Development of an Algorithm for Bus Routing and Tracking for an Educational Institution: A Case Study

Abstract

The demand for an institution bus service varies every year, and it affects the efficiency if the service remains static. This necessitates the need to develop a procedure to identify optimum bus stops and routes to incorporate the annual variation in demand. This study was aimed to develop an algorithm for the reallocation of bus stops and routes for an institutional bus service considering the annual demand variation. The algorithm developed in the study identifies the optimum bus stops and routes to cater to the demand in a Geographic Information System (GIS) platform. The students are assigned to the nearest bus stop and the optimum routes are developed by ensuring equity. The location data of buses in real time will aid the traveller to reduce their waiting time. The developed algorithm was validated and tested with field data and results provided routing with better level of service and equity. A WebGIS based user interface was also created in the study for providing the real time location details of the requested bus to the user. The open servers like GeoServer and PostgreSQL were used for the creation of layers in the user interface, and the webpage was created with Java script and PHP language.