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Abstract
The distribution of demand in public transport during the course of a day is subject to high
fluctuations which are even more distinctive than in individual motorised transport. Usually, peaks
in demand occur in the morning, in the afternoon and frequently also at noon. Morning peaks are
primarily caused by a high concentration of job-related or educational trips, and afternoon peaks by
a high concentration of job-related or recreational trips. Peaks at noon are mainly generated by
journeys with educational purposes. In peak-times public transport vehicles often operate at their
full capacity or are overloaded. However, in off-peak times demand often is very low and the
provided capacities are not used adequately.
Besides the lack of comfort that can possibly occur in peak times in overloaded vehicles, economic
aspects are relevant in this context. Public transport companies must hold a fleet that is
dimensioned for the peaks in demand that are limited to few hours per day. Yet, these capacities
remain unused most of the time. The same applies accordingly to staff requirements. The capacities
in off-peak times that possibly cannot be adjusted to demand, e. g. because of requirements in
public transport plans, are not utilised sufficiently to achieve an acceptable revenue-to-cost-ratio. As
a consequence, the efficiency of public transport is compromised by the fluctuations in demand
during the course of the day.
For a long time the adjustment of capacities to demand has been the common reaction to changes
in demand. Most recently, influencing the demand by means of traffic management measures has
gained importance because an adjustment of capacities in the future is regarded as difficult in terms
of financing. Influencing the time choice of public transport users can be part of a solution to the
problem.
The substantial influencing factors of the high demand in peak times can be classified into
transport-related and transport-unrelated factors. Transport-unrelated factors on the one hand can
be – from the passengers’ point of view – other-determined restrictions due to working hours,
teaching hours or opening hours. On the other hand there are self-determined restrictions caused by
agreements with members of the household, private activities, or personal habits. Traffic related
factors are mostly related to tariffing, level of service, transport quality, and communication with
passengers. Restrictions due to working and teaching hours are very relevant for the problem of
peaks in demand, habits are of high relevance, tariffs of average relevance. The other factors have a
low importance. The transport-related factors can be directly influenced by public transport players
as opposed to the transport-unrelated factors.
The main goal of influencing the time choice of public transport users is the temporal shift of
journeys from peak times to off-peak times, flattening peaks and filling up valleys. This can be
achieved by reduction of the temporal restrictions of public transport users in peak times (shift,
transition to flexibility or even abolition of restrictions) and by improving the attractiveness of
public transport in off-peak times (monetary incentives in tariffs, improvement of the level of
service and the transport quality, appropriate communication with passengers that are flexible
regarding time choice).
Organisational, financial, operational and informational measures that contribute to balancing the
fluctuations during the course of the day can be deducted from these goals. Whereas organisational
measures can be used to influence transport-unrelated factors and their implementation can be
encouraged by the public transport players only, financial, operational und informational measures
Beeinflussung der Zeitwahl von ÖPNV-Nutzern