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A bottom-up clustering approach to identify bus driving patterns and to develop bus driving cycles for Hong Kong

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Abstract

Bus transport has been an important mode taking up a significant share of urban travel demand and thus the corresponding impacts on the environment are of great concerns. Use of driving cycles to evaluate the environmental impacts of buses has attracted much attention in recent years worldwide. The franchised bus service is currently playing important roles in the public transport system in Hong Kong; however, there is no driving cycle developed specifically for them. A set of bus driving cycle was therefore developed using a bottom-up approach where driving data on the bus network with mixed characteristics were collected. Using the Ward’s method for clustering, the collected data were then categorized into three clusters representing distinct franchised bus route patterns in Hong Kong. Driving cycles were then developed for each route pattern including (i) congested urban routes with closely spaced bus stops and traffic junctions; (ii) inter-district routes containing a number of stop-and-go activities and a significant portion of smoother high speed driving; and (iii) early morning express routes and mid-night routes connecting remote residential areas and urban areas. These cycles highlighted the unique low-speed and aggressive driving characteristics of bus transport in Hong Kong with frequent stop-and-go activities. The findings from this study would definitely be helpful in assessing the exhaust emissions, fuel consumptions as well as energy consumptions of bus transport. The bottom-up clustering approach adopted in this study would also be useful in identifying specific driving patterns based on vehicle speed trip data with mixed driving characteristics. It is believed that this approach is especially suitable for assessing fixed route public transport modes with mixed driving characteristics.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during the current study are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The work described in this paper was fully supported by a grant from the College of Professional and Continuing Education, an affiliate of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Funding

The work described in this paper was fully supported by a grant from the College of Professional and Continuing Education, an affiliate of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Professional and Continuing Education, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 8 Hung Lok Road, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Hing Yan Tong & Ka Wai Ng

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  1. Hing Yan Tong
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  2. Ka Wai Ng
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Contributions

TONG Hing yan was responsible for the conceptualization, methodology, data collection and analysis, further investigation as well as writing, reviewing and final editing of the manuscript. NG Ka wai performed data analysis as well as writing, reviewing and editing of the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Hing Yan Tong.

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Tong, H.Y., Ng, K.W. A bottom-up clustering approach to identify bus driving patterns and to develop bus driving cycles for Hong Kong. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 14343–14357 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11554-w

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