Abstract

We argue that prevailing technologies for bus fare payment and boarding rules make boarding and alighting time t-usually treated as an exogenous parameter a relevant decision variable in the optimisation of bus services. We show that diminishing t reduces optimal bus frequency and increases optimal bus capacity, and that more efficient payment technologies are worth adopting as demand grows. Providing the right number of doors to board and alight is shown to be more relevant than having the right technology of payment, which makes boarding at all bus doors optimal for medium to high demand levels.