An investigation of multiplier effects generated by implementing queue jump lanes at multiple intersections

This paper investigates the combination effects of queue jump lanes (QJLs) on signalised arterials to establish if a multiplier effect exists, that is, the benefit from providing QJLs at multiple intersections is higher than the sum of benefits from providing them individually at each of those intersections. To explore the combination effects on bus delay and total person delay, a delay estimation model is developed using kinematic wave theory, kinematic equations and Monte Carlo simulation. In addition, to investigate the combination effects in offset settings optimised for bus delay or total person delay, offset optimisation models are proposed. Validation results using traffic micro‐simulation indicate the effectiveness and computational efficiency of the proposed models. Results of a modelling test bed suggest that providing QJLs at multiple intersections can create a multiplier effect on one‐directional bus delay savings with signal offsets that provide bus progression. Furthermore, optimising offsets to minimise bus delay tends to create a multiplier effect on one‐directional bus delay savings, particularly when variations in dwell times are not high. The reason for the multiplier effect may be that providing QJLs reduces variations in bus travel times, which makes signal coordination for buses perform more effectively. From a policy perspective, the existence of a multiplier effect suggests that a corridor‐wide scale implementation of QJLs has considerable merit. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simultaneous control of traffic lights and bus departure for priority operation

This article presents a bus priority method for traffic light control based on two modes of operation: immediate and controlled departure. The immediate departure mode is a standard procedure in which the intersection controller grants priority upon request of the bus. Controlled departure acts to avoid a second stop of the bus at the end of the queue formed during red by holding the bus at the bus stop, while still granting priority to the bus lane. Selection of one of the two modes is based on intersection cost that includes bus delay and the impact on the overall traffic near the intersection. The method is applied in a constant cycle scenario where green recall and green extension can only be granted within certain limits. Numerical examples illustrate the application of the approach.     

Integrated optimization of bus priority operations in connected vehicle environment

Most previous works associated with transit signal priority merely focus on the optimization of signal timings, ignoring both bus speed and dwell time at bus stops. This paper presents a novel approach to optimize the holding time at bus stops, signal timings, and bus speed to provide priority to buses at isolated intersections. The objective of the proposed model is to minimize the weighted average vehicle delays of the intersection, which includes both bus delay and impact on nearby intersection traffic, ensuring that buses clear these intersections without being stopped by a red light. A set of formulations are developed to explicitly capture the interaction between bus speed, bus holding time, and transit priority signal timings. Experimental analysis is used to show that the proposed model has minimal negative impacts on general traffic and outperforms the no priority, signal priority only, and signal priority with holding control strategies (no bus speed adjustment) in terms of reducing average bus delays and stops. A sensitivity analysis further demonstrates the potential of the proposed approach to be applied to bus priority control systems in real‐time under different traffic demands, bus stop locations, and maximum speed limits. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adaptive control algorithm to provide bus priority with a pre-signal

In urban areas, where road space is limited, it is important to provide efficient public and private transportation systems to maximize person throughput, for example from a signalized intersection. To this end, this research looks at providing bus priority using a dedicated bus lane which is terminated upstream of the intersection, and placing an additional signal at this location, called a pre-signal. Although pre-signals are already implemented in some countries (e.g. UK, Denmark, and Switzerland), an adaptive control algorithm which responds to varying traffic demands has not yet been proposed and analyzed in the literature. This research aims to fill that gap by developing an adaptive control algorithm for pre-signals tailored to real-time private and public transportation demands. The necessary infrastructure to operate an adaptive pre-signal is established, and guidelines for implementation are provided. The relevant parameters regarding the boundary conditions for the adaptive algorithm are first determined, and then quantified for a typical case using a micro-simulation model. It is demonstrated with case studies that, under all considered scenarios, implementing a pre-signal with the proposed adaptive control algorithm will result in the least average person delay at the intersection. The algorithm is expected to function well with a wide range of car demands, bus frequencies, and bus passenger occupancies. Moreover, the algorithm is robust to errors in these input values, so exact information is not required.     

