Scheduling 103: Deadheads and Layovers

Welcome to Scheduling 103

Today, the discussion will revolve around Deadheads and Layovers with how they affect scheduling and how riders see them in action. 

On a day like this, waiting for a bus can be brutal. Even more brutal is seeing a bus, believing it's the bus that will take out the bitter cold temporarily, and then watch as it approaches you with a Not In Service sign displayed.  As a transit rider for the last 30 years, I've been in that situation many times and it can be frustrating. However, there is a reason why it happens. 

What the operator of #9064 is doing is called a deadhead. A deadhead is an industry term for when an operator drives not in service between two points that is not scheduled. This happens when a bus leaves the garage, returns to the garage, or in the case of the previous post regarding interlines, going from one route to another.

Another pair of closely related terms is pull-out and pull-in, which is what deadheading achieves before and after an operator is finished with their assignment. Those terms will be discussed in a later post. 

In bus operations, the majority of deadheads occur in the early morning when service is first starting for the day. Pictured below is a group of buses waiting to leave the yard for their destinations. 

Each route has a series of what is called Deadhead Instructions. They give a specific route for the operator to follow in order to reach the first stop on the line. Some use local streets, some use highways and expressways, and some use a mixture of both to get to the first stop before they are due to leave. 

 Below is a set of instructions for the former 5 Mondawmin to Cedonia line. They cover deadheads to/from Mondawmin and Cedonia, as well as ones from schools, short turns, and interlines. 

Of the twelve pictured, the first two and last two were the ones most in use. 

Deadhead trips also receives a certain amount of time to complete the trip back to/from the garage. Seen here is coach #12048 turning from Charles to Lombard on its way back to Bush Division garage. The deadhead routing for this bus including using Lombard to Monroe, and down to Washington Blvd.

For instance, this deadhead is given 12 minutes to complete the trip. Depending on traffic conditions, 12 minutes works in most instances. When it doesn't, the operator can add the difference to their timesheet to get paid, called a detention. 

The second part of this post will discuss layovers and why some are short and why some are long. A layover or recovery is an industry term for the scheduled time between when a bus arrives at its last stop and when it starts the next trip.

The minimum amount of time given is five minutes and the maximum can be as high as 50 minutes. Below is an example of both types of layovers. On the 54, particularly in the evening, layovers can go from 5 minutes to 33 minutes.
In one instance, the trip arriving at Carney around 1:15am just has five minutes of recovery before starting the next trip. This is to maintain the headway of every 30 minutes during that time. The same happens earlier with the 9:16pm trip arriving at Hillendale. It has a recovery of 31 minutes before departure to maintain both an hourly headway from Hillendale and an half-hour headway on the trunk along Harford Road.

Some layovers/recoveries happen when one bus arrives and departs before another. Below is Coach #14022 ready to leave Cedonia on the CityLink Pink. Coach #13044 in the back arrived first and has a longer layover than the first bus, but the line still maintains its 10 minute headway during this time. 

Locations with multiple routes that terminate there are generally harder to manage/schedule for because of spacing constraints and the desire to keep a standardized headway. The State Center layover on Eutaw at Preston is one such location. The stop serves six lines, of which four can layover at any given time. Pictured below is the 53, 54, and CityLink Yellow, which is picking up passengers.

In instances like this, schedules are reviewed in an attempt to lessen the layover at one end and increase it at another. That way buses can get in, pick up riders, and leave while still maintaining the scheduled headway. 

In general, deadheads and layovers are among the most critical pieces in being able to schedule service, which mostly goes unseen by the public...unless it's a day like today. 

Next lesson: Headways and Span of Service