Disaggregate Modeling of Preplanned Short-Turning Strategies in Transit Corridors

In the daily operation of public transport system in the urban context, there exist peak periods (both spatial and temporal) of the demand, resulting in inefficient operation patterns when using the same vehicle supply along the entire route over the whole day. Temporal differences in passenger volumes can be ameliorated by providing a higher service frequency during peak hours, while spatial demand unbalances justify the implementation of several fleet assignment strategies, by increasing the service frequency on the more demanded route sections in order to adjust the service demand with the vehicle supply. To deal with the last problem, in this paper, we develop a disaggregated short turning strategy (with information at a station level). The analysis is restricted to a single period operation, under the assumption that this strategy should be utilized during peak demand periods. Specifically, two short turning models are formulated, depending on whether the fleet size is variable (Model 1) or fixed (Model 2), assuming inelastic demand, and considering that the strategy affects not only the operational costs but also passenger travel and waiting times. An extension considering the impact of high system load factors on the waiting time of passengers is also developed. An application of the formulation on a realistic transit corridor is conducted, showing the benefits of implementing such a strategy for different cases and objectives. Results show the advantages of implementing the strategy for proper demand configurations, typical of peak hour trunk services. In addition, results show the importance of considering more realistic waiting time models as a function of load factor to better quantify the benefits of the strategy on highly loaded transit systems.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Tirachini, Alejandro
  • Cortés, Cristián Eduardo
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 86th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2007-1-21 to 2007-1-25
• Date: 2007

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: CD-ROM
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 21p
• Monograph Title: TRB 86th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers CD-ROM

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Corridors; Disaggregate analysis; High capacity cars; Passenger transportation; Passenger volume; Peak hour traffic; Public transit; Transit operating agencies; Transit vehicle operations; Transportation corridors; Waiting time
• Subject Areas: Operations and Traffic Management; Passenger Transportation; Public Transportation; Terminals and Facilities;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01047578
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 07-3439
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: May 4 2007 10:27AM