A simultaneous bus route design and frequency setting problem for Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong

Abstract

A bus network design problem for Tin Shui Wai, a suburban residential area in Hong Kong, is investigated, which considers the bus services from origins inside this suburban area to the destinations in the urban areas. The problem aims to improve the existing bus services by reducing the number of transfers and the total travel time of the users. This has been achieved by the proposed integrated solution method which can solve the route design and frequency setting problems simultaneously. In the proposed solution method, a genetic algorithm, which tackles the route design problem, is hybridized with a neighborhood search heuristic, which tackles the frequency setting problem. A new solution representation scheme and specific genetic operators are developed so that the genetic algorithm can search all possible route structures, rather than selecting routes from the predefined set. To avoid premature convergence, a diversity control mechanism is incorporated in the solution method based on a new definition of hamming distance. To illustrate the robustness and quality of solutions obtained, computational experiments are performed based on 1000 perturbed demand matrices. The t-test results show that the design obtained by the proposed solution method is robust under demand uncertainty, and the design is better than both the current design and the design obtained by solving the route design problem and the frequency setting problem sequentially. Compared with the current bus network design, the proposed method can generate a design which can simultaneously reduce the number of transfers and total travel time at least by 20.9% and 22.7% respectively. Numerical studies are also performed to illustrate the effectiveness of the diversity control mechanism introduced and the effect of weights for objective functions.

Circle Line Optimization of Shuttle Bus in Central Business District without Transit Hub

“…The proposed model takes into account congestion on the public transport system. Szeto and Wu [30] aimed to improve the existing bus services by reducing the number of transfers and users' total travel time. Ruisanchez and Ibeas [31] presented a bi-level optimization model to assign optimal bus sizes and frequencies to public transport routes.…”

Optimization of Trip-end Networks and Ride Price for Express Coach Systems in the High-speed Rail Era

“…Equation 18 represents the EC ticket price from departure stop i to the destination city. It is influenced by two factors: distance and passenger flow.…”

“…Szeto and Wu [18] proposed an integrated solution method that combines a genetic algorithm and neighborhood search heuristic to tackle bus network design problem, including route design and frequency setting. Numerical study shows that the number of transfers and the total travel time of the users were reduced by 20.9% and 20.9%, respectively.…”

Unary NP-Complete (NP-Hard)

“…The design of transit routes and the scheduled frequency of trains or buses (e.g., headway) are the key management decisions that influence passenger experiences (Szeto and Wu 2011). Probabilistic models such as simulation in general and queueing models in particular have been developed to estimate passenger waiting times for both rail and bus services under a variety of operational strategies.…”