OPTIMAL DESIGN OF TRANSIT SHORT-TURN TRIPS

A set of procedures is presented for efficiently designing transit timetables with trips that are initiated beyond the route departure point, or terminated before the route arrival point, or both ("short-turn trips"). In practice, transit frequency is determined at the route segment with heaviest load, whereas at other segments the operation may be inefficient because of partial loads (empty seats). Transit schedulers attempt to overcome this problem by manually constructing short-turn trips to reduce the number of vehicles required to carry out the transit timetable. The study presented herein was meant to improve and automate this task by identifying feasible short-turn points, deriving the minimum fleet size required by a given schedule, and adjusting the number of departures at each short-turn point to that required by the load data (provided that the maximum headway associated with passenger wait time is minimized). Other objectives included minimizing the number of short-turn trips while ensuring that the minimum fleet size is preserved and creating vehicle schedules (blocks). A simple example is used throughout to illustrate the procedures developed.

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1989/1221/1221-002.pdf
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0309048168
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1221, Research in Bus and Rail Transit Operations. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Authors:
  • Ceder, Avishai
• Publication Date: 1989

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 8-22
• Monograph Title: Research in bus and rail transit operations
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 1221
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Arrivals and departures; Design; Fleet management; Optimization; Public transit; Scheduling; Timetables; Transit vehicle operations
• Uncontrolled Terms: Fleet size
• Old TRIS Terms: Optimum design; Short-turn trips
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00494723
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309048168
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Jun 30 1990 12:00AM