Abstract
In uncontrolled bus systems, buses tend to bunch due to the stochastic nature of traffic flows and passenger demands at bus stops. It is widely acknowledged that bus bunching affects transit operations increasing passenger waiting times and variability. However, transit systems are a part of urban transportation systems. Accordingly, buses also affect traffic flows at signalized intersections leading to additional car delays. In this paper, the impact of a linear bus stop on cars caused by one bus is analyzed by employing the shockwave theory. Further, the operating characteristics of bus bunching in terms of the dwell time at a linear stop are analyzed, in both passenger self-organization and stop-skipping control strategy scenarios. Then, the total dwell time of two bunched buses is calculated, considering different passengers on the two successive buses and the difference between boarding and alighting passengers. Finally, the proposed car delays model is simulated with the aid of computer, where numerical analysis is done to obtain the difference in car delays between two evenly spaced buses and two bunched buses. The results of the numerical analysis indicate that bunched buses lead to additional car delays compared to evenly spaced buses. In addition, numerical tests are conducted for the self-organization and stop-skipping control strategies considering imbalanced passengers on two successive buses and the difference between boarding and alighting passengers. The results show that larger differences between the numbers of passengers on the two bunched buses and lower differences between the numbers of boarding and alighting passengers lead to larger car delays.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Berrebi, S. J., Watkins, K. E., and Laval, J. A. (2015). “A real-time bus dispatching policy to minimize passenger wait on a high frequency route.” Transportation Research Part B, Vol. 81, pp. 377–389, DOI: 10.1016/j.trb.2015.05.012.
Chen, J., Liu, Z., Zhu, S., and Wang, W. (2015). “Design of limited-stop bus service with capacity constraint and stochastic travel time.” Transportation Research Part E, Vol. 83, pp. 1–15, DOI: 10.1016/j.tre.2015.08.007.
Cortés, C. E., Sáez, D., Milla, F., Riquelme, M., and Núñez, A. (2010). “Hybrid predictive control for real-time optimization of public transport systems’ operations based on evolutionary multi-objective optimization.” Transportation Research Part C, Vol. 18, No. 5, pp. 757–769, DOI: 10.1016/j.trc.2009.05.016.
Daganzo, C. F. (2009). “A headway-based approach to eliminate bus bunching: Systematic analysis and comparisons.” Transportation Research Part B, Vol. 43, No. 10, pp. 913–921, DOI: 10.1016/j.trb.2009.04.002.
Daganzo, C. F. and Pilachowski, J. (2011). “Reducing bunching with bus-to-bus cooperation.” Transportation Research Part B, Vol. 45, No. 1, pp. 267–277, DOI: 10.1016/j.trb.2010.06.005.
Fitzpatrick, K., Hall, K., Perkinson, D., and Nowlin, L. (1997). “Location and design of bus stops.” ITE Journal, Vol. 67, No. 5, pp. 36–41.
Furth, P. G. and SanClemente, J. L. (2006). “Near side, far side, uphill, downhill: Impact of bus stop location on bus delay.” Transportation Research Record 1971, pp. 66–73, DOI: 10.3141/1971-10.
Ghoneim, N. S. A. and Wirasinghe, S. C. (1980). Near-side or far-side bus stops: A transit point of view, Transportation Research Record 761, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, USA.
Gu, W., Gayah, V. V., Cassidy, M. J., and Saade, N. (2014). “On the impacts of bus stops near signalized intersections: Models of car and bus delays.” Transportation Research Part B, Vol. 68, pp. 123–140.
Gu, W., Li, Y., Cassidy, M. J., and Griswold, J. B. (2011). “On the capacity of isolated, curbside bus stops.” Transportation Research Part B, Vol. 45, No. 4, pp.714–723, DOI: 10.1016/j.trb.2011.01.001.
Hickman, M. D. (2001). “An analytic stochastic model for the transit vehicle holding problem.” Transportation Science, Vol. 35, No. 3, pp. 215–237, DOI: 10.1287/trsc.35.3.215.10150.
Holt, D. L. (2004). The effects of bus stops on the saturation flow rate of signalized intersections, MSc Thesis, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
Liang, S. (2017). Research on robust optimization method of public transport system in random environment, PhD Thesis, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, China.
Liang, S., Zhao, S., Lu, C., and Ma, M. (2016). “A self-adaptive method to equalize headways: Numerical analysis and comparison.” Transportation Research Part B, Vol. 87, pp. 33–43, DOI: 10.1016/j.trb.2016.02.008.
Moura, J. L., Alonso, B., Ibeas, and Ruisánchez, F. J. (2012). “A twostage urban bus stop location model.” Networks and Spatial Economics, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 403–420, DOI: 10.1007/s11067-011-9161-z.
Newell, G. F. (1993). “A simplified theory of kinematic waves in highway traffic, part i: General theory.” Transportation Research Part B Methodological, Vol. 27, No. 4, pp. 289–303, DOI: 10.1016/0191-2615(93)90038-c.
Sáez, D., Cortés, C., Riquelme, M., Núñez, A., Milla, F., and Tirachini, A. (2012). “Hybrid predictive control strategy for a public transport system with uncertain demand.” Transportmetrica, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 61–86, DOI: 10.1080/18128601003615535.
Sun, A. and Hickman, M. (2005). “The real-time stop-skipping problem.” Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 91–109, DOI: 10.1080/15472450590934642.
Terry, D. S. and Thomas, G. J. (1971). “Farside bus stops are better.” Traffic Engineering, Vol. 41, No. 3, pp. 21–29.
Wong, S. C., Yang, H., Au Yeung, W. S., Cheuk, S. L., and Lo, M. K. (1998). “Delay at signal-controlled intersection with bus stop upstream.” Journal of Transportation Engineering, Vol. 124, No. 3. pp. 229–234, DOI: 10.1061/(asce)0733-947x(1998)124:3(229).
Wu, W., Liu, R., and Jin, W. (2017). “Modelling bus bunching and holding control with vehicle overtaking and distributed passenger boarding behaviour.” Transportation Research Part B Methodological, Vol.104, pp. 175–197, DOI: 10.1016/j.trb.2017.06.019.
Xuan, Y., Argote, J., and Daganzo, C. F. (2011). “Dynamic bus holding strategies for schedule reliability: Optimal linear control and performance analysis.” Transportation Research Part B, Vol. 45, No. 10, pp. 1831–1845, DOI: 10.1016/j.trb.2011.07.009.
Zhao, J., Dessouky, M., and Bukkapatnam, S. (2006). “Optimal slack time for schedule-based transit operations.” Transportation Science, Vol. 40, No. 4, pp.529–539, DOI: 10.1287/trsc.1060.0170.
Zhao, X., Gao, Z., and Jia, B. (2007). “The capacity drop caused by the combined effect of the intersection and the bus stop in a CA model.” Physica A, Vol. 385, No. 2, pp. 645–658, DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2007.07.040.
Zhao, X., Gao, Z., and Li, K. (2008). “The capacity of two neighbour intersections considering the influence of the bus stop.” Physica A, Vol. 387, No. 18, pp. 4649–4656, DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2008.03.011.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Liang, S., Ma, M. Analysis of Bus Bunching Impact on Car Delays at Signalized Intersections. KSCE J Civ Eng 23, 833–843 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-018-2043-x
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-018-2043-x