Support Vector Regression for Bus Travel Time Prediction Using Wavelet Transform

Abstract

In order to accurately predict bus travel time, a hybrid model based on combining wavelet transform technique with support vector regression (WT-SVR) model is employed. In this model, wavelet decomposition is used to extract important information of data at different levels and enhances the forecasting ability of the model. After wavelet transform different components are forecasted by their corresponding SVR predictors. The final prediction result is obtained by the summation of the predicted results for each component. The proposed hybrid model is examined by the data of bus route No.550 in Nanjing, China. The performance of WT-SVR model is evaluated by mean absolute error (MAE), mean absolute percent error (MAPE) and relative mean square error (RMSE), and also compared to regular SVR and ANN models. The results show that the prediction method based on wavelet transform and SVR has better tracking ability and dynamic behavior than regular SVR and ANN models. The forecasting performance is remarkably improved to obtain within 6% MAPE for testing section Ⅰ and 8% MAPE for testing section Ⅱ, which proves that the suggested approach is feasible and applicable in bus travel time prediction.