Conventional Bus Services Research Articles

A seamless bus network without external transfers using autonomous modular vehicles

Recently, autonomous modular vehicles (AMVs) capable of enabling in-motion transfer (IMT), i.e. passengers moving between vehicles while the vehicles are traveling, have been developed. IMT allows new paradigms for public transport operations that can enhance the speed, flexibility, and reliability of the system. We leverage IMT technology to propose the first network-wide seamless, stop-less bus service concept. We recently introduced the concept of a Stop-Less Autonomous Modular (SLAM) bus service, which eliminates the need for passengers to stop at each bus stop while traveling along a bus line. The current work extends this paradigm to the network level by developing a bus service framework in which multiple SLAM bus lines operating on main arterials interact by exchanging pods among each other to provide passengers with a travel experience that not only eliminates most extra passenger stops within a single line, but also eliminates external transfers, i.e. it removes the need to disembark at a bus stop to change buses when transferring from one bus line to another. The result is a high-speed service that provides a completely seamless journey from the passenger’s origin stop to destination stop anywhere in the coverage area, with integrated (i.e. internal) transfers that take place inside the vehicles themselves while they are in-motion. Our results show that while the proposed service has more stringent operating requirements than a comparable conventional bus service, it provides significantly superior performance, reducing passengers’ travel cost by up to 35% under realistic system settings.

Differential Pricing Strategies for Airport Shuttles: A Study of Shanghai Based on Customized Bus Ticketing Data

Airport shuttle buses, as a specialized form of bus service, serve as an economical, efficient, and sustainable transportation option for air travelers. In contrast to conventional bus services, airport shuttle bus operations exhibit more pronounced market-oriented characteristics, striving to balance extensive public transport coverage with the optimization of corporate profitability. Although these services outperform regular bus transit in terms of efficiency, they incur higher operational costs. However, existing studies on enhancing profitability and optimizing resource allocation for airport shuttle buses are inadequate. This study proposes a differential pricing strategy based on historical ticketing data. Initially, we analyze the characteristics of orders, users, and reservations within the context of customized bus operations. Leveraging the differences among various groups, we employ clustering techniques to classify seat grades and segment users. Based on the clustering outcomes, we determine distinct price elasticity values for each segment. As the strategies are developed based on seat grades, booking time, and user travel patterns, the numerical experiments indicate that the proposed differentiated pricing strategy can increase the revenue of customized public transport services by at least 41%. This strategy not only enhances the efficiency of resource allocation and service accessibility but also makes the service more financially sustainable.

Research on the improvement of conventional public transportation in the context of population aging

With the aggravation of the trend of population aging, the conventional bus planning and service in Lhasa city need to be adjusted continuously to meet the needs of the elderly, so that they can enjoy convenient transportation services to better integrate into the city life, so the conventional bus improvement in the context of aging is a relevant study. According to the research characteristics of this paper, Lhasa Chengguan District is selected as the research area, and the current situation of regular bus development in the region is briefly analyzed, and based on the Gaode Map API to obtain the station and road network data, the spatial barrier model is used to assess the accessibility of regular buses, and then ArcGIS is used to visualize the data. Finally, the conventional bus improvement strategy adapted to the aging society is proposed from the three aspects of bus stops and road network, bus facilities for aging, and bus service quality, so as to provide the elderly with more convenient, comfortable, and barrier-free bus services, thus realizing the sustainable development of Lhasa City.

Semi-autonomous bus platooning service optimization with surrogate modeling

Autonomous driving holds great promise for easing the driver shortage issue that has occurred in many countries. In this paper, we consider a semi-autonomous transit system where (1) individual buses could form platoons to increase bus capacity during peak hours and operate separately during off-peak hours; and (2) buses may drive autonomously in certain geofenced areas yet need to be guided by human drivers elsewhere (e.g., SAE level 4, semi-autonomous). We model buses driving autonomously within the geofenced area as short-turn bus service, and jointly optimize bus dispatch headway, platoon size and service type through an integer programming model to address the driver shortage issue. The proposed model considers real-world and micro-level bus operation processes for mixed traffic of short-turn and full route buses, with bus fleet and driver workforce constraints being modeled endogenously. Since the model is non-linear, we further develop a radial basis function-based surrogate framework to solve the model efficiently. Experimental results show that, compared to the conventional bus service that uses fixed bus capacity only, semi-autonomous bus platooning service reduces operation cost significantly while reducing passenger wait time. System performance variations of the proposed model under different driver availabilities are also examined.