Coordinated transit signal priority supporting transit progression under Connected Vehicle Technology

In this paper, a person-delay-based optimization method is proposed for an intelligent TSP logic that enables bus/signal cooperation and coordination among consecutive signals under the Connected Vehicle environment. This TSP logic, called TSPCV-C, provides a method to secure the mobility benefit generated by the intelligent TSP logic along a corridor so that the bus delay saved at an upstream intersection is not wasted at downstream intersections. The problem is formulated as a Binary Mixed Integer Linear Program (BMILP) which is solved by standard branch-and-bound method. Minimizing per person delay has been adopted as the criterion for the model. The TSPCV-C is also designed to be conditional. That is, TSP is granted only when the bus is behind schedule and the grant of TSP causes no extra total person delay.The logic developed in this research is evaluated using both analytical and microscopic traffic simulation approaches. Both analytical tests and simulation evaluations compared four scenarios: without TSP (NTSP), conventional TSP (CTSP), TSP with Connected Vehicle (TSPCV), and Coordinated TSP with Connected Vehicle (TSPCV-C). The measures of effectiveness used include bus delay and total travel time of all travelers. The performance of TSPCV-C is compared against conventional TSP (CTSP) under four congestion levels and five intersection spacing cases. The results show that the TSPCV-C greatly reduces bus delay at signalized intersection for all congestion levels and spacing cases considered. Although the TSPCV is not as efficient as TSPCV-C, it still demonstrates sizable improvement over CTSP. An analysis on the intersection spacing cases reveals that, as long as the intersections are not too closely spaced, TSPCV can produce a delay reduction up to 59%. Nevertheless, the mechanism of TSPCV-C is recommended for intersections that are spaced less than 0.5 mile away. Simulation based evaluation results show that the TSPCV-C logic reduces the bus delay between 55% and 75% compared to the conventional TSP. The range of improvement corresponding to the four different v/c ratios tested, which are 0.5, 0.7, 0.9 and 1.0, respectively. No statistically significant negative effects are observed except when the v/c ratio equals 1.0.     

Understanding the impacts of a combination of service improvement strategies on bus running time and passenger’s perception

Transit agencies implement many strategies in order to provide an attractive transportation service. This article aims to evaluate the impacts of implementing a combination of strategies, designed to improve the bus transit service, on running time and passenger satisfaction. These strategies include using smart card fare collection, introducing limited-stop bus service, implementing reserved bus lanes, using articulated buses, and implementing transit signal priority (TSP). This study uses stop-level data collected from the Société de transport de Montréal (STM)’s automatic vehicle location (AVL) and automatic passenger count (APC) systems, in Montréal, Canada. The combination of these strategies has lead to a 10.5% decline in running time along the limited stop service compared to the regular service. The regular route running time has increased by 1% on average compared to the initial time period. The study also shows that riders are generally satisfied with the service improvements. They tend to overestimate the savings associated with the implementation of this combination of strategies by 3.5-6.0 min and by 2.5-4.1 min for both the regular route and the limited stop service, respectively. This study helps transit planners and policy makers to better understand the effects of implementing a combination of strategies to improve running time and passenger’s perception of these changes in service.     

Estimating the bus user time benefits of implementing a median busway: Methodology and case study

This paper presents a general framework to estimate the bus user time benefits of a median busway including the effects on travel time and access time. Unlike previous models, we take into account the effects of geometry and the interaction with the demand structure. Models for predicting the bus in-vehicle time benefits of a median dual carriageway busway against mixed traffic condition on 2 and 3 lanes roads are estimated using data from a case study in Santiago (Chile), using a bus travel time model empirically estimated and considering different base case situations, including mixed traffic operations and bus lanes. Results of the application show that the expected in-vehicle time savings of a median busway might be reduced by access time losses due to increased walking distances and road crossing delays. Also, that net time benefits can vary significantly according to the base situation and the structure of demand considered. These findings point out to the need of including a wider set of impacts when studying the benefits of median busways, beyond in-vehicle time savings only. The empirical work presented here is completely based on passive data coming from GPS and smartcards, what makes easier and cheaper to conduct this type of analysis as well as to do it with a comprehensive scope at an early stage of the development of a BRT project. This framework can be extended to other types of dedicated bus lanes provided that a corresponding bus travel time savings model is available.     

