"Dial-a-RUF" bus driving in the road network

Unlike traditional train systems, a Dual-Mode RUF system is able to collect passengers for the system by using the same vehicle as the one used on the rail but driven by a chauffeur in the normal streets.

The MAXI-RUF bus collects passengers in a district defined as the area between the lines in the rail network. At or near each rail crossing is a station and a multi branch rail access/egress point.

16,000 MAXI-RUFs arrive at a station 8 times an hour. There are 100 stations meaning that 1280 MAXI-RUFs arrive at each station every hour. This corresponds to 21 per minute or an interval of 3 seconds between each arrival (on average). Some stations have many platforms, others have few. There are always at least two to avoid congestion in case of difficulties with loading/unloading. Each platform can handle one MAXI-RUF in less than 15 seconds. On average they will need 5 platforms to handle the flow.

It is assumed that each MAXI-RUF has 5 passengers on average. On a typical tour the MAXI-RUF will have to deliver 5 passenger to their destinations and collect 5 new passengers at their origins. Some of the origins will coincide with some of the destinations, so 8 stops will be typical. Unloading plus loading is very fast because of the tophinged doors (typical 20 sec at street level). A 6 mile tour from one station to another in the same district will take 23 minutes. 6 miles at 18 mph takes 20 minutes. 8 stops takes 8 x 20 sec = 2 minutes and 40 sec.

The longest connector trip (from an origin at the center of the district to a station) will take 12 minutes. A typical trip will take 6 minutes.