Travel Time Reliability Analysis Considering Bus Bunching: A Case Study in Xi’an, China

Abstract

Bus bunching occurring at stops has an unstable impact on bus travel time. In order to evaluate urban bus travel time effectively, the travel time reliability (TTR) addressing bus bunching is analyzed. This paper focuses on the delayed time caused by bus bunching in the dwelling process at bus stops and uses the coefficient of variation of time headway to evaluate the degree of bus bunching. Moreover, the travel time deviation (TTD) indicator and travel time on-time accuracy (OTA) model are proposed to evaluate the bus TTR. The proposed model is used to analyze 113 runs of a bus route in Xi’an city, China. Real-time GPS data are used to analyze the operation of each run from the origin to the destination stops. The results show that 74.34% of the runs are delayed. When the value of TTD is higher than |0.1|, 64.2% of runs are delayed with bus bunching. Based on the measuring of OTA in two situations, the value of TTR considering bus bunching is reduced by 20%. In addition, the number of stopping routes at peak periods has a significant impact on the occurrence of bus bunching. The research results would have practical implications for the operation and management of buses.