Adaptive road border crossing system management: the role of priority programs

Land border crossings in North America, such as those between Canada and U.S.A., are expected to experience severe imbalance of travel demand and capacity of processors. During peak travel periods, this is already the case at high traffic locations. The land border crossing authorities have to address problems of congestion, national security and environmental impacts in the operation of the existing systems and to continue to address these problems as a part of infrastructure expansion plans. There is a need to adapt the crossing system management in order to accommodate efficiency and productivity‐oriented priority crossing measures. From a methodological perspective, it is a challenge to evaluate the role of priority crossing measures within the complex border crossing system. This paper reports research on modelling priority crossing initiatives. A microsimulation approach was used to model and analyse integrated processors of the Peace Bridge crossing system between Fort Erie (Ontario) and Buffalo (New York) under different scenarios of travel demand, customs processing times, priority crossing and queue jump lanes for automobile and truck traffic. Findings show the extent to which a border crossing system with priority crossing and queue jump lanes is more efficient and productive than one without these innovations. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Integrated optimization of transit priority operation at isolated intersections: A person-capacity-based approach

In this paper, a person-capacity-based optimization method for the integrated design of lane markings, exclusive bus lanes, and passive bus priority signal settings for isolated intersections is developed. Two traffic modes, passenger cars and buses, have been considered in a unified framework. Person capacity maximization has been used as an objective for the integrated optimization method. This problem has been formulated as a Binary Mixed Integer Linear Program (BMILP) that can be solved by a standard branch-and-bound routine. Variables including, allocation of lanes for different passenger car movements (e.g., left turn lanes or right turn lanes), exclusive bus lanes, and passive bus priority signal timings can be optimized simultaneously by the proposed model. A set of constraints have been set up to ensure feasibility and safety of the resulting optimal lane markings and signal settings. Numerical examples and simulation results have been provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed person-capacity-based optimization method. The results of extensive sensitivity analyses of the bus ratio, bus occupancy, and maximum degree of saturation of exclusive bus lanes have been presented to show the performance and applicable domain of the proposed model under different composition of inputs.     

Exploring suitable traffic conditions for intermittent bus lanes

As one of the most promising bus priority techniques, the innovative intermittent bus lane (IBL) strategy has drawn more attention in the past few years. In this paper, some improvements on the operation of the IBL strategy are proposed, and two cellular automaton models for a roadway section with two lanes, one with no bus priority and the other with an intermittent bus lane, are built to study the characteristics of urban traffic flow. Computer simulations and analytical models are developed to conduct quantitative research on the influence of IBL on the traffic density distribution, traffic velocity, and traffic capacity of the roadway section. By comparing the average paces in the two cases, this paper proposes a methodology to determine suitable traffic conditions for the IBL strategy implementation. The results indicate that for the designed scenarios, the IBL strategy is effective only when the traffic density is in the range of 25 to 74 pcu/km, which suggests that level of service C is the inflection point for implementing the IBL strategy. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Intermittent Bus Lane signals setting within an area

Intermittent Bus Lane (IBL) used for bus priority is a lane in which the status of a given section changes according to the presence or not of a bus in its spatial domain: when a bus is approaching such a section, the status of that lane is changed to BUS lane, and after the bus moves out of the section, it becomes a normal lane again, open to general traffic. Therefore when bus services are not so frequent, general traffic will not suffer much, and bus priority can still be obtained. This measure can be operating at a single city block, but if all related control parameters along bus lines are considered together, more time gains can be obtained. In this paper, the basic structure and operation of IBL around a single intersection are briefly introduced, then the construction of an objective function and its relationships with the related priority control parameters along one bus line and their simplifications are described. Finally the calculations of the priority control parameters when there are several connected bus lines within an area and some simulation results are discussed.     

Bicycle lane priority: Promoting bicycle as a green mode even in congested urban area

The main obstacles to boosting the bicycle as a mode of transport are safety concerns due to interactions with motorized traffic. One option is to separate cyclists from motorists through exclusive bicycle priority lanes. This practice is easily implemented in uncongested traffic. Enforcing bicycle lanes on congested roads may degenerate the network, making the idea very hard to sell both to the public and the traffic authorities. Inspired by Braess Paradox, we take an unorthodox approach to seeking latent misutilized capacity in the congested networks to be dedicated to exclusive bicycle lanes. The aim of this study is to tailor an efficient and practical method to large size urban networks. Hence, this paper appeals to policy makers in their quest to scientifically convince stakeholder that bicycle is not a secondary mode, rather, it can be greatly accommodated along with other modes even in the heart of the congested cities. In conjunction with the bicycle lane priority, other policy measures such as shared bicycle scheme, electric-bike, integration of public transport and bicycle are also discussed in this article. As for the mathematical methodology, we articulated it as a discrete bilevel mathematical programing. In order to handle the real networks, we developed a phased methodology based on Branch-and-Bound (as a solution algorithm), structured in a less intensive RAM manner. The methodology was tested on real size network of city of Winnipeg, Canada, for which the total of 30 road segments – equivalent to 2.77 km bicycle lanes – in the CBD were found.     

