Impact analysis of staggered work timings on peak hour congestion in mass rapid transit systems: a case study of DLF cyber hub

Abstract

This thesis provides an evaluation of the staggered work timing strategies based upon their effectiveness in managing the peak hour congestion specifically in the mass rapid transit systems. The issue of peak hour congestion has emerged as a result of rapid urbanisation and increasing peak hour travel demand. This phenomenon has been frequently experienced in many cities across the globe, especially on their mass rapid transit systems. In Delhi, the passenger load during the peak hour almost touches the design capacity of the metro trains running during the same hour, conforming the inevitability of peak hour congestion. Conventionally, to counter this issue, the supply-side measures are adopted, which caters the excessive demand by increasing the demand capacity of the system. These measures require notable capital investment, but they neglect the temporary behaviour of congestion and thus remain under-utilised during the non-peak hours. Contrary to supply-side measures, the demand-side measures shifts the excessive demand across space and time. Staggering of work timings is one of the demand-side measures which effectively manages the peak hour congestion. The concept aims to spread the peak-hour trips to non-peak hours by rescheduling the work timings. Although staggered work timing strategies have gained popularity across the globe, limited research has been done in this field in context to Indian scenario. Thus, there arises a need to study the impacts of these strategies and the possibilities of implementing it in Indian cities. Regarding this study, the business district of DLF Cyber City is chosen as it is well connected by the Rapid Metro Gurgaon and various organizations have implemented staggered work timing strategies in the study area. Staggered work timings, as per the definition, refers to an arrangement of working wherein the employees of an organisation do not all arrive/depart at the same specific time, but instead have large period of overlaps or shifts. It includes the following three strategies: FlexTime, Staggered Shifts and Compressed Workweek. In FlexTime, a flexible cap of arrival/departure time is provided to employees which doesn’t align with the peak hours. In Staggered Shifts, a choice from relatively inflexible working shifts is given to the employee in which the arrival/departure time is rescheduled during the non-peak hours. In Compressed Workweek, the working number of days are reduced while increasing the working hours per day, thus reducing the congestion on the skipped day. In this thesis, the impacts are analysed based on the before-after scenarios in terms of ridership, modal shift and the changes in hourly travel pattern. Other impacts such as transportation related benefits and benefits to the employers at organizational level have been briefly discussed. Further the employees’ willingness to shift and the employers’ opinion on executing staggered work timings has been taken into considerations. The contingent valuation method is used during the survey and the business suitability for these strategies is calculated. The important aspects during the policy making process have been reflected in this thesis. It was inferred from the study that for successful implementation of the program certain factors must be considered like target location, implementing approach, business suitability, willingness of the employees, flexibilities in arrival/departure, degree of participation, etc. The implementation should be an incremental process and should take place in staged approach. The staggered work timing strategies proved to be more effective when the rescheduling of work timings is done by a single apex group representing individuals from various organisation rather than individual organisations rescheduling their own work timings. In order to achieve the successful implementation of these strategies, challenges like women’s safety, business competitiveness, schedule strictness, productivity of firms must be taken into the account. These policies may affect other travel demand management techniques such as ridesharing. The key to the success of these strategies lies in the inclusivity and the vision-oriented approach of these strategies. Government can also help in drastically improving the transit scenario by means of introducing policies/incentives attracting organisations to enforce these strategies