Flattening peak travel time: Measures to better distribute travel demand

Across our sector, various organisations are exploring and implementing schemes to incentivise an adjustment in commuter behaviour with the hope of aiding improved services during the busiest times. This is being done by increasing usage during non-peak hours and thus distributing the rush hour crowds.

In this Knowledge Brief, we will examine the easing of passengers loads to distribute the peak travel periods. We will take a closer look at case studies from around the world and inspect the approaches taken by these companies to tackle the congestion on public transport lines.

The work in this paper commenced before the COVID-19 crisis. Since the pandemic, many quick and immediate measures were taken to ensure safety for commuters and some examples have been added to this paper. However, one of the key purposes of this paper is to inform readers of pre-pandemic methods related to distributing the crowd that could guide the post-pandemic recovery planning.

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