In
public transit
Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typic ...
, particularly
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
,
tram
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
, or
train
In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often ...
transportation, a limited-stop (or sometimes referred to as semi-fast) service is a trip pattern that stops less frequently than a local service. Many limited-stop or semi-fast services are a combination of
commuter rail
Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Downtown, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter r ...
and
express train
An express train is a type of passenger train that makes a small number of stops between its origin and destination stations, usually major destinations, allowing faster service than local trains that stop at most or all of the stations alo ...
.
The term is normally used on routes with a mixture of fast and slow services, and can differ in meaning, depending on how it is used by different transit agencies. The main benefits of limited-stop or semi-fast services is the ability to utilise
skip-stop
Skip-stop is a public transit service pattern which reduces travel times and increases capacity by having vehicles ''skip'' certain ''stops'' along a route. Originating in rapid transit systems, skip-stop may be also used in light rail and bus ...
calling pattern to maximise capacity along the line, as opposed to a commuter service stopping at every station which slows trailing express trains down.
Railways
![Outbound MNRR train approaching Fordham station, June 2016](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Outbound_MNRR_train_approaching_Fordham_station%2C_June_2016.jpg)
On railways, the layout of the tracks and number and length of platforms at stations normally limit the extent to which a blend of fast/semi-fast/slow services can be operated.
Australia
In Australia, particularly in
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...
and
Sydney, limited stop services are formed by commuter trains that run as limited stops or express services from the city centre to the edge of the suburban area and then as all stops in the interurban area (an example of such an express pattern can be seen on the
Gold Coast line).
Finland
In
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...
,
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
,
VR commuter rail services are formed by trains that run as limited stops or express from the city centre and then stop all stations in the interurban area. The Y train is one such example.
Japan
In Japan, the limited stops train is known as a semi-express train ( ''Junkyū''). An example is applied to
Nankai Railway
is a private railway in Japan, founded in 1884. The name ''Nankai'' (which means "South Sea") comes from the company's routes along the Nankaidō, the old highway that ran south from the old capital, Kyoto, along the sea coast. Nankai predates a ...
's
Koya Line
The is a railway line in Osaka Prefecture and Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, owned and operated by the Nankai Electric Railway, a private railway operator. It connects Osaka and Koyasan, the capital of the Japanese Buddhist sect Shingon, via the ...
.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, some railway stations have tracks for which there are no platforms, allowing a larger number of fast trains to pass them without stopping. They may go down the middle of the station or down the side such as at , , and (the middle track at Totnes is used only in the summer by
Great Western Railway services between and ).
United States
In the United States, some railway stations have tracks for which there are no platforms. For instance, various commuter rail services run along the same tracks as
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...
's
Acela Express
The ''Acela'' ( ; originally the ''Acela Express'' until September 2019) is Amtrak's flagship service along the Northeast Corridor (NEC) in the Northeastern United States between Washington, D.C. and Boston via 13 intermediate stops, inclu ...
and
Northeast Corridor routes with four rails, two in the middle for Amtrak, and two on either side for the commuter rail. There are also Express services within those, as at many smaller stations, the Northeast Corridor trains will split off onto the commuter rail tracks to make a stop, and the Acela trains will continue.
Subways
![Broad Street Line Modern Map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Broad_Street_Line_Modern_Map.jpg)
The United States also uniquely has subways that use this method. In
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, they are numbered as separate lines, which are often part-express, part-local, while others are only express at certain times of day. In
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
, they are considered the same line, but with a few different types of services. The
Broad Street Line
The Broad Street Line (BSL), also known as the Broad Street subway (BSS), Orange Line, or Broad Line, is a subway line owned by the city of Philadelphia and operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). The line ru ...
has the local, which makes all stops; the express, which has an early Southern terminus in the city center; the spur, which makes a few more stops than the express but less than the local, and then branches out to service two other stations), and the special, which is run only during sporting events, and runs as the express but then continues nonstop down to the southern terminus of the local, sharing tracks with the local.
Buses
Traditionally, limited-stop bus services usually operate on an identical or similar route to one or more local bus routes, only serving primary stops, and skipping the others served by local routes. Typically, the stops that are served by limited stop routes are chosen so that stops are evenly spaced or are transfer points, major intersections, or popular destinations. Within
downtowns, limited-stop services may stop more frequently. Depending on the transit agency, this can sometimes be referred to as express service. For example,
Chicago Transit Authority
The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is the operator of mass transit in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and some of its surrounding suburbs, including the trains of the Chicago 'L' and CTA bus service. In , the system had a ridership of , ...
refers to both this type and
non-stop services as express.
Limited-stop bus service is a core component of
bus rapid transit (BRT), but differs by not sharing most of the common features of bus rapid transit such as unique route branding, off-vehicle fare collection, signal preemption, frequent all-day service, and dedicated right-of-way. For example, the
RapidRide
RapidRide is a network of limited-stop bus routes with some bus rapid transit features in King County, Washington, operated by King County Metro. The network consists of six routes totaling 64 miles that carried riders on approximately 64,860 tr ...
lines in
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
,
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
are existing local
King County Metro
King County Metro, officially the King County Metro Transit Department and often shortened to Metro, is the public transit authority of King County, Washington, which includes the city of Seattle. It is the eighth-largest transit bus agency in t ...
routes but with fewer stops and some BRT features being adopted at some stations.
In other cities, such as
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
, limited stop bus service currently uses the same branding and has the same features (except stopping less frequently) as regular bus routes.
Other forms of limited-stop bus service other than the traditional type characterized by serving only some of the stops. Some bus routes with portions of the route are non-stop are referred to as limited stop by the transit agency that operates the route.
One form is a route that operates partially on a highway. It is more similar to an express bus route than the traditional limited stop route. However, the non-stop portion of the route is typically shorter than that of an express route, and the fare structure of the transit agency cause a limited stop route to have a lower fare than an express route.
One example of this type of route would be
Metro Transit Route 114 in Minneapolis, MN. The route originates at the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis, then it travels several miles on Interstates 35W and 94, before it begins to operate as local service through the Uptown area of Minneapolis.
Another form of limited stop bus service includes local routes that may operate certain trips with limited or non-stop sections. For example, to aid commute times for downtown workers, Metro Transit Route 12 in Minneapolis operates during peak hours as non-stop for approximately eight blocks between Franklin Avenue and Uptown Transit Station, but the route serves all stops along that section at other times.
See also
*
Bus rapid transit
*
Express bus service
Public transport bus services are generally based on regular operation of transit buses along a route calling at agreed bus stops according to a published public transport timetable.
History of buses Origins
While there are indications ...
*
Express train
An express train is a type of passenger train that makes a small number of stops between its origin and destination stations, usually major destinations, allowing faster service than local trains that stop at most or all of the stations alo ...
*
Limited express
*
Skip-stop
Skip-stop is a public transit service pattern which reduces travel times and increases capacity by having vehicles ''skip'' certain ''stops'' along a route. Originating in rapid transit systems, skip-stop may be also used in light rail and bus ...
References
{{Reflist
Passenger rail transport