Contents - SPAD

Intercity Bus or Express Services - Likely to have a limited number of stopping points to
produce an attractive overall journey time for passengers, usually not operating to a high
frequency but often have a higher degree of comfort than other services;
BRT- provides higher capacity service along a corridor, often as an intra-urban express
service on dedicated rights of way
Urban Bus Services or Bus Express Transit - Can be both limited stop and all stops, more
usually the latter. Often operate to a high frequency to be attractive to passengers, can
have high capacities/limited seating. Operate primarily on a radial basis from centres or to
a lesser extent on an orbital basis; ,
Feeder Services or Local Services– operates to link residential areas to nearby transit
stations for rail and BRT; or operates to local centres or into the centre of nearby towns or
cities at medium to high frequencies. Often providing a first /final link in a „chain of
journeys‟ involving interchange to other bus services or other transport modes, and may also
act as feeders jointly.
There is also a fifth category of provision. Known as “Para transit” it comprises flexibly routed on
demand services that typically operate at times of very low demand or to and from areas of very
low density. In the GKL/KV context such provision may be provided by the taxi trade acting in their
regular for hire mode or under specific contractual arrangements to provide, for example, very
early or late links to a rail interchange.
These types do not necessarily relate to the size or characteristics of the vehicles that may often be
employed on these service types. Feeder services may, for example, be operated by smaller buses
of lower capacity than those provided on main road routes in order to better penetrate residential
areas, but this does not have to be the case. There are many instances of feeder services being
provided with full size vehicles, also of main routes being operated by a high intensity service of
smaller vehicles. Each case will need to be judged on what is appropriate to the local
circumstances, but always recognising that operating commuter or local services at low frequencies
is generally not attractive to users.
Building on the points which are shown above, Figure 4.2 identifies in more detail the hierarchy and
scope of services that could be implemented within the GKL/KV region.
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