Chao News Client Reporter Ying Tao Editor Zhang Yu Correspondent Li Qing Xie Xin.
Have you noticed that the buses around you are getting smaller and smaller?
According to the statistics of Hangzhou Public Transport Group, since the large-scale "new" small and medium-sized vehicles in 2021, a total of 2,629 buses under 10 meters (body length) are in operation in Hangzhou, of which 71 are models of 8 meters and below43%。
Small and medium-sized buses running in the streets and alleys of Hangzhou. Photo by Ying Tao.
In fact, the bus "** is no longer news. Looking at the whole country, first-tier and new first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen are trying to make buses "big and small".
Beijing is planning to introduce a composite bus system of "conventional minibuses + demand-responsive microbuses" in hutongs with a width of more than 6 metersIn June this year, the first batch of pure electric buses in Guangzhou were unveiled, with a total length of 654 meters, designed for urban villages;There is a "baby bus" in Shenzhen, with only 10 seats, just to facilitate the "100 meters" demand ...... for citizens to travel from the subway to the community
The buses of the head cities have driven on the "new track", while the buses of the third and fourth-tier cities are facing the embarrassing situation of "cutting off supply" - in March last year, Shangqiu, Henan Province announced the suspension of the bus lines in the urban area of Qiu City due to extraordinary business difficultiesIn July, a number of bus lines in Baoding, Hebei Province were suspendedIn September, the bus companies of Hengshan County and Shuangfeng County in Hunan Province respectively announced that the city's buses would be suspended for ......
Undoubtedly, the sharp decline in passenger flow and the high rate of empty vehicles are the main problems faced by various places in the operation of public transportation. So is the "big car for the small car" the initiative to change or forced, is it the pursuit of efficiency or cost control?As the number of passengers on public transport decreases, will the travel needs of citizens still be able to meet the bottom line?Today, let's talk about the urban development logic behind the "public transport".
Why do you choose the buses of the head cities?
City bus"** can probably start from 10 years ago - in 2013, Beijing's city streets appeared "pocket" bus, part of the 12-meter bus began to be 85-meter, 10-meter model substitution. At that time, this was Beijing's "specialty", but considering it in the current dimension, it has become a common practice.
A set of data is very telling: at present, the ratio of large, medium and small buses of Shenzhen public transport has been gradually adjusted from 6:2:2 to 4:4:2;The share rate in public transport is as high as 514% of the mountain city of Chongqing, with only 7 capacity alley buses, has increased from 2 in 2020 to 34 in 2023, with an average daily operating mileage of 1More than 360,000 kilometers, transporting 2 passengers740,000 ......
Why has public transport become the common choice of first-tier and new first-tier cities across the country?
In the past two years, the decline in bus passenger traffic is an indisputable fact, and the decrease in bus operating income and the tightening of local finances have indeed exacerbated the pressure on public transport operations in some cities. But in the view of Cai Runlin, deputy chief engineer of the Shanghai branch of the China Academy of Urban Planning and DesignFor the first-tier and new first-tier cities, "survival" is not a problem, it is important to change a "more accurate way of living", "trying to change the bus is not a helpless response to the decline in passenger flow, but a response to the rapid changes in the urban transportation system." ”
The change in bus type is rooted in the change of public travel habits. Hangzhou is a typical example:
One of the changes lies in the rapid completion of the rail transit network. On November 24, 2012, Hangzhou Metro Line 1 was put into operation, connecting Xianghu Station to Wenze Road Station and Linping Station. The marginal effect of the subway on buses has only been seen for a little more than a month: the B1 section of the bus rapid transit (Huanglong Bus Station - Xiashacheng) of the same route was suspended on February 1, 2013 due to a significant drop in passenger traffic.
Hangzhou BRT B1 shuttle bus. Courtesy of Hangzhou Public Transport Group.
Look at the whole area of Hangzhou. In the past ten years, the construction of Hangzhou's subway has advanced rapidly, and the operating mileage has accumulated to 516 kilometers, jumping to the sixth place in the country. According to the latest statistics, the highest passenger flow record in the history of Hangzhou Metro reached 50320,000 person-times, which greatly shares the pressure of urban travel and diverts the inherent passenger flow of public transportation.
The second change lies in the improvement of urban roads and the increase in car ownership.
From 2019 to 2022, the number of private cars in China increased from about 20.7 billion units increased to 27.8 billion units. This is in line with the current situation in Hangzhou
With the official opening of the Tianmushan Road tunnel section of the Qiantang Expressway, more than 500 kilometers of expressways in Hangzhou have formed a network, bridging the traffic gap and opening up the urban skeleton. At the same time, Hangzhou has a permanent population of more than 12 million people and more than 4 million cars, which is equivalent to one private car for every three people. Online car-hailing, bike-sharing, e-bikes and other modes of travel also account for a significant proportion of Hangzhou's daily travel of about 23 million.
