

Volume to Capacity Ratio

Place Peak hour Off-peak Hour

To Daulatpur To Boyra To Daulatpur To Boyra

Notun Rasta 0.39 0.30 0.28 0.25

Goalkhali 0.32 0.21 0.26 0.20

Intersection

Point

Time Volume of

Capacity

Ratio

Range Level of Service

Level Service

Notun Rasta

Peak 0.20 <= 0.6 A Free flow, with low volumes and high

speeds

Off Peak 0.30 <= 0.6 A Free flow, with low volumes and high

speeds

Goalkhali

Peak 0.14 <= 0.6 A Free flow, with low volumes and high

speeds

Off Peak 0.21 <= 0.6 A Free flow, with low volumes and high

speeds

Source: Field Survey, 2017

Source: Field Survey, 2017

1st International Conference on Research and Innovation in Civil Engineering (ICRICE 2018), 12 –13 January, 2018, Southern University Bangladesh (SUB), Chittagong, Bangladesh ISBN: 978-984-34-3576-7

with an important link road called Sonadanga road which generate a huge trips and make congestion in

the intersection.

Moving Observe Method Table 6: Flow of the vehicle, Mean Journey Time, Mean Journey Speed and Running Speed

From the Table 6 it is seen that the running speed of our study area is similar to the other area and

running speed Daulatpur to Boyra is low than the opposite direction Boyra to Daulatpur because in the

time a large number of vehicles are coming from the opposite direction which is generated from the

Sonadanga bus terminal. But in the Boyra to Daulatpur this number of vehicles are not so enough. But

the journey speed and the running speed is slight less than the standard.

Congestion Index

For Daulatpur to Boyra,

Congestion index = (516 – 494)

494 = 0.04

For Boyra to Daulatpur,

Congestion index = (366 – 318)

318 = 0.15

Congestion index for Daulatpur to Boyra is 0.04 and Boyra to Daulatpur is 0.14. Which is near to zero.

From the definition of the congestion index if the value is near to zero than the congestion level is very

low. The value of congestion in study area is near to zero so the congestion level is very low.

Section Flow of the

Vehicle (PCU

per Hour)

Mean Journey

Time (Sec)

Mean Journey Speed

(KPH)

Running

Speed

(KPH)

Daulatpur to Boyra 608 515.95 30.70 30.71

Boyra to Daulatpur 608 365.995 43.28 43.34

0

20

40

60

Off Peak Hour Peak Hour

Natun rastaBus ATUL TruckEasy-bike Rickshaw Private CarMotorbike Microbus By-cycle

0 20 40 60

Off Peak Hour

Peak Hour

By-cycle Microbus MotorbikePrivate Car Rickshaw Easy-bikeTruck ATUL Bus

Fig. 2: Spot Speed of Notun Rasta Section, Source: Field Survey 2016

Source: Field Survey, 2017

Fig. 3: Spot Speed of Gaolkhali Section, Source: Field Survey 2016

1st International Conference on Research and Innovation in Civil Engineering (ICRICE 2018), 12 –13 January, 2018, Southern University Bangladesh (SUB), Chittagong, Bangladesh ISBN: 978-984-34-3576-7

CONCLUSION

The transportation system plays a vital for to achieve a sustainable growth in all aspects such as social,

economic, environmental etc. In the study area the satisfactory level is very low. Because most of the

section of road has no footpath, median, signal and shoulder which create congestion in the road and

also reason for accidents. There is no formal parking and it creates congestion. By the help of volume

survey the most congested time of the Daulatpur to Boyra section is identified. Congestion Index is

used for identify the congestion level of study area. By the help of Congestion Index, it is identified that

the congestion level is low. If proper steps are taken by some quality measure, then the condition can

be changed.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Special thanks to Md. Mokhlesur Rahman, Assistant professor and Mr. Palash Chandra Das, Lecturer,

Department of Urban and Regional Planning, KUET for their co-operation and valuable comment on

this research.

REFERENCES

Kadiyali. (1978). Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning. New Delhi: Khanna Publishers

Singh, G. (2012). Highway Engineering

Datta, Rahman, Zannat, 2016. Service area analysis of transit stations for public bus

Rabbi, Hossain, Rahman. (2015), Performance Analysis of Public Transport In Khulna City

Rahman, Kabir. (n.d.). Towards A Sustainable Public Transport System

Ripan, Islam. (2009). Managing efficiency of an urban road toward better

Strategies, Asian City Development. (2000)

1st International Conference on Research and Innovation in Civil Engineering (ICRICE 2018), 12 –13 January, 2018, Southern University Bangladesh (SUB), Chittagong, Bangladesh ISBN: 978-984-34-3576-7