Bus Rapid Transit Line Research Articles

The Bus Rapid Transit investment problem

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems can provide a fast and reliable service to passengers at low investment costs compared to tram, metro and train systems. Therefore, they can be of great value to attract more passengers to use public transport. This paper thus focuses on the BRT investment problem: Which segments of a single bus line should be upgraded such that the number of newly attracted passengers is maximized? Motivated by the construction of a new BRT line around Copenhagen, we consider a setting in which multiple parties are responsible for the financing of different segments of the line. As each party has a limited willingness to invest, we solve a bi-objective problem to quantify the trade-off between the number of attracted passengers and the investment budget. We model different problem variants: First, we consider two potential passenger responses to upgrades on the line. Second, to prevent scattered upgrades along the line, we consider different restrictions on the number of upgraded connected components on the line. We propose an epsilon-constraint-based algorithm to enumerate the complete set of non-dominated points and investigate the complexity of this problem. Moreover, we perform extensive numerical experiments on artificial instances and a case study based on the BRT line around Copenhagen. Our results show that we can generate the full Pareto front for real-life instances and that the resulting trade-off between investment budget and attracted passengers depends both on the origin–destination demand and on the passenger response to upgrades. Moreover, we illustrate how the generated Pareto plots can assist decision makers in selecting from a set of geographical route alternatives in our case study.

If you build it, who will come? Exploring the effects of rapid transit on residential movements in Metro Vancouver

As cities across the world embrace the benefits of rapid transit technology and invest in the expansion of existing infrastructure or plan for the introduction of new lines, the differences in both benefits and externalities that bus rapid transit (BRT) and rail rapid transit (RRT) bring remain unclear. This study aimed to address that gap and understand whether there was a distinction in impacts on the residential migration of households in different income and residential tenure groups as the result of BRT and RRT projects. This was achieved by exploring the effects of both modes in the same metropolitan region—metro Vancouver. This study used three BRT and three RRT lines that were in service for all or part of the 20 years spanning 1996 through 2016 to assess the rates of in-movement of households by income in Census Tracts (CTs) within 800 meters (½-mile) of a given rapid line. Our analysis suggested that areas adjacent to the Expo-Millennium RRT Corridor saw fewer in-movers between the 2001 Census and the 2016 Census than the areas without rapid transit infrastructure, while the same was true for the CTs affected by BRT lines and that had a larger than average share of new housing while holding everything else (e.g., housing supply) constant. While we did not find evidence to state that the presence of rapid transit infrastructure disproportionately affected any one of the income groups, our analysis suggested that there were more affluent renters moving in along the RRT and BRT lines. At the same time, the share of low-income renters that moved into areas close to rapid transit lines remained relatively stable. This research added a unique perspective to the debate cities and transport agencies have been experiencing with respect to decisions around the investment into different transport technologies and contributed to the argument for the need to carefully plan and provide rapid transit infrastructure together with affordable and diverse housing options.

Does Crowding Have a More Complicated Effect on Public Transport Users with Respect to Perceived Travel Time?

The issue of crowding in public transportation has long been of concern. Numerous studies have been conducted to address this issue. It has become increasingly common to convert crowding to something more tangible, such as cost and time, in recent years. As a result of converting crowding into time, the concept of perceived travel time (PTT) has been introduced. Viewing crowding from the perspective of PTT may provide new insights into crowding and its effects. Therefore, in this study the PTT was calculated using the data obtained from both automated fare collection and automated vehicle location systems for the most heavily populated bus rapid transit (BRT) line in Tehran, the capital of Iran. A total of 429,000 PTTs were calculated, and then cluster analysis was used to determine that crowding has a significant effect on the PTT, not only for those who travel during peak hours, but also for those who travel during non-peak hours. Crowding therefore appears to have a more complex effect that persists over time. We conducted a time series analysis for some selected origin stops to test this theory. For stops intersected by other BRT lines or metro lines, the results suggest that the difference between PTT and nominal travel time for each block (stop-to-stop distance) increases over time, despite the start travel time not being chosen during peak hours for these stops. Based on the findings of our study, crowding could even affect travelers traveling during low-demand hours if viewed from the point of view of PTT. This effect is referred to as the “dynamic effect of crowding” in this paper.

