Optimizing Transit Signal Priority Implementation along an Arterial
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Date
2018
Subject Area
mode - bus, infrastructure - bus/tram lane, infrastructure - bus/tram priority, infrastructure - traffic signals, operations - frequency, land use - impacts, land use - planning
Keywords
Transit signal priority (TSP), bus lane, arterial
Abstract
Transit signal priority (TSP) is a common method of providing priority to buses at signalized intersections. The implementation of TSP can affect travel time of cars traveling in the same, opposite, and cross directions. The bus delay savings and car travel-time impacts are not expected to increase linearly when considering multiple intersections along an arterial. This paper quantifies the influence of TSP on arterials with dedicated bus lanes considering an arterial-wide approach utilizing variational theory. Existing tools were modified to quantify the change in capacity along an arterial where TSP was implemented and it was shown that this effect was negligible. In addition, the bus delay savings and cross-street capacity losses were determined. Case studies provided insights into the influence of TSP among different network homogeneities and bus frequencies. Using these tools, an optimization framework was developed to determine where to implement TSP along an arterial to maximize the marginal benefits, or minimize marginal costs. In addition, a comparison of evaluating an arterial as a sum of isolated intersections as opposed to evaluating an arterial as a whole is presented. This analysis indicates the necessity of the arterial-based method in considering TSP impacts along corridors.
Rights
Permission to publish the abstract has been given by SAGE, copyright remains with them.
Recommended Citation
Wu, K., & Guler, S.I. (2018). Optimizing Transit Signal Priority Implementation along an Arterial. Transportation Research Record. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361198118790324
