Alleviating Scheduling Problems in Anbessa City Bus Service Enterprise
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Date
2009-09
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The transport sector is a key element for the development of a country. Almost every item or human being participating in the national economy needs to be transported from one location to another. Thus a problem in the transport sector implies impediment of the development of the socio-economic status of the country.
It has become very common that globally emphasis is given to the transport sector. Hence, the modes of transport are diverse, efficient and effective in many countries. City Trains, city Buses, Midi Buses, Taxies, Express Cabs are among the transport means that facilitate city transport services. However, the existences of all these modes of transport dose not guarantee satisfactory transport service. The modes of transport shall address the customers by making themselves available at the time and place they are required. To keep the time and place of destination and departure of means of transport different measures are taken by different countries. Among these are; using different bus lanes on streets, and making appropriate scheduling and time tabling of the different modes of transport.
However, the case in our country, specifically, the capital city Addis Ababa, is different in that there is no city train service, the road ways are narrow and not well maintained, they are also un proportional to the number of vehicles available in the city, there is no bus lane, etc.
Moreover, the city bus service is the only public transport having a specific route of travel and governed by governmental development agency. The private transport sector is not controlled under a specified route and gives service based on the best advantage of the owner rather than the public. Consequently, the public is suffering from shortage of transport to make its daily activities. These factors have aggravated the problem of city transport in Addis Ababa.
The main objective of this thesis is to alleviate the problems of city transport described above through improving the scheduling system of Anbessa City Bus Service Enterprise. The paper gives emphasis on the way that the public gets the required transport service on the time and place which the customer specifies and on the continuity or dependability of the schedule insuring this service. This is done by identifying the core problem of the public transport in relation to the city bus service through delay data collection, questionnaire distributed and interviews conducted to the customers.
Finally, appropriate method of data collections and trip time determination for making schedules, timely updating of the existing data for keeping the schedule dependable, consideration of all route disruption factors for sustainability of the feasibility of schedules are recommended.
The result of the study can improve the service delivered by the enterprise and shift the customers who are dissatisfied by the private transport sector to Anbessa buses increasing the market share of the enterprise in the city transport service. It will also improve the mobility of resources which is a key factor for improving the socioeconomic status of the city.
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Keywords
Anbessa City Bus Service Enterprise, Scheduling Problems