An analytical model to conduct a person-based evaluation of transit preferential treatments on signalized arterials

The complexities of urban transportation networks where multiple modes with different characteristics and needs travel in combination with constraints on space and funding make the sustainable management of these systems a challenge. In order to improve transit service, space (e.g., dedicated bus lanes) and time (e.g., transit signal priority strategies) Transit Preferential Treatments (TPT) are deployed to improve transit operations. The objective of this paper is to develop an analytical model that allows for a person-based evaluation of alternative TPTs when considered individually and in combination. In particular, the analytical model is developed to assess person delay and person discharge flow at any intersection that is part of a signalized arterial, where auto arrivals are in platoons. The performance of TPTs is evaluated using both the analytical model and through microsimulation tests on two intersections of San Pablo Avenue in Berkeley, CA. Space TPTs such as dedicated bus lanes and queue jumper lanes are beneficial in reducing bus person delay when provided in addition to the existing lanes; however, the effectiveness of time TPTs such as green extension depends on the level of auto demand in combination with signal settings. Changes in person discharge flow are not significant for any of the treatments tested with the exception of the bus lane substitution with and without green extension, which led to a significant decrease in person discharge flow. Increased bus frequency increases the effectiveness of transit signal priority in reducing total and bus person delay. The analytical model results produce ranking outcomes that are comparable with the microsimulation ones and therefore, the model may be used for a quantitative evaluation of TPTs without the need for data intensive and time consuming calibration efforts required for microsimulation models. The developed model can be used to guide infrastructure and investment decisions on where such TPTs should be implemented and under what conditions space TPTs should be combined with time TPTs to improve person mobility.     

Multi-modal traffic signal control with priority,signal actuation and coordination

Both coordinated-actuated signal control systems and signal priority control systems have been widely deployed for the last few decades. However, these two control systems are often conflicting with each due to different control objectives. This paper aims to address the conflicting issues between actuated-coordination and multi-modal priority control. Enabled by vehicle-to-infrastructure (v2i) communication in Connected Vehicle Systems, priority eligible vehicles, such as emergency vehicles, transit buses, commercial trucks, and pedestrians are able to send request for priority messages to a traffic signal controller when approaching a signalized intersection. It is likely that multiple vehicles and pedestrians will send requests such that there may be multiple active requests at the same time. A request-based mixed-integer linear program (MILP) is formulated that explicitly accommodate multiple priority requests from different modes of vehicles and pedestrians while simultaneously considering coordination and vehicle actuation. Signal coordination is achieved by integrating virtual coordination requests for priority in the formulation. A penalty is added to the objective function when the signal coordination is not fulfilled. This “soft” signal coordination allows the signal plan to adjust itself to serve multiple priority requests that may be from different modes. The priority-optimal signal timing is responsive to real-time actuations of non-priority demand by allowing phases to extend and gap out using traditional vehicle actuation logic. The proposed control method is compared with state-of-practice transit signal priority (TSP) both under the optimized signal timing plans using microscopic traffic simulation. The simulation experiments show that the proposed control model is able to reduce average bus delay, average pedestrian delay, and average passenger car delay, especially for highly congested condition with a high frequency of transit vehicle priority requests.     

Automated transit headway control via adaptive signal priority

This paper reports on a study that developed a next‐generation Transit Signal Priority (TSP) strategy, Adaptive TSP, that controls adaptively transit operations of high frequency routes using traffic signals, thus automating the operations control task and relieving transit agencies of this burden. The underlying algorithm is based on Reinforcement Learning (RL), an emerging Artificial Intelligence method. The developed RL agent is responsible for determining the best duration of each signal phase such that transit vehicles can recover to the scheduled headway taking into consideration practical phase length constraints. A case study was carried out by employing the microscopic traffic simulation software Paramics to simulate transit and traffic operations at one signalized intersection along the King Streetcar route in downtown Toronto. The results show that the control policy learned by the agent could effectively reduce the transit headway deviation and causes smaller disruption to cross street traffic compared with the existing unconditional transit signal priority algorithm.     