Characteristics of Bus Rapid Transit Projects: An Overview

During the previous century the public transit industry has struggled with mode and technology issues. Bus and rail have alternated in primacy as operating conditions and financial necessity have pressured operators to seek more cost-effective means of moving passengers. Federal, state, and local financial resources have been outstripped by candidate rapid transit projects, traffic congestion is a growing problem, and travel patterns are becoming increasingly dispersed. In seeking to fill the gap between conventional bus service and rail projects of all kinds, the transit industry in cooperation with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has placed renewed emphasis on the development of alternatives that reflect a return to the transportation system management approach. Equipped with new tools for improving operating and management productivity of highway and transit networks, transportation agencies are working cooperatively to simulate exclusive rights-of-way operations in mixed-traffic environments as well as meld the line-haul efficiencies of rail with the distribution flexibility of bus. These efforts are known collectively as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), and as with any entity in its infancy, final appearances at maturity are far from certain.

A Worldwide State-of-the-Art Analysis for Bus Rapid Transit: Looking for the Success Formula

This paper’s intended contribution, in terms of providing an additional angle in the existing Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) state-of-the-art knowledge spectrum, is a dual one. On the one hand, it provides a detailed description of the mode, re-defining BRT as an overall concept by identifying, discussing, and categorizing in a systematic way its strengths and its weaknesses in comparison with rail-based solutions and conventional bus services. On the other hand, it presents in detail a number of selected scheme-oriented applications from around the world, looking into some of the basic ingredients behind BRT’s success (or failure) stories. This is a scientific effort that could inform the reader about the current status of BRT internationally and about the challenges and opportunities that exist when trying to materialize BRT’s potential as an effective urban passenger solution that could challenge the merits of more conventional mass-transit options.

The Causal Effect of Bus Rapid Transit on Changes in Transit Ridership

Numerous studies have reported ridership increases along routes when Bus rapid transit (BRT) replaces conventional bus service, but these increases could be due simply to broader temporal trends in transit ridership. To address this limitation, we compared changes in ridership among routes where BRT was implemented to routes where BRT was planned or already existed in King County, Washington. Ridership was measured at 2010, 2013, and 2014. Ridership increased by 35% along routes where BRT was implemented from 2010 to 2013 compared to routes that maintained conventional bus service. Ridership increased by 29% along routes where BRT was implemented from 2013 to 2014 compared to consistent existing BRT service. These results provide stronger evidence for a causal relationship between BRT and increased transit ridership and a more accurate estimate of the independent effect of BRT on ridership.

An Operation Plan Optimization Model for Integrated Customized and Conventional Bus Services Based on Cost Analysis

A proper public transportation system should be economically efficient to improve its sustainability and competitiveness. The superfluous provision of conventional bus services in areas with a weak or scattered travel demand distribution might result in a waste of transport capacity. This study proposes an operation plan optimization model based on the characteristics and cost composition of conventional and customized bus services, which systematically analyzes the feasibility of fully or partially replacing conventional bus services with customized bus services. A mixed-integer planning model and a hybrid genetic algorithm are used to optimize the operation plan for specific travel demands and supply capacities. Then, a sensitivity analysis of key factors is carried out to identify the optimal operation mode under different circumstances. The results show that with an optimized fleet size, service frequency, and service area, integrated operation modes can reduce operating costs without sacrificing the passenger time.

The design of a flexible bus line plan

A conventional bus service has a line plan that consists of a set of lines with fixed routes designed to operate under normal conditions. Thus, the performance of the service depends on how stable those conditions are. This paper extends the traditional concept of a line plan to provide a high-quality service, even in case of announced events. We introduce the concept of a Flexible Line Plan where some of the usual lines are replaced with alternative lines that improve the service when the conditions change. Adaptations should only be made to a subset of the lines, ensuring that the changes minimize the inconvenience for the regular passengers and, at the same time, improve the total travel time. In this study, we present a heuristic called Alternative Line Heuristic (ALH), based on Genetic Algorithms, which automatically designs these alternative lines in a three-step process. The results of this approach are tested on both benchmark and real-sized networks and clearly show how our approach contributes to improving the bus service performance.

