Public Transit Planning and Operation in the Era of Automation, Electrification, and Personalization

Abstract

The advent of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) and Mobile Internet technologies is reshaping the public transport sector. Autonomous buses are equipped with varying advanced sensors, and hold great promises to enhancing the responsiveness and flexibility of public transit system. In the context of CAVs, transit operators can not only optimize service headway but also adjust bus capacity to meet the time-varying passenger demand. Anticipated benefits of introducing autonomous buses to the existing transit systems include safety improvement, driver cost reduction, and optimal routing. Bus electrification is another global trend to replace traditional diesel buses for energy savings. Electric buses are advantageous to both operators and passengers due to low greenhouse gas emission, maintenance cost, as well as noise pollution. In recent years, demand responsive public transport (DRPT) services (e.g. customized bus, microtransit) receive huge success thanks to the development of Mobile Internet. Unlike traditional bus services or the fixed-route transit service that relies on passive recipients, fixed stops, and schedules, DRPT can provide personalized service for specific clients through interactive information platform (Internet or smartphone). The aforementioned new types of public transit services significantly improve service quality, reduce energy consumption, and ultimately attract more ridership. To fully explore the benefits of personalized, electric and autonomous transit systems, new analytical models and data-driven methods for transit planning and operation are needed. The authors have selected 15 articles for review in this special issue. A summary of these articles is outlined below.