Travel Time Variability of Bus Routes in Delhi Using Real-Time GTFS Data

In Public Transport, reliability refers to the passengers having the consistent level of service they can expect during their travels. In recent years, the importance of travel time reliability has significantly increased. Hence, improving the reliability of public transport is important for increasing the performance of transit and ridership. The primary focus of the present study is to examine travel time variability and reliability on the route level using the GTFS-RT (real-time) data. This study offers a comprehensive understanding of transit service reliability by day-to-day and time periods of the day variations in travel time. One month of GTFS-RT data from Delhi, India, was used for the analysis. Overall analysis shows that TTV is higher on Thursday and lower on Monday among all routes. The results indicate that both the day of the week and the time of day have a significant influence on travel time variability. These findings provide valuable insights for the operators by facilitating the identification of issues along a route for a given time and, possibly, assist in the decisions for future infrastructure development.