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Bus Frequency Requirement Calculator

Work out bus frequency requirement instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.

About Bus Frequency Requirement Calculator

Service frequency is peak demand divided by the effective capacity of a vehicle, which is nominal capacity times a target load factor below one so that passengers are not left behind on a busy departure. Headway is sixty divided by buses per hour, and the fleet in service is round trip time divided by headway.

Formulas

Frequency

Buses per hour = peak passengers / (capacity x load factor)

Fleet

Vehicles in service = ceil(round trip time / headway)

Worked example

With the default values below, Bus Frequency Requirement Calculator returns Buses required per hour of 33.3. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Peak passengers per hour per directionminimum 1
1,800
Bus capacityminimum 1 passengers
60 passengers
Target load factoraccepts 0.1–1.2
0.9
Round trip time including layoverminimum 1 min
40 min

Results

Buses required per hour
33.3 buses/h
Headway
1.80 min
Vehicles required in service
23
Effective capacity per bus
54.0 passengers

Step by step

  1. 1Values used
  2. 2Frequency
  3. 3Fleet
  4. 4Buses required per hour= 33.3 buses/h
  5. 5Headway= 1.80 min
  6. 6Vehicles required in service= 23
  7. 7Effective capacity per bus= 54.0 passengers

Assumptions and limits

  • The result is derived only from the 4 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
  • In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax or compounding frequency into account.
  • Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is the Bus Frequency Requirement figure worked out?

Buses per hour = peak passengers / (capacity x load factor). Service frequency is peak demand divided by the effective capacity of a vehicle, which is nominal capacity times a target load factor below one so that passengers are not left behind on a busy departure.

Why target a load factor below one?

Because demand varies between departures. Planning at full capacity means every above-average bus leaves passengers behind, and reliability collapses.

What values do I need to enter?

This calculator takes 4 inputs: Peak passengers per hour per direction, Bus capacity, Target load factor, Round trip time including layover. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic worked example — replace them with your own site or project figures.

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