A Study of on Route Planning for Efficient Scheduling of City Buses in Hassan City

Abstract

A Study Of On Route Planning For Efficient Scheduling Of City Buses In Hassan City

Route Planning For Efficient Scheduling Bus routing is one of the most important elements in planning the public transit system. This article presents a model for optimizing service headway and a bus route serving an area with a (many-to – one) travel pattern.

A case is presented to demonstrate the model’s ap-plication. Results show that the optimal bus route is sensitive to the distribution of demand over the service area. The developed model is particularly useful for planning a new bus service and evaluating an existing one in many cities embedded with general grid networks. This would improve analysis and allow the user to easily browse and compare different scenarios and corresponding solutions.

Commuter bus routes are generally located on the main thoroughfares of urban areas. However, given the realistic distribution of passenger travel demand over time and space, many route locations may not be cost-effective either from the operator’s user point of view. Relocating bus routes and redesigning headways may, therefore, reduce operating costs and improve accessibility for passengers.

Both transit operators and passengers prefer short and fast routes, respectively, to reduce operating costs and travel time. Passengers also prefer bus routes from their origins and destinations that can be easily accessed. To reduce Public Transportation Access impedance, tortuous routes are often built. This, in turn, is likely to increase both the in-vehicle portion of user travel time as well as the operating cost of the bus. When planning a new bus route or extending an existing service, transit operators are well aware of this trade-off

Conclusion

The network transformation procedure developed in this study facilitates grid network models to be applied to irregular grid networks. The model enables transit operators to optimize bus route and headway while improving efficient fleet management. The model’s results are easy to interpret and support effective decision-making.

Different demand and supply conditions were evaluated through sensitivity analysis by varying the optimal bus route so that it is sensitive to demand distributions as well as time value.Thus, in various conditions, the model and computer program developed can efficiently search for the optimal solution.