On the capacity of bus transit systems

Fernández, Rodrigo; Planzer, Rosemarie

doi:10.1080/01441640110106328

Cited by 70 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…To estimate the queuing delay of buses we use the bus stop simulator IRENE (Gibson et al, 1989;Fernández and Planzer, 2002). A total of 265 simulations were run encompassing all bus sizes (8-, 12-, 15-and 18-metre long buses) and bus stop with one, two and three linear berths, for a range of frequencies from 20 to 220 bus/h and dwell Boarding and alighting times per fare collection system and boarding policy are taken from Fernández et al (2008) and Tirachini (2012): …”

Section: A2 Estimation Of Queuing Delay Functionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multimodal pricing and optimal design of urban public transport: The interplay between traffic congestion and bus crowding

Tirachini

Hensher

Rose

2014

Transportation Research Part B: Methodological

157

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Citation: Tirachini, A., Hensher, D. A., Rose, J. M., 2014. Multimodal pricing and optimal design of public transport services: the interplay between traffic congestion and bus crowding. Transportation Research Part B, forthcoming. AbstractThe interplay between congestion and crowding externalities in the design of urban bus systems is identified and analysed. A multimodal social welfare maximisation model with spatially disaggregated demand is developed, in which users choose between travelling by bus, car or walking in a transport corridor. Optimisation variables are bus fare, congestion toll, bus frequency, bus size, fare collection system, bus boarding policy and the number of seats inside buses. We find that optimal bus frequency results from a trade-off between the level of congestion inside buses, i.e., passengers' crowding, and the level of congestion outside buses, i.e., the effect of frequency on slowing down both buses and cars in mixed-traffic roads. A numerical application shows that optimal frequency is quite sensitive to the assumptions on crowding costs, impact of buses on traffic congestion, and overall congestion level. If crowding matters to users, buses should have as many seats as possible, up to a minimum area that must be left free of seats. If for any other reason planners decide to have buses with fewer seats than optimal (e.g., to increase bus capacity), frequency should be increased to compensate for the discomfort imposed on public transport users. Finally, the consideration of crowding externalities (on both seating and standing) imposes a sizeable increase in the optimal bus fare, and consequently, a reduction of the optimal bus subsidy.

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Section: A2 Estimation Of Queuing Delay Functionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multimodal pricing and optimal design of urban public transport: The interplay between traffic congestion and bus crowding

Tirachini

Hensher

Rose

2014

Transportation Research Part B: Methodological

157

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“…If the frequency of a service were low, the best way to improve PST would be to deal with the boarding process (including ticketing system, use of doors, design of the entry hall of the bus, and design of the entry and exit path of the bus stop). Where frequency is high, a better course of action would be to resolve the capacity problem at the bus stop so that it could cope with the large number of buses trying to use it; for example, by means of multiple two-berth bus stops [2]. One interesting outcome is that total delay is insensitive to the actual flow of buses for much of the range.…”

Section: Operational Issues At Bus Stopsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Next, the results of a set of simulation experiments on bus stop operations conducted by Ferná ndez [2] are shown. Then, a summary of the consequences for bus operations derived from simulation experiments is presented.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Passenger–Bus–Traffic Interactions on Bus Stop Operations

Fernández

Tyler

2005

Transportation Planning and Technology

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Buses are the unrecognized champions of public transport in modern cities around the world. However, the bus system is usually bedevilled by poor design that has resulted from poor understanding of how a bus system actually works. This article examines the impacts of the interactions between buses, passengers and traffic on delays and capacity at bus stops. First, issues like the stages of bus stop operations, causes of delays, and the interaction between bus frequency and stop delays are analysed. This suggests the necessity of microscopic simulation to study stops operations. An illustration of the sort of understanding that can be achieved by means of simulation experiments regarding arrival patterns of buses and passengers, boarding times, difficulties for leaving the stop and vehicle capacity is shown. Results indicate that it is important not to underestimate the real situation found at bus stops, as designing for ideal conditions will be insufficient if the reality is different. Application of these results shows that dramatic improvements can be made to the performance of the bus system as a result of a better understanding of its operation leading to simple changes in the design of infrastructure.

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“…BusSIGSIM is a traffic microsimulator developed for studying the interactions between buses and cars in networks [23,24]. PASSION is a microsimulator of interactions between buses, passengers and traffic at bus stops [25][26][27]. And finally, MISTRANSIT is a hybrid platform that allows the representation and control of fixed route transit systems connected with PARAMICS for traffic simulation details via API.…”

Section: Microsimulation At and Around Bus Stopsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling passengers, buses and stops in traffic microsimulation: review and extensions

Cortés

Burgos

Fernández

2010

J of Advced Transportation

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SUMMARYIn the last decade, significant research efforts and technology have been dedicated to the development of microsimulation tools for a better representation of traffic systems. As a result, several commercial packages appeared and they are used nowadays in the detailed modelling of different transportation systems and operations for specific project evaluations and local designs, mostly within the urban context. After reviewing the specialized literature, we realized that most of these microsimulation tools are oriented to the movement of cars, leaving the public transportation systems as a complement, just for a realistic representation of the transportation system as a whole, but always oriented to simulate cars. In this paper, the objective is to provide guidelines on how to incorporate the necessary entities and components for a proper simulation of public transport systems in a microsimulation environment. Thus, the different approaches to simulate transit systems at a microlevel are discussed, highlighting the necessity of including stops, passengers and transit vehicles explicitly as entities within the microsimulation environment, for modelling transfer operations, control strategies, etc. Several examples are then provided to quantify the impact of such representations, for different cases and potential simulation platforms.

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On the capacity of bus transit systems

Cited by 70 publications

References 2 publications

Multimodal pricing and optimal design of urban public transport: The interplay between traffic congestion and bus crowding

Multimodal pricing and optimal design of urban public transport: The interplay between traffic congestion and bus crowding

Effect of Passenger–Bus–Traffic Interactions on Bus Stop Operations

Modelling passengers, buses and stops in traffic microsimulation: review and extensions

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