Changsha makes ground buses better connected to rail transit (solving people's concerns and paying attention to urban ground buses) Public buses | City | Changsha

Core Reading

In Changsha, Hunan, the passenger volume of the subway has surpassed that of buses, becoming the main mode of public transportation. The positioning and role of ground buses are undergoing changes. To further facilitate the travel of the public, the long sofa leverages the flexible and mobile characteristics of ground buses, optimizes station settings, improves the convenience of connecting with rail transit, saves travel costs to the maximum extent, and improves the travel experience of the public.

At 7:30 pm, the sunset slowly sank into the horizon. A group of tourists who had enjoyed the sunset from Yuelu Mountain gradually descended the mountain and left the east gate of the scenic area. After walking for about 300 meters, they arrived at the north bus station of Yuelu Mountain. The buses on the Lishan Special Line are coming in sequence to pick up tourists and take them to the next check-in destination in Changsha, Hunan - the Wuyi Business District.

Passing through the Xiangjiang River and overlooking the Orange Island, in just 20 minutes, tourists can travel from a place full of culture to a bustling area of fireworks, savoring delicious food and enjoying tea. It's truly delightful.

"When traveling, no one wants to spend too much time on transportation. The Lishan Special Line connects multiple popular attractions in Changsha, providing tourists with the most comfortable public transportation experience. After seeing off a bus of passengers, at the beginning and end stations of the Lishan Special Line, Changsha Railway Station, driver Zhou Jing said.".

The efficient operation of the Lishan Special Line is not an exception within the public transportation system in Changsha. In recent years, Changsha has fully utilized the flexible and mobile characteristics of urban ground buses, optimized route design, and reasonably dispatched resources, allowing buses to serve communities, campuses, scenic spots, commercial areas, and industrial parks, connecting various important nodes of the city to the maximum extent possible, and meeting the diverse travel needs of the masses.

Data shows that in the first half of this year, 2.453 million buses put into operation in Changsha have completed a passenger volume of 156 million, with a cumulative operating mileage of 96.88 million kilometers.

Optimize circuit design

Connecting to subway stations

In mid June, the southern extension of Changsha Metro Line 3 has not yet been opened. Careful citizens have found that in the "2023 Third Batch of Bus Route Optimization Publicity" plan released by the Changsha Transportation Bureau, the two unseen bus routes, 356 and 30, have been planned to be "updated". At the same time, three bus routes have been adjusted - their purpose is only one, to provide ground bus connections for new subway stations and facilitate citizen travel.

Changsha citizens are not unfamiliar with such thoughtful actions.

In recent years, with the further development of urban rail transit, the role and positioning of ground public transportation in Changsha are undergoing changes.

In 2022, Changsha became the eighth city in China to see its subway passenger volume surpass that of buses. If rail transit is the main artery of urban passenger flow, then ground buses are the capillaries scattered throughout the city. "Only when capillaries are closely connected to the aorta, and the capillaries themselves operate smoothly, can the entire city be vibrant everywhere," said Chen Fang, Director of the Public Transport Department of Changsha Transportation Bureau.

How can it be achieved? Fine management and operation are key.

To this end, the Changsha Municipal Transportation Bureau regularly sorts out the supply bottlenecks of bidirectional passenger flow between buses and subways, improves the convenience of connecting buses and rail transit, and promotes the integration of the two networks - within 50-100 meters of each subway station exit, bus stops are set up by optimizing the connection plan. Not long ago, the city only sorted out 20 stations with a connecting distance of over 100 meters, which were immediately included in the optimization schedule.

Under such meticulous management, the current connection rate of urban bus and subway lines in Changsha has reached 95.4%.

Previously, the 288 bus did not stop at Changhua Community in Yuelu District, making it inconvenient for residents to travel. In September 2022, after optimizing the route, stations were set up in the residential area to ensure connection to the subway stations of Line 4 and Line 6. Mr. Wu, a resident, goes to work every day and can walk less than 200 meters to get on the bus. "The subway arrives at the station and the bus arrives at home. It's really convenient to travel now!" he exclaimed.

In recent years, Changsha has continuously optimized its conventional bus network through various means, with an average adjustment of over 50 routes in the past three years. At present, there are 297 regular bus routes in Changsha, covering various parts of the urban area.

Creating customized public transportation

Stimulate urban vitality

At 6:30 pm, after having dinner in the cafeteria, Wang, an employee of Changsha BYD Automobile Co., Ltd., boarded bus line 8 as soon as he returned. Blowing on the air conditioning, a few minutes later, the shuttle bus took him all the way to Factory 28, about 3 kilometers away - before the night shift, without the hard work of commuting on foot.

"This is the customized bus route we provide for enterprises," Liu Jianwu, Director of the Third Business Department of Changsha Public Transport Operation Co., Ltd., told reporters.

In order to assist the development of urban economy, society, and cultural tourism, and better serve the personalized travel needs of passengers, Changsha has launched customized bus route services while maintaining existing conventional routes.

Changsha BYD Company has launched its first "park bus route" and launched its first park bus since May 30th this year. As of early August, the park has opened 12 routes.

"Tens of thousands of employees in the entire park have daily travel needs. From the living area to the work area, it can be as short as 1 kilometer and as long as 3 kilometers. Although the distance is not far, the flow is relatively concentrated, and there is a need to operate public transportation." Liu Jianwu said that after negotiations and cooperation, unconventional bus routes were mobilized to operate within the park on a daily basis.