An approach toward correct policy based on mass transit lines' demand analysis

When a BRT line overlaps with the metro lines, it is sometimes believed that the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line should be removed, and passengers can use the rail lines instead. The tendency to remove BRT lines is because of the BRT system's negative factors, such as street occupation, political pressures, and local businesses' protests (due to the removal of curbside parking) against the BRT. In this study, the coverage capability of BRT by metro was evaluated. In addition, an analysis of the origin–destination potential attraction was also performed. The station overlap analysis results of this study contradict the common belief that the rail system is preferable for passengers. Station overlap analysis checks if the BRT station accessibility radius is potentially compensated by metro accessibility radius overlap. In addition, an analysis of the origin–destination potential attraction is also performed. This analysis aims to assess the potential of a metro line in attracting existing demand for BRT line segments that are candidates for removal. The methodology proposed here is applied to BRT Line 800 in Mashhad, Iran. The data was obtained from Mashhad entry-only smart card transactions. While initially it was supposed that the BRT line segment parallels to Metro Line 2 is useless, the results of the station overlap analysis showed that metro stations could cover only 31% of the BRT stations. Also, the origin–destination potential attraction analysis showed that only 20% of BRT trips could be shifted to the metro line. The BRT is more consistent with sustainable transportation principles than the metro. Our research also shows that people prefer the BRT more because of its station's proximity and coverage, which underground modes cannot replace it. This contradicts the common belief that the rail system is preferable by users.

Evaluation of Bus Rapid Transit System: Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia

Al Riyadh city, the capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is experiencing significant economic and population growth, it is also a major metropolitan area in Saudi Arabia and in the Gulf regions. This has led to a high level of car ownership and use of vehicles, and this has led to the construction of a series of slow-moving roads and roads around the city. Traffic congestion is a major problem, where road behavior has an economic and psychological impact on people. The Riyadh Bus stations and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) System Project is an integral part of the current Riyadh metropolitan area including the new Riyadh Metro. The main objective of this paper’s is to study the “Bus Rapid Transit” network in the city of Al Riyadh and to assess the functioning of this network using geographic information systems and the theory of graphs. A centralized geodatabase has been built for BRT lines and stations. A geometric network was conducted for BRT routes to facilitate moving from any location to another within Riyadh city. The assessment and evaluation of BRT routes focused on routes and station distribution regarding Riyadh city and how BRT solved population needs in Riyadh city. Using the powerful GIS network analysis functions, a navigation system was developed to assist passengers in planning their trips from one station to another giving detailed information about route directions and different BRT lines used. The study reinforces the value of good design techniques for accessible public transportation systems. The utilization of accessible vehicles, such as low-floor buses, is needed but lacking for such an accessible system, planners and operators should be aware.

A Bus Rapid Transit Line Case Study: Istanbul’s Metrobüs System

Implementation of Metrobüs, the first bus rapid transit (BRT) line in Istanbul, Turkey, started in 2007. Since then, the line has been extended several times. After opening of the fourth phase in 2012, the BRT line will extend for 51.3 km. Currently, Metrobüs carries around 600,000 passengers per day. It is the only intercontinental BRT system in the world. This paper describes Istanbul’s Metrobüs system features and usage and its reported benefits and costs. It also gives the reasons that underlie the positive public reception and the rapid ridership increase.