Diversified travel modes allow citizens to have many alternatives to traditional public transportation. Therefore, the pressure of passenger flow competition in the bus will be highlighted, which forces the bus company to transform. Wu Haiwei, deputy director of the Hangzhou Comprehensive Transportation Research Center, explained.
The bus has become smaller, can the travel demand still be carried around?
Since 2021, Hangzhou has begun to replace models of different sizes in large quantities to better meet the needs of route optimization.
There are those who are puzzled: the car becomes smaller, the passenger capacity will decrease, and the travel demand will not be more unbearable?
The data "paints a blank picture" of the real situation: the number of trains is more flexible, the speed is faster, the service is more accurate, and the efficiency of alleviating urban congestion is higher. According to the congestion delay index data of 50 large and medium-sized cities in China released by AutoNavi Transportation, Hangzhou has dropped from the first place in the country in the first quarter of 2014 to the 45th place in the third quarter of 2023.
In reality, we can give an example. The 2023 "National Day Mid-Autumn Festival" double festival coincides with the Hangzhou Asian Games, and at this time, Hangzhou, just the scenic spots (including rural tourism), need to solve the travel needs of 13 million tourists. In the face of high traffic, Hangzhou responded with "small buses".
In order to solve the congestion problem in Lingyin Scenic Area, the Hangzhou Municipal Control and Congestion Office took the lead in implementing the Lingyin Scenic Area taxis and online car-hailing 'regional ban + proximal express shuttle' initiative, and we set up two bus transfer points at No. 608 Dongyue and Xixi Road, specifically using 8-meter and 10-meter buses to pick up and drop off tourists who take taxis into Lingyin. Chen Shicheng, head of operations of Hangzhou Public Transport Group, said that this "experiment" was very successful, after calculation, although it is a small car, but the frequency of vehicles is more dense, plus the guarantee of special lanes, 7 minutes can be reached from the transfer point to Lingyin, during the eleventh holiday, the shuttle bus single-day passenger capacity up to 410,000 person-times, equivalent to a decrease of 150,000 ride-hailing taxis entered the scenic area.
Tourists take the scenic shuttle bus line to visit the scenic spot. Courtesy of Hangzhou Public Transport Group.
For more transformations to be equally successful, more needs need to be precisely matched.
First of all, where is the demand? In the ten years since the rapid establishment of the Hangzhou rail transit network, the urban area of Hangzhou has expanded from 3,036 square kilometers to 8,289 square kilometers. Now, Fuyang District and Lin'an District, which are the farthest away from the center of Hangzhou, have also been covered by subways extending in all directions. Wu Haiwei believes that in cities like Hangzhou, where the rail transit network is spread out enough, the public's demand for public transportation is no longer a 20-kilometer long line, but a medium line within 10 kilometers.
Cai Runlin also believes: "Hangzhou's urbanization development has entered a relatively stable stage, the urban sector tends to be stable, and the daily travel needs of citizens will be more accurate." ”
Let's look at how the demand is met. After the stabilization of the new plate, the shortcomings of the original bus route layout are naturally highlighted, for example, the new commercial housing is often only one or two kilometers away from the hospital, subway station and other living circles, but it is not equipped with accurate bus lines, resulting in inconvenience for citizens.
Based on this pain point, Hangzhou has successively launched "small blue buses" with functions such as subway connection and city shuttle, community micro buses, cloud buses and other small buses, as well as customized bus lines such as commuter lines and knowledge seeking special lines to solve the problem of low travel convenience for citizens within the unit. For example, the density of the Dingqiao plate increased by 67%, passenger traffic rose 2168%；The frequency density of the Zhuantang plate increased by 55%, passenger traffic rose 2043%。"At present, we have carried out unitized governance in 20 districts of Hangzhou. Chen Shicheng said.
Whether it is to accurately embed bus services according to demand in the cell, or to give full play to the advantages of public transport intensification in urban congestion points, this idea of responding to diversified needs coincides with the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration.
Dingqiao small blue bus launched by Hangzhou. Courtesy of Hangzhou Public Transport Group.
In Nanjing, four customized bus lines for commuting, business, colleges and universities, and tourism have been launched to solve the problem of tidal passenger flow at a specific time and for a specific group of peopleIn order to help the city control congestion, Huzhou has opened a free bus loop, connecting hospitals, commercial complexes, farmers' markets, scenic spots and other important points ......
