Using Real Time Traveler Demand Data to Optimize Commuter Rail Feeder Systems

This report focuses on real time optimization of the Commuter Rail Circulator Route Network Design Problem (CRCNDP). The route configuration of the circulator system, where to stop and the route among the stops, is determined on a real-time basis by employing adaptive Tabu Search to timely solve a Mixed Integer Program (MIP) problem with an objective to minimize total cost incurred to both transit users and transit operators. Numerical experiments are executed to find the threshold for the minimum fraction of travelers that would need to report their destinations via smart phone to guarantee the practical value of optimization based on real-time collected demand against a base case defined as the average performance of all possible routes. The adaptive Tabu Search Algorithm is also applied to three real-size networks abstracted from the Martin Luther King (MLK) station of the new MetroRail system in Austin, Texas.

• Record URL:
  http://d2dtl5nnlpfr0r.cloudfront.net/swutc.tamu.edu/publications/technicalreports/476660-00078-1.pdf
• 
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Supported by a grant from the US Department of Transportation, University Transportation Centers Program.
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Texas, Austin

  Center for Transportation Research, 1616 Guadalupe Street
  Austin, TX  United States  78701-1255

  Southwest Region University Transportation Center

  Texas A&M University
  3135 TAMU
  College Station, TX  United States  77843-3135

  Research and Innovative Technology Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Yu, Yao
  • Machemehl, Randy
• Publication Date: 2012-8

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 111p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Cost control; Demand; Mixed integer programming; Railroad commuter service; Real time information; Routes; Tabu search; Transit operators; Transit riders
• Uncontrolled Terms: Feeder routes
• Geographic Terms: Austin (Texas)
• Subject Areas: Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Railroads; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01454654
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: SWUTC/12/476660-00078-1, 476660-00078-1
• Contract Numbers: DTRT07-G-0006
• Files: UTC, TRIS, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Nov 27 2012 9:45AM