Investigation of Control Method for Connected-Automated Vehicle to Multiplex Dedicated Bus Lane

Wei-Jie Xiu,Li Wang,Li-Li Zhang,Qi Zhao,Meng-Yang Guo,Peter Chen

doi:10.1155/2021/2470738

Abstract

Dedicated bus lanes (DBLs) have been widely utilized to ensure public transport priority. To improve overall road efficiency, various control methods of multiplexing DBL are developed and discussed. In this study, we focus on the control method which is based on the connected-automated vehicle (CAV) technology, and the proposed method is validated by using microscopic traffic simulation. The simulation results show that two proposed control methods of multiplexing DBL can reduce the average delay and the average number of stops and increase the travel speed. In comparison, the real-time control method based on the CAV technology offers better effects than the improved signal light control method.

Highlights

Under the conditions of the shortage of urban road resources and the high cost of infrastructure construction, one or more lanes have been set up on existing urban roads with traffic signs and markings as Dedicated bus lanes (DBLs) for public buses, which has become one of the effective measures to ensure public transport priority in many big cities [1]. 89% of cities in Europe, including cities which have smaller numbers of DBL, own DBL
When other vehicles are prohibited from entering the DBL, there are still some spare road resources that could be utilized; during the period of mixed use of buses and other types of vehicles on DBL, the lack of effective control measures for other types of vehicles is easy to affect the efficiency of bus system, and the public transport priority cannot be guaranteed
Viegas first proposed the concept of intermittent bus lanes (IBLs), which determine whether a certain section of the lane becomes a DBL according to whether the bus presents or not: when the bus approaches a certain section of the lane, this lane becomes a DBL; when the bus leaves this section, the lane becomes a normal lane and is open to all types of vehicles [3, 4]

Summary

Introduction

Under the conditions of the shortage of urban road resources and the high cost of infrastructure construction, one or more lanes have been set up on existing urban roads with traffic signs and markings as DBL for public buses, which has become one of the effective measures to ensure public transport priority in many big cities [1]. 89% of cities in Europe, including cities which have smaller numbers of DBL, own DBL. A commonly used method is to restrict the time for DBL so that only buses can use them during certain periods of the day (morning and evening peak hours), and other vehicles are not allowed to enter during these periods, and during the rest of the time, the DBL is used as a general lane for all vehicles This solution does not take into account dynamic traffic demands of road resources for various types of vehicles. When other vehicles are prohibited from entering the DBL, there are still some spare road resources that could be utilized; during the period of mixed use of buses and other types of vehicles on DBL, the lack of effective control measures for other types of vehicles is easy to affect the efficiency of bus system, and the public transport priority cannot be guaranteed. Considering the need of secondary development and research conditions in this study, we select PTV Vissim and Python as the traffic simulation tools

Method 1

Method 2

Simulation Experiment Design

Constraints

Simulation Results and Analysis