Dynamic Bus Scheduling Method Based on Mixed Control Strategy With Signal Timing Adjustment and Bus Holding

Abstract

Passengers traveling on urban bus rapid transit tend to arrive randomly. They are more concerned about whether the buses can arrive at stops at the scheduled time intervals. However, influenced by the dwell time at stops, the traveling speed on the road section, and the signal status of intersections, the travel time of the bus between two stops becomes unstable, which in turn changes the headway of the bus fleet. In this paper, we propose a dynamic scheduling method for a bus fleet based on a mixed control strategy, which is composed of multi-cycle signal timing adjustment and bus holding. The dynamic scheduling model is formulated with objectives of minimizing the deviation degree of headways between stops and the increased degree of average vehicle delay at intersections. Then, the genetic algorithm is applied to derive the scheduling scheme for the bus fleet between adjacent stops on a rolling basis. Finally, simulation indicates that the dynamic scheduling method can improve the stability of bus headways effectively, while not having a great impact on intersection vehicle delay.

Keywords

• Dynamic bus scheduling
• headway
• bus holding
• signal timing adjustment
• delay