#TIL: Can I measure the quality of my commute?

by Pravin Cherukuthota

There is a measure for everything that we see, hear or experience around us today. If we want to know how hot it is outside, we see the measure of temperature in degrees Celsius. If we want to know how fast is the cab we are in, we see the measure of speed in kilometers per hour. What if somebody asks you measure the quality of the commute that you undertake every day? We normally use words like over-crowded, slow, inefficient, etc. Could there be a more accurate way of evaluating and measuring the quality of transit systems? This is where the Level of Service (LOS) steps in.

Initially developed to measure the quality of roads and motorways in the United States, LOS offers a mechanism to gauge the quality of a transit system from the perspective of a commuter. For example, to measure the LOS of a length of road or an intersection, various parameters like vehicle speed, traffic volume, available capacity, wait times, road conditions, etc. are analyzed to obtain a score. Depending on the range in which the obtained score lies, the quality of the road or intersection can be graded on a scale from very bad to very good. LOS can also be used to evaluate mass transit systems like the bus, rail or metro systems. In this case, the parameters would vary from the frequency and waiting time of the trains to the demand to capacity of the system.

Performance measure of various facets of urban mobility can be measured through LOS. One such measure — congestion has been covered below. Based on guidelines issued by The India Road congress, the following table captures an expression of the operating speed as a percentage of free flow speed, technical conditions and associated LOS for urban roads:

Source: Guidelines for capacity of Urban roads in Plain areas; The Indian Road Congress 1990

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1. For Level of Service A, Percentage of freeflow speed is 90% and Technical conditions are as follows: A free-flow condition, in which the traffic flows freely with no restriction on speed or maneuverability. Comfort and convenience for road users is excellent.
2. For Level of Service B, Percentage of freeflow speed is 70% and Technical conditions are as follows:Traffic is stable and flows freely; maneuvering becomes slightly difficult. Comfort and convenience for road users is less than A.
3. For Level of Service C, Percentage of freeflow speed is 50% and Technical conditions are as follows: Speed is slightly controlled; freedom to maneuver is curtailed and lane changing becomes difficult. Comfort and convenience for road users declines considerably.
4. For Level of Service D, Percentage of freeflow speed is 40% and Technical conditions are as follows:Vehicle density increases; vehicular speed declines and the room to maneuver is further restricted. Comfort and convenience for road users is poor.
5. For Level of Service E, Percentage of freeflow speed is 30% and Technical conditions are as follows: Vehicles are closely spaced, with little or no room to maneuver. Comfort and convenience for road users is extremely poor.
6. For Level of Service F, Percentage of freeflow speed is 25–30% and Technical conditions are as follows: Jam-packed roads with considerable delays.

Today I learnt (TIL) is a weekly series by OMI that brings you interesting nuggets of information that you didn’t know you needed.