Cai Runlin analyzed, "Flexible scheduling is the biggest advantage of public transportation, and it is also the key to grasp the passenger flow." As long as the vehicle scheduling is reasonable, the higher the efficiency of bus operation, the better the effect of sharing urban congestion. ”
Bus seeks innovation and change, is there only one way to "slim down"?
The answer is certainly not the only one.
In October this year, the Ministry of Transport and other 9 departments and units jointly issued the "Several Opinions on Promoting the Healthy and Sustainable Development of Urban Public Transport", which covered several key suggestions, in addition to the "application of miniaturized public transport vehicles according to the demand for passenger flow" and "the opening of customized bus routes such as commuting, commuting, and medical treatment" that have been tried in various places, it is also pointed out that it is necessary to "improve the operational efficiency of urban buses and trolleys through the application of big data" and "support the development of the" bus + tourism "service model".
In other words, "big car to small car" is not the only solution. The use of big data to accurately diagnose the travel needs of citizens is also a way to improve the efficiency of public transportation.
New York has one of the oldest public underground rail systems in the world, but its surface transit is still alive and well. The solution is to use big data tools to screen out 28 corridors that are inconvenient for subways but have high-frequency needs, upgrade conventional bus lines to simple and efficient BRT, and greatly improve the city's BRT network with less time and investment.
As a digital city, Hangzhou is already trying. Not long ago, at the 5th Zhejiang International Intelligent Transportation Industry Expo, Hangzhou officially released the Hangzhou traffic governance platform. The platform builds "scene applications" through "data indicators" and "computing power algorithms". Traffic-related data in any part of Hangzhou's main urban area is displayed in real time, such as the number of travelers, travel modes, destination calorific value, etc.
Wu Haiwei said: "With these data, we can accurately judge the passenger capacity of ground buses, and continue to optimize the operation and scheduling of routes with high single vehicle passenger volume, so as to better adapt to the travel habits of major passengers."For lines with low passenger volume on a single vehicle, inefficient lines can be warned in time and the route scheme can be re-optimized and adjusted. ”
"Bus + Cultural Tourism IP" is also the direction of transformation.
On August 18 this year, the new owner of the Hangzhou Zoo Panda Pavilion "Chunsheng" and "Xiangguo" officially opened to the public, and Hangzhou Public Transport also launched the "Panda Bus", which is a 12-meter conventional model. According to statistics, after the launch of the "Panda Bus", about 280 passengers took the bus every day.
Such city-customized themed buses are not uncommon in Hangzhou. There are WE1314, 520 double-decker bus and K155 bus alone. Among them, the double-decker bus No. 520 bus will become a holy place for couples in Hangzhou on May 20 every yearThe conventional 12-meter WE1314 bus is also the first choice for contemporary Hangzhou young people when they get married.
Hangzhou WE1314 bus. Courtesy of Hangzhou Public Transport Group.
Not only in Hangzhou, the reason why Hong Kong buses are out of the circle is also because of its precise use of multiple types of vehicles, which brings out the city's personality - double-decker buses on the main roads have both retro feelings and intensive passengers;There are "red van" minibuses in the streets, passengers do not have to wait for a long time, the empty rate of the buses is also low, and the large and small buses complement each other.
Whether it is the use of big data or the use of IP around the city, what the public transport should do is to seize the stable high-frequency travel demand of the market, and then provide accurate services, which is the breakthrough point for the public transport to reverse the current situation of excessive operating pressure, and it is also the future business model for the healthy development of the public transport industry. Cai Runlin said.
In the final analysis, the change of public transportation lies in the change of people and the city.
As economic development enters a new historical stage, China's urbanization process is facing a shift in growth rate. At the end of 2022, China's urban permanent population reached 920.71 million, and the new urban population hit a 42-year low. Accompanying this, the differentiation of urban energy levels is further highlighted.
Lu Dadao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, believes that China's urbanization has changed from extensive development to high-quality development. In this context, some cities need to do "subtraction", not blindly greedy for speed, should be based on the actual situation of local population, employment, transportation, etc., planning urban construction and development.
Public transportation is one of the most important public goods in the urban operation system. "Even in the complex context of declining population, urban differentiation, and diversification of travel needs, its public welfare attributes will not change. Cai Runlin said that it is foreseeable that after the "strong body", the public transport that becomes "small and beautiful" and "small and fine" can bring people more sense of gain and happiness, and the city's agglomeration capacity will also be enhanced.
The key to the development of public transport lies in reversing the inertial thinking of "incremental planning". How to step up the "strengthening of the body" at the same time, how to make the public transport kinetic energy and urban development, the needs of residents to achieve the best balance relationship, the formation of a two-way closed loop of social services and economic news, is the proposition to be solved in the development of modern cities.
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