Pricing Game between Customized Bus and Conventional Bus with Combined Operational Objectives

Social welfare and profit are two main factors to be included in the operational goal of bus services. It is assumed that conventional bus services are “welfare pro” with more consideration of social welfare, while customized bus services are “profit pro” with more consideration of profit, and the goal of each bus service is to maximize the overall payoffs, namely, the weighted sum of social welfare and profit. A bi-level pricing game is proposed to shed light on the impact of two bus services’ pricing competition on the payoffs when the operational objectives with different weights of social welfare are adopted. A case study shows that the pricing strategies of conventional bus services have a significant impact on the customized bus services. The customized bus operator should consider more “social welfare” to attract customers and to achieve the overall payoffs when the conventional bus service takes a high price strategy, and the customized bus operator can take a strategy of a high price to maintain its overall payoffs when the conventional bus operator maximizes the social welfare. It is found that there exists a trade-off by which both sides obtain the balanced overall payoffs.

Evaluation of travel speed of conventional buses and bus rapid transit service in Ahmedabad city, India using geo-informatics

• GPS data logged by transit vehicles was used to determine travel speed. • Assessed spatio-temporal variability in travel speed of conventional buses and BRTS. • Identified congestion hot spots using Getis-Ord G i * statistics. • BRTS in Ahmedabad city was found 4 km/h faster than the conventional buses. • Travel Speed of BRTS declined to 13 km/h during peak-hours in inner city. Bus Rapid Transit Service (BRTS) attempts to overcome the limitations of conventional bus service with lane separation and higher operational frequency. The policy-makers are frequently required to quantitatively evaluate the improvement in quality of transportation offered by BRTS with respect to that of conventional buses to not only expand the network in newer areas within the city, but also to implement the same in other similar cities. This paper demonstrates an approach based on the Global Positioning Systems (GPS) data logged by transit vehicles in assessing the performance of conventional buses and BRTS in Ahmedabad city, India. The link travel speed derived from GPS data provides an insight into the spatio-temporal variability in conventional buses and BRTS. The congestion hot spots indicating high and low values of travel speed in conventional buses and BRTS were identified using the hot spot analysis (Getis-Ord G i * statistics). The study shows that the BRTS network did provide higher travel speed at lower variability over conventional buses in the study area. However, BRTS provided no improvement in travel speed in the densely populated inner city regions during peak hours, offering little advantage of lane separation. The study also shows the utility of voluminous GPS data logged by transit vehicles that is otherwise lying dormant with transit operators for identifying traffic hot spots within the city.

Preferences toward Bus Alternatives in Rural Areas of the Netherlands: A Stated Choice Experiment

Public transport in rural areas is under pressure because demand is low and dispersed. To reduce costs, flexible and on-demand services are often proposed as alternatives for conventional bus services. Conventional services are generally not suitable for rural areas, because the demand is low and dispersed. In this paper, a stated preference survey is designed to identify the preferences of rural bus users for alternative services. Other than the traditional bus, two other modes are included in this study: a demand responsive transport (DRT) service and an express bus service with bike-sharing services for last mile transport. Given the on-demand nature of these alternatives, flexibility- and reliability-related attributes are included in the stated preference survey. The results from the choice model indicate that the reliability and flexibility aspects do not have a large effect on the preference for the on-demand alternatives. Instead, cost, access and egress times, and in-vehicle time play a bigger role in individuals’ preferences toward the different alternatives. A sensitivity analysis shows that changes in the operational characteristics can make the on-demand alternatives more attractive. However, many bus users still prefer the conventional bus service over the on-demand alternatives.

Exploring the frequency of public transport use among adolescents: a study in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Despite the establishment of the Trans Jogja Bus (TJB) service in 2008 as a solution for the problems with conventional bus services in numerous Indonesian cities, public transport ridership in Yogyakarta has remained somewhat stagnant. On TJB, adolescents comprise the dominant demographic group. This study investigated the factors influencing the frequency of TJB use, including sociodemographic and household characteristics, the built environment, perception of TJB performance, pro-environmental attitudes, and health behaviors among adolescents aged 13 to 15 years old. A face-to-face interview survey was conducted to collect data on 774 adolescents. This study used both an ordered logit model in which the perception variables were set as the independent variables and an ordered hybrid choice model, which incorporated the latent variables on adolescents’ perception of TJB use. The model results reveal that age, the number of adults in a household, car ownership, and the distance to school correlate with the use of TJB. We found that positive perceptions of TJB such as safety, security, comfort, and low cost substantially influence the use of TJB compared with negative perceptions such as infrequent buses, scarce bus stops, and slow meandering bus routes. With this in mind, perceived benefits such as reduced congestion, improved health, and environmental advantages have no significant influence on the frequency of TJB use. The model results emphasize the need to improve route efficiency, enhance existing performance, and promote TJB as a healthy, green, and sustainable travel mode.

