A Short-term Management Strategy for Improving Transit Network Efficiency

Abstract

Improving the service quality of the public transport systems has always been an interesting research area in the field of transportation planning. Public transit system expansion and enhancement has been known as a recognized way to improve congested metropolitan areas. In order to make a transit system more attractive to people, both long and short term management strategies should be considered. Fleet re-assignment to a bus network, a noticeable component of the public transit system, was the focus of this study. It was introduced as a short term management strategy to help the operators maintain service quality without confusing the users by abrupt changes in the system. The proposed algorithm, Quasi-Gradient Fleet Assignment, prioritized the bus lines based on the partial derivatives of total travel time with respect to line frequencies. The algorithm improved the total system cost by 12% just by re-assigning the frequencies of the vehicles to the bus lines in a hypothetical transit network in the city of Sioux Fall, South Dakota.