Abstract
Prioritizing public transport is one of the most effective measure to increase the attractiveness and competitiveness of public transport in relation to individual vehicles. The main goal of this study was to examine the possibilities for reducing the travel time of tram vehicles by giving priority at signalized intersections in terms of sharing the traffic lane with personal vehicles and under conditions of strong conflict flows with private transport. For this purpose, we used the simulation tool VISSIM and its module EPICS. A methodology for determining weighting factors for prioritizing public transport flows was developed based on conflicting passenger flows in public transport vehicles and passenger cars. Three scenarios were tested in the study area: (1) “do nothing”; (2) unconditional priority; and (3) conditional priority. The results showed that unconditional priority led to unsustainable traffic conditions for personal vehicles and public transport. In contrast, conditional priority reduced the travel time of public transport on certain corridors by between 7.64% and 18.76% in the morning peak period, and 5.60% to 22.50% in the afternoon peak period.
Highlights
Traffic management in urban areas is focused on reducing the time losses of private and public transport vehicles caused by inadequate phase changing or phase duration at signalized intersections
With the exception of the cases presented in the literature, EPICS has not been used elsewhere and the results presented in this article are based on one of the largest microsimulation models, giving priority to trams, to date
A novelty is using the actual relationship between passenger flows in public transport (PT) and individual vehicles and the adjustment of signal plans at each intersection depending on that relationship
Summary
Traffic management in urban areas is focused on reducing the time losses of private and public transport vehicles caused by inadequate phase changing or phase duration at signalized intersections. The aim of this study was to examine in simulation tool the possibilities of reducing the travel time of tram vehicles by giving priority at signalized intersections under the conditions of sharing the traffic lane with personal vehicles and strong conflict flows with private transport. Direct application of PT priorities at intersections without prior simulation of different variant solutions could lead to heavy congestion, increased PT travel times and rejecting this type of traffic management. PTV EPICS was chosen as a prioritization method because it uses weight factors to allow variable prioritizations of different traffic flows and vehicle types
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