Speed guidance and transit signal control method for advanced public transportation system

Abstract

The implementation of speed guidance and signal priority control to reduce delays of bus transit vehicles at signalized intersections is of practical and theoretical significance. In this paper, we propose a speed guidance and signal priority control method for bus transit at single intersections. Based on traffic signal priority theory and dynamic speed guidance theory, a single bus strategy of signal priority and guidance is developed and modeled to enhance bus punctuality and maximize the average passenger revenue of bus transit and other road users. The bus state can be estimated by the bus state determination model. If a bus will be late, the bus speed guidance model works. Due to the maximum velocity and red time, the speed guidance may lose efficiency, which means that the signal priority model should be used to optimize the signal timing. Finally, a numerical simulation of a representative signalized intersection was conducted in VISSIM. The results indicate that compared with the existing signal control method, the proposed method reduces the average passenger delay by 11.67% to 23.88%. The proposed approach is highly promising and can be applied to improve the efficiency and safety of bus transit at signalized intersections.