Estimating Capacity of High-Volume Bus Rapid Transit Stations

A critical element in estimating the capacity of a bus rapid transit (BRT) line is the flow capacity of the running way measured in buses per hour. In this paper, the authors estimate capacity in high volume bus services by using a simulation model. The inputs to the model include the mean dwell time of arriving buses, the dwell time variability, the headway variation of arriving buses, the configuration of the boarding locations and the presence or absence of a traffic signal. The output of the model is an estimate of the number of buses which can serve the stop per hour with a tolerable failure rate. The failure rate is the probability that arriving buses will not be able to access a boarding berth due to its being occupied by a previously arriving bus. The capacity of various stop configurations such as number of berths and queuing areas is also examined. The model does not require extensive data collection to yield reasonable results. The paper includes tables showing the capacity for a range of input options. The procedure was applied to the operation of Transmilenio in Bogota, Colombia.

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• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AP015 Transit Capacity and Quality of Service.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Reilly, Jack
  • Aros-Vera, Felipe
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 92nd Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2013-1-13 to 2013-1-17
• Date: 2013

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 11p
• Monograph Title: TRB 92nd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bus rapid transit; Bus terminals; Dwell time; Estimation theory; Headways
• Identifier Terms: TransMilenio
• Uncontrolled Terms: Bus capacity
• Geographic Terms: Bogota (Colombia)
• Subject Areas: Highways; Passenger Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Vehicles and Equipment; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01478424
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 13-4702
• Files: PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Apr 15 2013 1:15PM