The effect is immediate. On August 1st, 59 buses operated 337 times in the park, transporting more than 12000 passengers. After conversion, the average occupancy rate is over 80%.

In the Yuelu High tech Zone, free customized commuting dedicated lines have solved the commuting difficulties of enterprise employees in the Xiangjiang Zhigu area; Multiple campus dedicated lines have been opened, including Hunan University Affiliated Middle School, Changjun Foreign Language Middle School, and Changjun Yuhua Foreign Language Hongtang Middle School, making travel for teachers and students more convenient

"On the basis of not affecting the operation of regular routes, we actively cooperate with residents, schools, enterprises, parks, etc. As long as the corresponding conditions are met, bus routes can be customized as needed." Yang Zhuo, Deputy Minister of Customization and Expansion Department of Changsha Public Transport Operation Co., Ltd., told reporters, "As of June 30th, Changsha City has opened 126 customized bus routes."

In line with the hot cultural and tourism market this year, Changsha City is promoting the integration of various scenic spots into a "line", opening multiple tourism routes such as May Day Square and Yuelu Mountain, achieving full coverage of A-level and major scenic spot bus routes in the city. The operation time of 12 bus routes will be extended to 23:30 or later, allowing citizens and tourists to fully experience the fireworks of Changsha at night. Liuyang has also opened a dedicated bus line, connecting red scenic spots along the way, making red tourism even more popular.

At the same time, public transportation continues to extend to the grassroots level. "Four districts, counties, and cities outside the central urban area are also building an integrated urban-rural public transportation system, of which three have been completed. By the end of this year, Changsha will be transformed into a comprehensive public transportation city," said Ou Jing, a member of the Party Committee and Deputy Director of the Changsha Transportation Bureau.

Introducing intelligent technology

Improve the quality of travel

Early every morning, driver Chen Yongli drives a bus from the intersection of Yulan Road and Nanyuan, heading towards the terminal information industry park. There are nearly 20 traffic lights throughout the entire route, and the total waiting time for vehicles at the red lights does not exceed 2 minutes.

"I've been on the bus for 30 years, and there's no better route than this one," said Chen Yongli. The integrated and collaborative smart public transportation solution based on intelligent networking, including "vehicle, station, road, and cloud", has given this "Meixi Lake High tech Zone Smart Commuting Bus East Line" a smart brain - the bus route is linked with the traffic police intelligent signal control system. If the traffic indicator light is still red when the vehicle approaches the intersection, it will automatically switch to green, thereby achieving priority for public transportation.

"According to calculations, the commuting time of smart buses is about 27.5% less than that of private car transportation, and the average time is 30.7% less than the previous normal operation mode of buses." Liu Gao, the project leader of the smart bus project at Hunan Xiangjiang Intelligent Technology Innovation Center Co., Ltd., told reporters that currently, 75 routes and 2072 buses in the main urban area of Changsha have completed the installation of intelligent networking equipment, and 84 intersections have achieved intelligent networking transformation.

"According to big data screening, there are over 30000 office workers on this commuter route." Liu Gao said that with the opening of smart commuter lines, sampling statistics show that about 24.7% of passengers have switched from commuting by car to commuting by smart bus.

Intelligence makes public transportation time-saving and worry free, and also makes public transportation safer.

The driver behavior monitoring system installed on the smart bus uses facial recognition technology to determine the driver's non-standard behavior, and implements in car broadcast reminders, which will also be reported to the rear platform; The panoramic intelligent system can display the surrounding conditions of the vehicle to the driver, providing a blind spot view for the driver; The intelligent dispatch system allows drivers to report unexpected situations with just one click, seamlessly linking with the dispatch management center... One measure at a time, making bus drivers more comfortable and passengers more at ease.

At the same time, the Changsha Transportation Comprehensive Operation Coordination and Emergency Command Center, which integrates data analysis support, gradually improves the level of public transportation operation supervision, intelligent scheduling, planning decision support, and travel information services through the integration of diverse public transportation data.

By utilizing the spatiotemporal big data analysis function of travel population, bus route adjustments have a more reliable basis.

"For example, DaKeCheng Line 2 is mainly focused on student traffic, with a decrease in holiday passenger flow. In order to improve the occupancy rate of public transportation, under the recommendation of the system, the route was changed to connect with the subway from Houhu Road, Fubuhe Road, Lushan South Road to Gaoyetang Station, resulting in a 15% increase in passenger flow." Shao Ying, Minister of the Operation Monitoring Department of Changsha Smart Transportation Development Center, told reporters.

With the continuous promotion of intelligent construction of the public transportation system, the quality of ground public transportation in Changsha is also improving synchronously: the proportion of new energy and clean energy buses, as well as the proportion of newly added and updated new energy and clean energy buses, have all reached 100%; The average operating speed of public buses and trams during peak hours in the morning and evening reaches 18 kilometers per hour; The real-time prediction rate of incoming bus and tram information reaches 100%... These experiences have made green travel the preferred choice for many citizens of Changsha. The data shows that the sharing rate of motorized public transportation in Changsha city reached 54.19%, and the satisfaction rate of green transportation services reached 84.38%.