Transit Signal Priority with Connected Vehicle Technology
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Date
2014
Subject Area
mode - bus, infrastructure - bus/tram lane, infrastructure - bus/tram priority, infrastructure - traffic signals, technology - automatic vehicle monitoring, technology - intelligent transport systems, planning - service improvement
Keywords
Transit signal priority (TSP), connected vehicle technology, two-way communications, bus delay, per person delay
Abstract
Transit signal priority (TSP) has been studied as a control strategy that offers preference to transit vehicles at signalized intersections. Although TSP has been deployed in many places, several shortcomings, such as adverse effect on side streets and uncertainty about the benefit, have been identified. Therefore, a new TSP logic proposed to overcome these shortcomings takes advantage of the resources provided by connected vehicle technology, including two-way communications between buses and the traffic signal controller, accurate bus location detection and prediction, and number of passengers. The key feature of the proposed TSP logic is green time reallocation, which moves green time instead of adding extra green time. TSP is also designed to be conditional. That is, delay per person is used as the most important criterion in deciding whether TSP is to be granted. The logic developed in this research was evaluated in two ways: with analytical and microscopic simulation approaches. In each evaluation, the proposed TSP was compared with two scenarios: no TSP and conventional TSP. The analysis used bus delay and per person delay of all travelers as measures of effectiveness. The simulation-based evaluation results showed that the proposed TSP logic reduced bus delay between 9% and 84% compared with conventional TSP and between 36% and 88% compared with the no-TSP condition. The range of improvement corresponding to four volume-to-capacity ratios was tested. No significant negative effects were caused by the proposed TSP logic.
Rights
Permission to publish the abstract has been given by Transportation Research Board, Washington, copyright remains with them.
Recommended Citation
Hu, J., Park, B., & Parkany, A. (2014). Transit Signal Priority with Connected Vehicle Technology. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2418, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, D.C., 2014, pp. 20-29. DOI: 10.3141/2418-03