Scheduling lane conversions for bus use on city-wide scales and in time-varying congested traffic

The paper explores what can occur when select street lanes throughout a city are periodically reserved for buses. Simulations of an idealized city were performed to that end. The city’s time-varying travel demand was studied parametrically. In all cases, queues formed throughout the city during a rush, and dissipated during the off-peak period that followed. Bus lanes were activated all at once across the city, and were eventually deactivated in like fashion. Activation and deactivation schedules varied parametrically as well. Schedules that roughly balanced the trip-time savings to bus riders against the added delays to car travelers were thus identified.Findings reveal why activating conversions near the start of a rush can degrade travel, both by car and by bus. Balance was struck by instead activating lane conversions nearer the end of the rush, when vehicle accumulation in the city was at or near its maximum. Most of the time savings to bus riders accrued after the conversions had been left in place for only 30 min. Leaving them for longer durations often brought modest additional savings to bus travelers. Yet, the added delays to cars often grew large as a result.These findings held even when buses garnered high ridership shares. This was the case when lane conversions gradually induced new bus trips among residents who formerly did not travel. It was also true when high ridership was a pre-existing feature of the city. Activating conversions a bit earlier in a rush was found to make sense only if commuters shifted from cars to buses in very large numbers. Findings also unveiled how to fine-tune activation and deactivation schedules to suit a city’s congestion level. Guidelines for scheduling conversions in real settings are furnished. So is discussion on how these schedules might be adapted to daily variations in city-wide traffic states. Roles for technology are discussed as well.     

Capacity at unsignalized two-stage priority intersections

The subject of this paper is the capacity of minor-street traffic movements across major divided four-lane roadways (and other roads with two separate carriageways) at unsignalized intersections. The center of the intersection, corresponding to the width of the median, often provides room for drivers who have crossed the first half of the major road to stop before proceeding across the second major traffic stream. This situation, which is common with multilane major streets, is called two-stage priority. Here the capacity for minor-street through traffic is larger than at intersections without such a central storage space. These wider intersections provide an additional capacity that cannot be evaluated by conventional capacity calculation models. An analytical theory is presented for the estimation of capacity under two-stage priority conditions. It is based on an approach by Harders, although major improvements were necessary to match the results with realistic conditions. In addition to analytical theory, simulations were performed that enable an analysis under more realistic conditions. The result is a set of equations that compute the capacity for a minor-street through-traffic movement in the two-stage priority situation. ©     

Joint optimization of tram timetables and signal timing adjustments at intersections

This paper explores at the planning level the benefits of coordinating tram movements and signal timings at controlled intersections. Although trams may have dedicated travel lanes, they mostly operate in a mixed traffic environment at intersections. To ensure tram progression, pre-set signal timings at intersections are adjusted by activating Transit Signal Priority (TSP) actions, which inevitably add delays to the auto traffic. A mixed integer program is proposed for jointly determining tram schedules for a single tram line and modifying signal timings at major controlled intersections. The objective is to minimize the weighted sum of the total tram travel time and TSP’s negative impacts on other traffic. A real-world case study of Line 5 of the Shenyang Hunnan Modern Tramway shows that by extending the dwell time or link travel time we can significantly reduce the TSP’s negative impacts on the auto traffic while only slightly increasing tram travel times.     

Investigations of interactions between bus rapid transit and general traffic flows

Bus rapid transit (BRT) is a popular strategy to increase transit attraction because of its high‐capacity, comfortable service, and fast travel speed with the exclusive right‐of‐way. Various engineering designs of right‐of‐way and the violation enforcement influence interactions between BRT and general traffic flows. An empirical assessment framework is proposed to investigate traffic congestion and lane‐changing patterns at one typical bottleneck along a BRT corridor. The BRT bottleneck consists of bus lane, BRT station, video enforcement zone, and transit signal priority intersection. We analyze oblique cumulative vehicle counts and oblique cumulative lane‐changing maneuvers extracted from videos. The cumulative vehicle counts method widely applied in revealing queueing dynamics at freeway bottlenecks is extended to an urban BRT corridor. In the study site, we assume four lane‐changing patterns, three of which are verified by the empirical measurements. Investigations of interactions between buses and general traffic show that abnormal behaviors (such as lane violations and slow moving of the general traffic) induce 16% reduction in the saturation rate of general traffic and 17% increase in bus travel time. Further observations show that the BRT station and its induced increasing lane‐changing maneuvers increase the downstream queue discharge flows of general traffic. The empirical results also contribute to more efficient strategies of BRT planning and operations, such as alternative enforcement methods, various lane separation types, and optimized traffic operations. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.