Dynamic Bus Scheduling based on Real-Time Demand and Travel Time

Provision of a reliable and convenient bus service is a vital component of any successful public transportation system. One of the important steps in this direction is to develop a bus schedule that can meet prevailing demand. A simple solution is to prepare a fixed bus schedule with a constant headway. However, as passenger demand varies over time and space, a fixed schedule with a constant headway may lead to inadequate number of buses during peak periods and under-utilization of the system in off-peak periods, which may not be beneficial for the operator. In addition to this, variability in traffic conditions may lead to irregularities in adhering to the predefined schedule, making the users wait longer or miss bus. To overcome these problems, the present study proposes a Demand and Travel Time Responsive (DTR) model to maximize the benefit of the operator by preparing an optimal schedule that can adapt to the variations in passenger demands and traffic conditions in real-time, subjected to minimizing the waiting time of the passengers, capacity constraints of the buses to achieve the maximum financial benefit as well as social satisfaction. For this, the study analyses the data received from real-time tracking devices that were fitted in a selected bus route in Chennai to keep track of the vehicles, identify their locations along routes to estimate the future states, compare them with the planned service, and to evaluate alternative measures to improve the performance of the system.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AP050 Standing Committee on Bus Transit Systems.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  ,    
• Authors:
  • Kumar, B Anil
  • Prasath, G Hari
  • Vanajakshi, Lelitha Devi
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 98th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2019-1-13 to 2019-1-17
• Date: 2019

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: 5p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bus transit operations; Demand; Passenger service; Real time information; Schedules and scheduling; Travel time
• Uncontrolled Terms: Flexible routes
• Geographic Terms: Chennai (India)
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Passenger Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01697661
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 19-02853
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 1 2019 3:51PM