Modeling and optimization of dedicated bus lanes space allocation in large networks with dynamic congestion

Authors

Dimitrios Tsitsokas
Anastasios Kouvelas
Nikolas Geroliminis

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2021

Subject Area

mode - bus, place - urban, infrastructure - bus/tram lane, infrastructure - bus/tram priority, operations - traffic, operations - performance

Keywords

Dedicated Bus Lanes (DBL), Public transit priority, Dynamic traffic modeling, Large Neighborhood Search (LNS), Optimization

Abstract

Dedicated bus lanes provide a low cost and easily implementable strategy to improve transit service by minimizing congestion-related delays. Identifying the best spatial distribution of bus-only lanes in order to maximize traffic performance of an urban network while balancing the trade-off between bus priority and regular traffic disturbance is a challenging task. This paper studies the problem of optimal dedicated bus lane allocation and proposes a modeling framework based on a link-level dynamic traffic modeling paradigm, which is compatible with the dynamic characteristics of congestion propagation that can be correlated with bus lane relative positions. The problem is formulated as a non-linear combinatorial optimization problem with binary variables. An algorithmic scheme based on a problem-specific heuristic and Large Neighborhood Search metaheuristic, potentially combined with a network decomposition technique and a performance-based learning process for increased efficiency, is proposed for deriving good quality solutions for large-scale network instances. Numerical application results for a real city center demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed framework in finding effective bus lane network configurations; when compared to the initial network state they exhibit the potential of bus lanes to improve travel time for car and bus users.

Rights

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

Comments

Transportation Research Part C Home Page:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0968090X

Recommended Citation

Tsitsokas, D., Kouvelas, A., & Geroliminis, N. (2021). Modeling and optimization of dedicated bus lanes space allocation in large networks with dynamic congestion. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, Vol. 127, 103082.