A new binary genetic programming approach to design public transportation systems according to transit-oriented development criteria

This study introduces a new evolutionary approach called binary genetic programming (BGP) to design and assess public transportation systems from a sustainable development perspective. The BGP combines evolutionary system identification techniques with k-fold cross-validation to obtain an accurate model between the land use and transportation parameters from a sustainable urban development point of view. To assess the new model, two public transportation systems including the new tram line of Antalya (Turkey) and the bus rapid transit line of Bhopal (India) were considered. The model was applied to classify the transportation systems into transit-oriented development (TOD) and non-TOD. The solutions generated by the new model were compared with those of classic decision tree (DT) as well as the state-of-the-art random forest (RF) models evolved as the benchmarks in this study. The results showed that the BGP is highly efficient and may provide less than 5% classification error. It is superior to the DT and RF solutions, which typically require higher datasets to avoid overfitting. Furthermore, the explicit formulation of BGP in combination with the multicriteria evaluation method increases human insight on the factors affecting the design of public transportations from a sustainable urban development point of view.

Investigating the Ridership Impact of New Light-Rail Transit and Arterial Bus Rapid Transit Lines in the Twin Cities

Cities in the United States and across the world are investing in high-capacity modes with enhanced reliability, including light-rail transit (LRT) and arterial bus rapid transit (BRT), to regain ridership. However, the impact of replacing high-frequency bus service with these modes is not well understood. This paper investigates the ridership effect of implementing LRT and arterial BRT on corridors that were already well served by local bus routes. Using data from Metro Transit in Minneapolis/Saint Paul between 2012 and 2017, overall ridership and frequency on the corridors are evaluated to distinguish between trips that were newly generated and trips that were drawn from the local bus routes running in the same corridor. Fixed-effects models are fitted to estimate how much of the new ridership can be attributed to the high-capacity modes and to the reliability improvements they provide while controlling for covariates. Results show that the Green Line LRT generated 86% more ridership and the arterial BRT A Line generated 12% more ridership than if the transit agency had relied on local bus service. These results demonstrate the potential ridership impacts of replacing and supplementing existing bus service with reliable high-capacity modes.

Conditional Transit Signal Priority Optimization at Stop-to-Stop Segments to Improve BRT On-Time Performance

Bus rapid transit (BRT) as a valid means of public transportation for overpopulated country of China is an especial mode of travel to relieve traffic congestion. Despite utilizing exclusive bus line, BRT constantly experiences delay at intersections when encountering a red signal. Transit signal priority (TSP) considered as a promising control strategy to improve the operation efficiency of BRT has been widely used at isolated intersections or arterials to reduce travel delay. However, as a transport with schedule, the unexpected arrival time of transit vehicle at stop lines of consecutive intersections inevitably affects the operation reliability of the BRT system. To solve the problem, this study develops an optimization model of conditional TSP for bus rapid transit with the objective of improving the on-time performance of the BRT system while mitigating adverse impacts on private vehicles. A stop-to-stop segment is established with both road sections and intersections for the consideration of the transit operation reliability. The constraints on the degree of saturation and queue overflow were considered for mitigating adverse impacts of TSP. A mixed-integer non-linear programming procedure is adopted to formulate the optimization model. The mathematical model is linearized and solved by the branch-and-bound method. Extensive numerical analyses are conducted, and the proposed conditional TSP strategy is compared with unconditional TSP and no-TSP control to evaluate its performance under various traffic and signal conditions. A case study of a BRT line in Shanghai, China, was selected to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed model. For the tested scenarios, the transit on-time performance was improved by 21%, with an incurred cost of 3.4% increase in the delay of private vehicles. This indicates that the proposed model performs well in maintaining the reliability of the transit system with the least impact on general traffic.