A Heuristic Method for Bus Rapid Transit Planning Based on the Maximum Trip Service

Bus rapid transit (BRT) is characterized by higher speed, higher comfort level, and larger capacity than conventional bus service. Although many cities worldwide have adopted BRT in recent years, there is an absence of scientific and quantitative approach for BRT network planning. The problem of BRT planning in an existing transportation network is very complex with constraints of road geometrics, regulations, right of way, travel demand, vehicle operations, and so on. This paper focuses on developing an optimization model for BRT network planning, where an integer programing model is established to identify station locations and route layout with the objective of maximizing the number of trips served by the network, subjected to constraints including distance between stations, cost of construction, road geometrics, etc. The detour factor of the BRT route, which is an important indicator but widely ignored in previous studies, is also taken as a constraint. A heuristic method is applied to generate optimal solutions to the integer programming model, followed by a case study using the transportation network and travel demand data in Luoyang, China. The numerical results show that the method is valid and can therefore be applied to improve BRT network planning and the sustainable transportation system development.

When and why do people choose automated buses over conventional buses? Results of a context-dependent stated choice experiment

The sustainable and continuous development of public transport systems is crucial to ensuring robust and resilient transport and economic activity whilst improving the urban environment. Through technological improvement, cities can increase the competitiveness of public transport, promote equality and pursue a multi-modal shift to greener solutions. The introduction of vehicle automation technology into existing public transport systems has potential impacts on mobility behaviours and may replace conventional bus service in the future. This study examines travellers’ preferences for automated buses versus conventional buses, using a context-dependent stated choice experiment. This experiment measured the effects of context variables (such as trip purpose, travel distance, time of day, weather conditions and travel companion) on the choice of automated buses versus conventional buses. The results were analysed using mixed logit models, and the findings indicate that, in general, choice behaviours do not diverge much between the choice of automated bus and conventional bus. However, individuals’ choices are more elastic towards the changes in automated bus service levels compared to conventional bus service. The results show that poor weather conditions may lower the quality and reliability of public transport service, and the probability of choosing an automated bus over a conventional bus is reduced due to such disruptions. In addition, passengers travelling for work purposes, covering long distances, or travelling with companions are more likely to choose conventional buses than automated buses.

Bus rapid transit implementation with the inclusion of incumbent paratransit operators in African cities: lessons from Accra

ABSTRACT Bus rapid transit (BRT) is considered the cheapest and fastest to implement mass transportation system compared to rail and tram. However, the implementation of BRT becomes complicated where there are incumbent paratransit service providers. In African cities, it has become mandatory to include these operators because they are the most extensive public transport service providers, employ many people, and make governments unpopular when excluded. In Accra, the government sought to implement BRT with the inclusion of incumbent paratransit operators but could only implement a conventional bus service. This article analyses the approach adopted to examine the reasons behind the inability to execute the planned BRT and draw lessons from the Ghana experience. This article adopted informal transportation and BRT characteristics based on the African experience to analyse the incorporation of incumbent paratransit operators in Ghana. The findings show the challenges the implementing agency encountered, resulting in a shift from BRT to a conventional bus. The underlying reason for the difficulty is the depth of change required by both paratransit operators and government institutions. Given the depth of change for capital investment, capacity, and governance reforms required, the paper recommends a more gradual BRT implementation approach in African cities.

How does an open system bus rapid transit (BRT) facilitate inter and intra-modal mobility? A visual analytic analysis of Brisbane, Australia

This paper explores the multimodal mobility impact of implementing BRT as an open system with mixed services and transfers or as a closed system with separate BRT services. In large multimodal public transport networks, interchanges or transfers for passengers are inevitable. A zone-based fare system ensures there is no financial penalty for interchange thus minimising the interchange penalty. In Brisbane, South East Queensland, Australia, the zone-based fare system does not penalise transfers within the same zone but charges a full fare for an inter-zone transfer within a single journey. The open system BRT in Brisbane, Australia is used as a case study with a sensitivity analysis on transfer rates to understand how open system operation has facilitated multimodal mobility between conventional bus and BRT services. Web-based simulation maps compare a closed BRT scenario with the open BRT system in operation. The coverage and volume of passengers are significantly reduced in the closed system scenario, especially for routes inbound to the Central Business District (CBD), since far fewer passengers in suburban areas would have direct BRT services. In Brisbane's current open system, there are fewer opportunities for multimodal trips because buses travel on and off the BRT infrastructure. This analysis can help urban transport agencies to optimise their BRT operations and provide better public transport services.

