Operational design for modular electrified transit in corridor areas

Authors

Kaijie Zou
Ke Zhang
Meng Li

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2024

Subject Area

place - urban, mode - bus rapid transit, mode - demand responsive transit, mode - other, operations - performance, planning - methods, planning - service quality

Keywords

Urban, public transit, Modular Electrified Transit system tailored for Corridor Areas (MET-CA)

Abstract

In urban corridor areas, profound congestion creates a pressing need for public transit to deliver efficient, flexible, and sustainable “door-to-door” services. This paper introduces a modular electrified transit system tailored for urban corridor areas (MET-CA), with a primary focus on enhancing transportation efficiency and reducing electrical energy consumption. The MET-CA system comprises two core components: mainline transit, dedicated to providing rapid services along the corridor, and feeder transit, catering to individual service zones. Seamless en-route transfers are facilitated through designated docking sections along the corridor. To rigorously address the system’s optimization, we formulate it as a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) problem on a time-expanded network. Subsequently, an inter-transit iterative heuristic with a problem-customized rolling method is developed within a bi-level framework to address the large-scale complexity. Its performance is validated through extensive numerical experiments, substantially compared to exact solutions obtained from the Cplex solver, showcasing an impressive average computation time savings of 49.7% with a minimal quality decrease of 0.18%. Through a real-world case study, Pareto optimality analysis underscores MET-CA’s 24.4% average electricity savings and highlights its advantages in efficiency and flexibility over bus rapid transit and demand responsive transit in urban corridor areas.

Rights

Permission to publish the abstract has been given by Elsevier, copyright remains with them.

Comments

Transportation Research Part E Home Page:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/13665545

Recommended Citation

Zou, K., Zhang, K., & Li, M. (2024). Operational design for modular electrified transit in corridor areas. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 187, 103567.