Operation of transit corridors served by two routes: Physical design, synchronization, and control strategies

Many transit network layouts require the operation of multiple routes along a common transit segment in the busiest area of the city. At some points, these routes branch out to provide spatial coverage to the city periphery. These schemes allow more efficient deployment of resources at the expense of introducing more complexity into the system operation. This study aims to determine the effect of the branched layout of a corridor, demand distribution and traffic lights on the total cost of the system as well as its service regularity. The transit corridor is operated by buses, although it can be generalized for other transit modes. An operational model to estimate the travel and waiting time of users and the performance of buses on each route segment is developed. The model considers the stochastic effect of the passenger arrivals at stops and vehicle acceleration-deceleration rates. An optimization procedure to determine the optimal headway and relative synchronization of routes, which minimizes the total cost incurred by transit agencies and users or the headway variations in the common route segment, is introduced. Furthermore, a performance evaluation of bus control strategies based on a combination of holding points and green extensions at traffic signals in the H10 cross-town corridor of Barcelona's new bus network is presented.

Automated summary

This study examines the impact of branched layouts, demand distribution, and traffic lights on the total cost and service regularity of a transit corridor, developing an operational model to estimate user travel and waiting times, as well as bus performance on each route segment.