Author: Clifton G, and Mulley C (2018)
Journal: Research in Transportation Economics
Keywords:
The debate as to whether investment should be made in bus-based or rail-based rapid transit systems continues within the academic literature with entrenched arguments on both sides. The transport benefits and financial costs of rival transport technologies have been significant issues in recent Australian state and territory elections.
However, debate tends to focus on the appropriate solution for particular corridors. In practice all major Australian cities have made investments in both bus-serviced and rail-serviced corridors. If public transport services are to operate as a coherent network then successful integration must occur between these bus and rail corridors and this paper shows that, on the criteria suggested by the literature, most Australian cities have created integrated networks.
Examining the barriers and facilitators of integration between buses with a higher level of service and rail can inform policy and help to reduce the heat in the debate between rail-based and bus-based rapid transit system. This paper adds to the literature on the success factors for network integration by proposing a taxonomy of public transport network integration and then examining recent Australian cases to show where network integration has been successful and to show how a framework of examining success factors for integration.