Air Quality and Active Transportation Modes: A Spatiotemporal Concurrence Analysis in Guadalajara, Mexico

The protection of pedestrians, cyclists, and public transportation passengers from environmental pollution is a global concern. This study fills the gap in the existing knowledge of temporal exposure to air pollution in Latin American metropolises. The paper proposes a methodology addressing the relationship between two objects of study, i.e., the users of active modes of transport and air quality. This new methodology assesses the spatiotemporal concurrence of both objects with statistical analysis of large open-access databases, to promote healthy and sustainable urban mobility. The application of the empirical methodology estimated the number of users of active transportation modes exposed to poor air quality episodes in the Guadalajara metropolitan area (Mexico) in 2019. The study considered two pollutants, ozone (O3) and particulate matter (PM10), and two active modes, cycling and bus rapid transit (BRT). Spatiotemporal analyses were carried out with geographic information systems, as well as with numeric computing platforms. First, big data were used to count the number of users for each mode within the area of influence of the air quality monitoring stations. Second, the number of air pollution episodes was obtained using the air quality index proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (USA) on an hourly basis. Third, the spatiotemporal concurrence between air quality episodes and active mode users was calculated. In particular, the air quality monitoring data from the Jalisco Atmospheric Monitoring System were compared to users of the public bicycle share system, known as MiBici, and of a bus rapid transit line, known as Mi Macro Calzada. The results showed that the number of cyclists and BRT passengers exposed to poor air quality episodes was considerable in absolute terms, that is, 208,660 users, while it was marginal when compared to the total number of users exposed to better air quality categories in the study area, who represented only 10%. To apply the results at the metropolitan scale, the spatial distribution of the air quality monitoring system should be improved, as well as the availability of data on pedestrians and conventional bus passengers.

Improving Resilience of Bus Bunching Holding Strategy through a Rolling Horizon Approach

Providing public transportation with quality service is critical to attracting more passengers to the system. However, high-demand routes are prone to the so-called bus bunching—a tendency of buses to group as a consequence of variations in travel times and demands. Bus holding is applied to overcome this effect. In this study, we present a novel method for bus holding in which the control law is based only on the buses’ position using a computationally efficient rolling horizon approach. The method uses similar inputs as linear control approaches while not increasing significantly the computational time. On the other hand, the method overcomes a key weakness of the linear control approach thanks to the explicit constraint handling that always ensures the control action effectiveness. Simulation experiments in a validation case and a model-specific for a bus rapid transit line in Curitiba, Brazil, showed a reduced holding time and improved resilience, delivering more than 20% reduction in delay time accounting for the on-board and station delays.

Sustainability in the evaluation of bus rapid transportation projects considering both managers and passengers perspectives: A triple-level efficiency evaluation approach

The significant positive and negatives effects of transportation systems (TSs) on the sustainability of cities and human life draw much attention from both researchers and managers. Constructing bus rapid transit (BRT) networks, or adding new lines to the existing ones, is one of the cheapest and easiest solutions to improve the performance of the urban transportation network (UTN). Often, large number of candidate projects (BRT lines) renders the execution of all these projects impossible due to technical and financial limitations. Hence, evaluating the candidate projects and developing the best plan for constructing a BRT network is an important issue requiring a complex decision-making process. In this study, a multi-period triple-level sustainable BRT network design model has been proposed using data envelopment analysis, game theory, Malmquist Index (MI) and considering all sustainability dimensions including environment, economic and society. Both managers’ and passengers’ perspectives have been considered in the modeling. A procedure based on a genetic algorithm (GA) has been developed to solve the presented triple-level model. Finally, the model has been applied to a real-world case study of evaluating and selecting the BRT projects in the city of Isfahan, and the results have been analyzed.

A Planning Method for Partially Grid-Connected Bus Rapid Transit Systems Operating with In-Motion Charging Batteries

This paper presents an electrical infrastructure planning method for transit systems that operate with partially grid-connected vehicles incorporating on-board batteries. First, the state-of-the-art of electric transit systems that combine grid-connected and battery-based operation is briefly described. Second, the benefits of combining a grid connection and battery supply in Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems are introduced. Finally, the planning method is explained and tested in a BRT route in Medellin, Colombia, using computational simulations in combination with real operational data from electric buses that are currently operating in this transit line. Unlike other methods and approaches for Battery Electric Bus (BEB) infrastructure planning, the proposed technique is system-focused, rather than solely limited to the vehicles. The objective of the technique, from the vehicle’s side, is to assist the planner in the correct sizing of batteries and power train capacity, whereas from the system side the goal is to locate and size the route sections to be electrified. These decision variables are calculated with the objective of minimizing the installed battery and achieve minimum Medium Voltage (MV) network requirements, while meeting all technical and reliability conditions. The method proved to be useful to find a minimum feasible cost solution for partially electrifying a BRT line with In-motion Charging (IMC) technology.

