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Objectives of station location planning:
Planning of Transit Station
Locations
• Optimal solutions are not always mutually
compatible
• Compromise must be found by collectively
satisfying each objective to some degree (multi –
objective optimization)
• Planners should consider all the factors
influencing station locations.
• Each objective is discussed separately leading to
a methodology for the application in practice.
• Many transit line characteristics re affected by
number of location stations.
• Complex process and includes both quantitative
and qualitative factors.
• Not possible to develop a purely quantitative
method.
• Transit designer must be familiar with all
relevant factors
Major objectives in planning station locations are:
 Serve major centres, activity and transfer points
 Achieve min passenger travel time
 Provide max area coverage
 Attract max passenger
 Achieve min system cost (investment and
operation)
 Meet other requirements (planning goals, land-
use, economic development, population needs
etc.)

Passenger travel time:
• Minimization of total passenger travel time is
the dominant objective as it often represents
the largest disutility.
• Comparison of travel times is factor
influencing modal split.
• There have been several theoretical studies of
optimal station spacings.
First trade-off: Area coverage versus operating
speed
Assume: number of passengers on the line is fixed
• Increasing density of stations results in decrease
of average access distance and access time to
station Pta. (Figure).
• Travel time on transit PTt, increases because of
growing time losses due to station stops.
• Increase is linear at first as each station adds a
fixed amount of delay.
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Two trade-offs:
• Travel time on a transit line PT consists of:
 access to/ from stations including waiting timr
for a train Pta
 Travel time on the line PTt
PT = PTa + PTt
Number and locations of stations along a line
influences both these components.
• Number of stations on line is also expressed as
station density g (stations /km)
Ex.: average spacing is 800m = o.8km
Station density if g = 1/0.8 = 1.25 stations/km
• When station spacing becomes so short that
UTs cannot reach their max running speed,
additional delay per station decreases
• Marginal increase in travel time begins to
decline.
• Total passenger travel time curve PT shows that
there is an optimal station density.
• If passenger distribution is not uniform, this
distribution influences the optimal station
locations and results in variable spacings.

• With respect to passenger time, uniform station
spacing are seldom optimal w.r.t passenger
travel time minimization.
• They should vary with distribution of passenger
demand.
The model:
• Derivation of mathematical expressions for
optimal station spacing is based on a model of a
transit line segment with length L and n+1
stations (Figure)
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Second trade-off: Local versus through passengers:
• Station spacing on any section is a function of
ratio of number of passengers with origin/
destination along that section and number of
passengers on trains passing through the area
who would prefer not to stop on that section due
to loss of time for them.
• Greater the ratio, more closely should the stations
be spaced.
• Where volume of through passengers volume of
local passengers, station spacing should be long.
• If there is a section without any passengers willing
to board or alight , there should be no stations.
• Distance between some station k and next
station k+1 is Sk.
• When spacings are equal over entire length of
line, S = L/n
• Assume: passengers go to the closest station.
• Line separating the areas from which
passengers go to different adjacent stations is
the mid-distance between stations.
• This defines the passenger market shed area.
• Max distance passengers walk to a station
represent lateral boundary of shed area.
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• Each passenger selects a station for boarding or
for alighting so that her total travel time is
minimized.
• Thus, the passenger shed is asymmetrical.
• It is upstream from mid-point because access to
station opposite to travel direction involves
travel time on transit line (need not walk)
• At the arrival stations the situation is reversed.
Shade line located downstream from the mid
point.
• Two sections of each spacing Sk obtained by the
passenger shed lines are Gk and Hk.
• At boarding, access distance Gk is smaller than
section Hk (it requires access opposite to the
direction of travel and then also travel on train
over Sk, which passengers going to k+1 do not
have)
• G and H sections are reversed at alighting
station m. Shorter section Gm-1 is shorter
because it is upstream from m and section Hm is
longer because it is downstream from it.

• Assumed that paths for access to stations are vis a

grid pattern of streets, distance perpendicular to the
line are disregarded because they are not affected
by station locations.
• Expressions for G and H are computed by setting
access time to the station located in the direction of
travel equal to access time to station located in
opposite direction, plus travel time on the train
between the two stations:
Hk + tw = Gk/ Va + Tk +tw
Tk = train travel time on spacing Sk; Va = speed of
access to stations; tw = interval between passenger’s
arrival at station and train departure.
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Sk = Gk + Hk
o
Gk and Hk can be expressed as:
Gk = ½ (Sk – TkVa) and Hk = ½ (Sk +TkVa)
If the station spacings are of sufficient length that
the train can reach its max speed, Tk can be
expresses as:

Tk = (Sk/V) + Tl

Tl is time lost for stopping at one station.

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