CREATING BUS TIMETABLES WITH MAXIMAL SYNCHRONIZATION

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2001

Subject Area

mode - bus, mode - mass transit, operations - scheduling, place - urban, planning - methods, planning - route design, ridership - commuting

Keywords

Urban transit, Transit, Timetables, Schedules and scheduling, Public transit, Networks, Motor bus transportation, Mixed integer programming, Mass transit, Local transit, Intracity bus transportation, Intercity bus transportation, Heuristic methods, Bus transportation, Bus transit operations, Bus transit, Bus routes, Algorithms

Abstract

This paper addresses the topic of generating a timetable for a given network of buses to maximize synchronization. It attempts to maximize the number of simultaneous bus arrivals at connection nodes of the network. Transit schedulers, taking into account the satisfaction and convenience of the system's users, appreciate the merit of creating a timetable with maximal synchronization, enabling the transfer of passengers from one route to another with minimum waiting time at the transfer nodes. The problem is formulated here as a mixed integer linear programming problem, and a heusistic algorithm is developed to solve the problem in polynomial time. The efficiency of this algorithm, compared to optimal solutions, is illustrated through a series of examples.

Comments

Transportation Research Part A Home Page: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09658564

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