Does improving stop amenities help increase Bus Rapid Transit ridership? Findings based on a quasi-experiment

Amenities at bus stops are thought to affect transit ridership, yet this relationship is rarely quantified. We assembled data on ridership and stop amenities, including Real-Time Information System (RTIS), shelters, lighting, litter receptacles, benches, and bike hoops, at 96 stops along two new Bus Rapid Transit lines in King County, Washington, between Fall 2012 and Fall 2014. We applied the Conditional Inference Tree method to identify combinations of amenity changes that characterized amenity installation patterns and examined the associations between changes in amenities and changes in ridership at stop-level. Compared to stops with the fewest changes, stops had a higher likelihood of increases in boardings if their combination of amenity changes included new RTIS, shelters, and bike hoops. There were no significant relationships between amenity changes and alightings. Stop amenities are positively associated with higher transit ridership, however, some amenities are more impactful than others.

Critical Station Practical Capacity on a Bus Rapid Transit Line with Nonstopping Buses

Bus rapid transit (BRT) can offer transit mobility to meet growing travel demands by cost-effectively providing high capacity and quality of service. It is adaptable to a wide range of operating conditions and technological advancements. Stations are elements that typically control BRT line capacity, so it is essential to understand the operation of any potentially critical station to understand and manage the facility. The Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual (TCQSM) provides the standard methodology for capacity estimation. However, that model does not account for important operational aspects including the stochastic nature of many parameters beyond dwell time, along with nonstopping buses’ capacity, the degrees of saturation of the stopping and nonstopping bus streams, and the upstream average waiting time and queue length of stopping buses. We adapted the theory developed by Hisham et al. for an onstreet bus stop, to reflect the operational conditions of a BRT station and to account for these aspects. This new reliability-based capacity model tailored to BRT facilities provided superior insight into station bus capacity and quality of service to the TCQSM model.

Activity Participation and Perceptions on Informal Public Transport and Bus Rapid Transit in Dar es Salaam

This paper seeks to understand participation in out-of-home activities by inhabitants in Dar es Salaam, and their perceptions toward informal public transport (IPT) and bus rapid transit (BRT) in supporting these activities. Without fixed schedules, IPT (e.g., minibuses, motorcycles, and tricycles) is used as a means of transport for different trips. However, IPT is burdened by poor roads, traffic congestion, and high transport demand. Many developing cities are seeking to replace IPT with formal BRT lines. However, little is known in relation to the ability of IPT and BRT to support out-of-home activity participation of the inhabitants. This paper reports on a study in Dar es Salaam exploring the relative contribution of each type of service. The study took place before the opening of BRT, and encompasses focus group discussions, participatory geographical information systems, and questionnaires carried out in two study zones: one close to a BRT corridor and the other in a peri-urban location. The findings show that IPT was used to support participation in daily activities like work, education, shopping, and social matters; and was perceived to be flexible in providing access to both high and low density unplanned settlements. The BRT was viewed to benefit specific groups of people, especially individuals working in permanent offices in and around the city center, particularly professional workers. This paper sheds light on how the two systems were perceived by the local people and can inform policy makers about possible improvements in public transport systems to support activity participation of their inhabitants.

