Short turn
_a_COXWELL_CARLTON_car_(Short_Turn)_crossing_Bay_St._on_Collage,_Toronto,_ONT_on_Septembet_8,_1965_(21961232993)_(cropped).jpg)
In public transport, a short turn, short working or turn-back is a service on a bus route or rail line that do not operate along the full length of the route.[1]: 118 Short turn trips are often scheduled and published in a timetable, but they may also be unscheduled, for multiple reasons.
Short turn services often require additional infrastructure to turn vehicles around in the middle of a route. Short turn bus services may not require any infrastructure, using streets to turn around. In comparison, short turn tram or streetcar services may have to use a balloon loop, limiting the locations for short turns. Rail services such as rapid transit and commuter rail have similar limits with short turn locations: they need crossovers, loops, or other special tracks when they short turn.[2]
Purposes
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Demand for services
[edit]Short turns are used on bus routes and rail lines where there is a lower demand for service along the part of the route not served by the short-turning trips. This helps in reducing operating costs.[3]: 10 While more economical, these short turns do not necessarily reduce the number of buses needed to operate the full amount of service along the route.[3]: 457
An alternative to this are services that split up into multiple branches. This provides a frequent service on the main route while the individual branches are served less frequently.
Crowd management
[edit]Short turns can aid in reducing overcrowding of buses. By scheduling uneven intervals between full-length and short turn trips, this may lead to accommodation of more riders on the trips coming out of the short turn layover location.[4]: 3-75, 7-6
Unscheduled short turns
[edit]Unscheduled short turns occur when services are delayed or disrupted. When bunching occurs, some of the bunched vehicles may be short-turned to provide additional service in the other direction. This practice can allow a vehicle to regain time in its schedule, and it benefits passengers waiting at stops in the opposite direction. Unscheduled short turns are a useful tool for managers of transport services, but must be used in combination with other methods to properly manage delays and bunching.[3]: 478
However, unscheduled short turns are inconvenient for passengers on the vehicle being short-turned, who must disembark before their destination.[5] Passengers and the media are often critical of unscheduled short turns, as seen in Toronto, where a review of Toronto Transit Commission bus and streetcar services found that the TTC short-turned over 333,000 trips between January 2012 and September 2014.[6]
History
[edit]An early English-language description of short turn services is in A New English Dictionary On Historical Principles, in its definition of "short running." The dictionary quotes an 1855 document describing stagecoach services in Cornwall, which were successful at that time: "The people patronized the vans to such an extent that short-running coaches were few."[7]
Infrastructure
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Short turn services require some level of infrastructure to operate. Transport services that operate on streets, such as buses, must have suitably-arranged streets available to turn around on. Trams and streetcars require additional track to be installed, either as balloon loops or on-street tracks with appropriate switches. Light rail and rapid transit trains may be equipped with cabs at both ends of the vehicle, but they must still switch to the opposite track to continue in the other direction. This may be via a crossover, a loop, a siding, or a pocket track.[1]: 66
In popular culture
[edit]Short Turn, a streetcar-themed restaurant on Queen Street in Toronto, is inspired by the Toronto streetcar system's large number of unscheduled short turns.[8] The restaurant features fixtures from retired Toronto streetcars and destination sign-inspired exterior signage.[9]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Parkinson, Tom; Fisher, Ian (1996). Rail Transit Capacity (PDF). TCRP Report 13. Washington, DC: Transportation Research Board. ISBN 0-309-05718-3.
- ^ Puong, André; Wilson, Nigel H. M. (2008). "A Train Holding Model for Urban Rail Transit Systems". In Hickman, Mark; Mirchandani, Pitu B.; Voss, Stefan (eds.). Computer-aided systems in public transport. p. 334. ISBN 9783540733126.
- ^ a b c Ceder, Avishai (2007). Public transit planning and operation: theory, modelling and practice. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-7506-6166-9.
- ^ Boyle, Daniel K.; et al. (2009). Controlling System Costs: Basic and Advanced Scheduling Manuals and Contemporary Issues in Transit Scheduling. TCRP Report 135. Washington, D.C.: Transportation Research Board. ISBN 978-0-309-27994-9.
- ^ Young, Leslie; Armstrong, James (2014-12-01). "Stranded: Why your TTC bus short-turned". Global News. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
- ^ "How we manage delays". Chicago Transit Authority. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
- ^ A new English dictionary on historical principles: founded mainly on the materials collected by the Philological Society. Vol. 8, part 2. Oxford Clarendon Press. 1914. p. 746. Retrieved 2024-08-27 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Hershberg, Erin; Neuhaus, Daniel (2023-03-21). "What's on the menu at Short Turn, a snazzy new cocktail spot on Queen West from the 416 Snack Bar team". Toronto Life. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
- ^ Cicerone, Joseph; Moallemi, Arash (2023-11-06). "Short Turn Feels Like a Streetcar Ride in a Perfect Toronto". Designlines Magazine. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
