Abstract
In this research, a feasible mechanism is developed to determine the optimum number of bus rapid transit (BRT) stations as well as their respective locations along the service corridor. To accomplish this, a mathematical model is developed and optimized by using three different evolutionary algorithms, namely particle swarm optimization (PSO), genetic algorithm (GA), and differential evolution (DE), and the results are compared. The total cost function is composed of two main costs namely the operator’s cost, i.e., related to costs on service provider’s end, and the user’s cost, i.e., related to costs on commuters’ end. A functional numerical example with the commuters’ demand is worked out by minimizing the cost function, which demonstrates the applicability of the framework. In our case study, PSO outclassed GA and DE on the basis of convergence rate. Since our work has proved the robustness of PSO as compared to GA and DE, we conducted our sensitivity analysis keeping PSO as our benchmark algorithm to study the influence of various parameters on the optimal cost. The computational experiments reveal that the optimal cost is substantially affected by the variations in the commuters’ demand, commuters’ walking speed, and value of the users’ access and in-vehicle time. On the contrary, the acceleration/deceleration delays at a bus station, bus operating cost, and headway have an inconsiderable impact on the optimal cost.
Highlights
The bus rapid transit (BRT) system known as Transitway or Metro is being used in different parts of the world as a public transportation system
The density and the locations of the BRT stations play a crucial part in determining the accessibility of the BRT system, whereas the accessibility factor is very important to be considered, as the efficiency and the Level of Service (LOS) of the BRT system primarily depends on the accessibility [3]
There can be no more than one bus station located between the two consecutive access points, whereas if the minimum cost is coming against the number of stations that are equal to the number of access points, i.e., e = f, all the BRT stations will be located exactly at the access points
Summary
The bus rapid transit (BRT) system known as Transitway or Metro is being used in different parts of the world as a public transportation system. In contrast to the previous study, a comprehensive sensitivity analysis is done for in-depth analysis of various independent variables used in the total cost function, the framework provides with the single optimal solution against the particular number of stations as compared to the multiple combinations presented in the previous study These advancements result in developing the new framework that is simple, efficient, and scientifically reliable in policy making. Besides presenting the models and solutions to the station spacing problem, numerous researchers studied the relationship between stations’ spacing and influencing parameters, for instance, headway and speed. Chien et al [27] studied the relationship between bus headway and the spacing of the bus station They developed the mathematical model and have taken the travel time of users as an objective function. The computational experiments, i.e., the designed numerical example and sensitivity analysis are presented, and subsequently, the conclusion is summarized in the last section of this paper
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