Improving schedule adherence based on dynamic signal control and speed guidance in connected bus system

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a dynamic control method to improve bus schedule adherence under connected bus system. Design/methodology/approach The authors developed a dynamic programming model that optimally schedules the bus operating speed at road sections and multiple signal timing plans at intersections to improve bus schedule adherence. First, the bus route was partitioned into three types of sections: stop, road and intersection. Then, transit agencies can control buses in real time based on all collected information; i.e. control bus operating speed on road sections and adjust the signal timing plans through signal controllers to improve the schedule adherence in connected bus environment. Finally, bus punctuality at the downstream stop and the saturation degree deviations of intersections were selected as the evaluation criteria in optimizing signal control plans and bus speeds jointly. Findings An illustrative case study by using a bus rapid transit line in Jinan city was performed to verify the proposed model. It revealed that based on the proposed strategy, the objective value could be reduced by 73.7%, which indicated that the punctuality was highly improved but not to incur excessive congestion for other vehicular traffic. Originality/value In this paper, the authors applied speed guidance and the adjustment of the signal control plans for multiple cycles in advance to improve the scheduled stability; furthermore, the proposed control strategy can reduce the effect on private traffics to the utmost extend.

Modelling Behaviour of Shuttle Service Users and Preference towards a Proposed Bus Rapid Transit Line

This paper analyses the behaviour of university students in their mode selection and their preference towards a proposed bus rapid transit (BRT) line in Karachi, Pakistan. This BRT line, known as Red Line, has a major portion of its route along the University Road. Most of the major higher education institutions of Karachi are located along University Road. A preference survey was conducted from the students to determine individual preferences towards attributes of existing travel modes and the proposed BRT line. The respondents were classified into three categories which included users of private vehicles, public transport, and university shuttle service. The existing literature lacks in behaviour modelling of shuttle service users. This research models the behaviour of shuttle users and compares their behaviour with the commuters of other transport modes. The influencing factors examined in this research included one-way travel time, travel fare, and level of comfort during the travel. The utility model developed in this research shows that students who use private vehicles value travel time more than the other attributes. On the contrary, the commuters of the shuttle service are more sensitive to travel fare. This research shows that the behaviour of shuttle users is significantly different than the other commuters. The multinomial logit (MNL) model was applied to estimate the number of trips expected to transfer to the proposed BRT line. Results show that the shuttle service users will be least influenced by the introduction of BRT, as the shuttle service offers subsidized fares with more convenience. The model developed in this paper can be used by the policymakers to make the BRT more attractive for students and the general public.

Accident Analysis of Bus Rapid Transit System: Before and after construction

Among the various transportation systems, public transportation, especially Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), has a significant role in urban transport and has the mission of transfer of passengers and reducing travel time. In addition to these advantages, the weak and non-standard design and implementation of BRT lines result in an escalation of accidents and inefficiency. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the influential factors of the severity of BRT lines accidents before and after their construction. For this purpose, the accident data of Rasht BRT line 1 over the years of 2016 (before the construction of the BRT), 2017 and 2018 (after the construction of the BRT) have been analysed. The results showed that the construction of BRT has brought about 36 and 43 per cent reduction of accidents in 2017 and 2018, respectively, in comparison with 2016, and has given rise to the emergence of new accidents, such as collision with separator fence.

Threshold Determination for Sharing Bus Rapid Transit–Exclusive Lanes with Conventional Buses

Sharing bus rapid transit (BRT) exclusive lanes with conventional buses is being considered to solve the problem of low utilization rate of BRT-exclusive lanes. However, the quantitative conditions and threshold that determine when to share need to be study. This paper took the common section of BRT and conventional bus lines as its research object. Practical investigation was conducted to analyze shared characteristics from multiple perspectives and explore influencing factors and mechanisms for sharing implementation. Based on the survey results, analytical models were established to quantify the influencing factors from three perspectives of road section, intersection, and bus stop. We selected departure volume of conventional buses as a threshold index and then summarized the constraints and the calculation process of sharing threshold. Finally, numerical examples of different scenarios were used to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the method. The operation efficiency of the road section on exclusive lanes was the constraint on the lower limit of the shared threshold, while the upper limit was constrained by queuing probability or bus operation time under different intersections and stop spacing, which can provide reference for the shared setting of exclusive bus lanes.