User:DontCallMeLateForDinner/DraftShortTurn

A Carlton streetcar on a short turn service terminating at Queen-Coxwell Loop in Toronto, 1965

In public transport, a short turn, short working or turn-back is a service that does not operate along the full length of the route. Short turn trips are operated by most modes of public transport, including bus services, trams (streetcars), rapid transit, commuter rail, and monorailservices. 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.

Purposes

Short turn trips in a timetable: some Antelope Valley Line trains in Los Angeles County, California short turn at Via Princessa station

Demand for services

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. 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.

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

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.

Unscheduled short turns

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.

However, unscheduled short turns are inconvenient for passengers on the vehicle being short-turned, who must disembark before their destination. 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.

History

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."

Short turns by mode of transport

Rapid transit (subways)

Some 5 trains on the New York City Subway short turn at Bowling Green station, turning around in the inner track of the Old South Ferry loop

Some rapid transit (subway or metro) systems rely heavily on short turn services. An example of this is the New York City Subway, which uses short turn services in multiple locations across the system. For example 5 trains short turn at Bowling Green when demand is lower on evenings and weekends, turning around in the inner track of the Old South Ferry loop. Short turns are also operated during peak times, with some F trains short-turning at Kings Highway one stop short of their usual terminal, Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue.

Monorail

External videos
Zoo/Stadion station turntable in operation, 1991

The Wuppertal Schwebebahn, a suspended monorail line in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, was formerly capable of operating short turn services. Kluse station featured a turning loop that was destroyed during World War II, and Zoo/Stadion station has featured a loop and a turntable at different points in its history. The Zoo/Stadion turntable operated from 1974 until 2002, when it was shut down due to environmental concerns from leaking oil. Following the closure of the Zoo/Stadion turntable, all services operate along the full 13.3 km (8.3 mi) line from Oberbarmen to Vohwinkel.

A monorail train on the switch at Sigongli station on Line 3 of Chongqing Rail Transit. Switches like this enable short turn services on Line 3, the world's busiest monorail line

Line 3 of Chongqing Rail Transit, the world's busiest monorail line, is equipped for short turns at multiple locations. This infrastructure is a rarity for monorail systems, due to the size, complexity, and cost of switches. The main line of Line 3 is 53.1 km (30 mi) long with 39 stations, 8 of which are equipped to turn trains around. This infrastructure enables the operation of multiple short turn service patterns on Line 3. The operations of Line 3 were studied in a 2021 study by scholars from Southwest Jiaotong University and Hong Kong Polytechnic University, who proposed a mathematical model for optimizing short turn train services. The authors of the study argued that operating costs on Line 3 could be reduced by 4% with the mathematically optimized short-turn routes generated by their model, while maintaining a similar or better experience for passengers.

Infrastructure

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.

In popular culture

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. The restaurant features fixtures from retired Toronto streetcars and destination sign-inspired exterior signage.