An Agent-Based Simulation Approach for Evaluating the Performance of On-Demand Bus Services

On-demand multi-passenger shared transport options are increasingly being promoted as an influential strategy to reduce traffic congestion and emissions and improve the convenience and travel experience for passengers. These services, often referred to as on-demand public transport, are aimed at meeting personal travel demands through the use of shared vehicles that run on flexible routes using advanced tools for dynamic scheduling. This paper presents an agent-based traffic simulation model that was developed to evaluate the performance of on-demand public transport and compare it with existing scheduled bus services using a case study of the inner city of Melbourne in Australia. The key performance measures used in the comparative evaluation included quality of service and passenger experience in terms of waiting times, the efficiency of service and operations in terms of hourly vehicle utilization, and system efficiency in terms of trip completion rates, passenger kilometers travelled and total passenger trip times. The results showed significant benefits for passengers who use on-demand bus services compared to scheduled bus services. The on-demand bus service was found to reduce average total passenger waiting times by 89% during the Morning Peak; by 78% during the Mid-Day period; by 81% during the Afternoon Peak; and by more than 95% during other periods of the day. From an operator’s perspective, the on-demand services were found to achieve around 70% vehicle utilization rates during peak hours compared to a utilization rate not exceeding 16% for the scheduled bus services. Even during off-peak periods, the occupancies for on-demand services were almost twice the vehicle occupancies for scheduled bus services. In terms of system efficiency, the on-demand services achieved a trip completion rate of 85% compared to a trip completion rate of 67% for the scheduled bus services. The total passenger-kilometers travelled was similar for both scheduled and on-demand bus services, which refutes claims that on-demand bus services induce more kilometers of travel. The trip completion times were around 55% shorter for on-demand bus services compared to scheduled services, which represents a significant saving in travel time for users. Finally, the paper presents average emissions per completed trip for both types of services and shows a significant reduction in emissions for on-demand services compared to conventional bus services. These include, on average, a 48% reduction in CO2 emissions per trip; 82% reduction in NO emissions per trip; and 41% reduction in p.m.10 emissions per trip. These findings clearly demonstrate the superior benefits of on-demand bus services compared to scheduled bus services.

Switching service types for multi-region bus systems

ABSTRACTConventional fixed-route bus services are generally preferred to flexible-route services at high demand densities, and vice versa. This paper formulates the problem of integrating conventional and flexible services that connect a main terminal to multiple local regions over multiple time periods. The system’s vehicle size, route spacing (for conventional services), service area (for flexible services), headways and fleet sizes are jointly optimized to minimize the sum of supplier costs and user costs. The route spacing for conventional bus services and service area for flexible bus services are also optimized for each region. The proposed solution method, which uses a genetic algorithm and analytic optimization, finds good solutions quickly. Numerical examples and sensitivity analyses confirm that the single fleet variable-type bus service may outperform either the single fleet conventional bus service or the single fleet flexible bus service when demand densities vary substantially among regions and time periods.

How Can Autonomous and Connected Vehicles, Electromobility, BRT, Hyperloop, Shared Use Mobility and Mobility-As-A-Service Shape Transport Futures for the Context of Smart Cities?

A smarter transport system that caters for social, economic and environmental sustainability is arguably one of the most critical prerequisites for creating pathways to more livable urban futures. This paper aims to provide a state-of-the-art analysis of a selection of mobility initiatives that may dictate the future of urban transportation and make cities smarter. These are mechanisms either recently introduced with encouraging uptake so far and much greater potential to contribute in a shift to a better transport paradigm or still in an embryonic stage of their development and yet to be embraced as powerful mechanisms that could change travel behaviour norms. Autonomous and connected vehicles are set to revolutionise the urban landscape by allowing machines to take over driving that for over a century has been exclusively a human activity, while electrical vehicles are already helping decarbonising the transport sector. Bus rapid transit has been steadily reinventing and rebranding conventional bus services revitalising the use of the humblest form of public transport, while hyperloop is an entirely new, disruptive, and somewhat provocative, travel mode proposition based on the use of sealed tube systems through which pods could travel free of air resistance with speeds exceeding 1000 km/h. Shared use mobility mechanisms like car-sharing, ride-sharing, ride-sourcing and public bicycles can help establishing a culture for using mobility resources on an as-needed basis, while mobility-as-a-service will take this sharing culture a step further, offering tailored mobility and trip planning packages that could entirely replace the need for privately owned modes of transport.