Measurement of delay using travel time reliability statistics in an urban outer corridor

Unexpected delay on freeways is the prime cause of dissatisfaction in road users. Increasing traffic, adverse environmental conditions, accidents, time, season, location and many more factors influence travel time and cause delay. There is no direct method to estimate delay. It is calculated from trip time estimates. Thus, it is a very big challenge for transportation professionals to develop a model that accurately estimates the trip time for a trip at a particular time, by a specific mode of transport. Subsequently, the reliability of the delay calculated from those trip time estimates is often doubtful. Further, the measurement of delay using the trip time data is another big thing. This paper is a step toward measuring the delay in an accurate way using travel time reliability measures. The study was conducted on the two modes of public transportation (City bus and Auto) in an urban corridor of length 16.3 km, in Hyderabad city, India. In this study, a license plate survey was conducted for data collection, travel time-based statistical analysis was employed for estimation of trip time and by making use of travel time measures, the delay was measured. The approach was validated graphically to portray its accuracy.