Increased mobility for public transport

Traffic planners at ÅF have participated in a project that increased the mobility of the city's busiest bus route.

The City of Stockholm, together with Traffic Management/SL and Keolis have implemented a pilot project with the vision that public transport must account for 80 percent of all motorised journeys in the city centre by 2030. ÅF has played an important role in monitoring the project and presenting the results.

The pilot project is part of the City of Stockholm's Urban Mobility Strategy and was implemented on the number 4 bus route from 17 March to 19 June. The goals were to increase mobility and reduce travel time. The line 4 was chosen as it is the bus route which carries the highest number of passengers and because it is unaffected by the roadworks which are ongoing in many areas of the city. The line 4 bus runs from Gullmarsplan to Radiohuset, a journey which should normally take approximately 55 to 60 minutes in rush hour traffic.

ÅF was contracted to monitor the project and report the results. Under the leadership of Göran Ståldal, five traffic planners could analyse changes in speed, journey times, dwell times and passenger numbers in minute detail using data from measuring equipment on board the buses. The data from the measuring equipment was supplemented with manual observation in the areas that were especially interesting to monitor.

While the project was ongoing, a number of measures were implemented to increase mobility. More bus lanes were established, four bus stops along the route were merged with nearby bus stops, traffic light intervals were optimised and the monitoring of illegally parked vehicles increased. In addition, intervals between buses were made more equal and boarding through a further set of doors during rush hour was introduced.

The report of the final results was delivered on 2 October, and Göran Ståldal and his team were able to present very positive results.

"Total journey times have decreased by up to 6 minutes, and at the same time buses are distributed more evenly and there is less crowding on board."

The customer was pleased with what ÅF delivered and gave Göran Ståldal and his team an additional task during the project.

"We were trusted with doing a socio-economic analysis and writing the project's whole final report, which will now be presented to the City of Stockholm and the county council's traffic committees, among others," concludes Göran Ståldal.

Contact Göran Ståldal if you have any questions about the project.