Models of bus boarding and alighting dynamics

Understanding the dynamics of boarding/alighting activities and its impact on bus dwell times is crucial to improving bus service levels. However, research is limited as conventional data collection methods are both time and labour intensive. In this paper, we present the first use of smart card data to study passenger boarding/alighting behaviour and its impact on bus dwell time. Given the nature of these data, we focus on passenger activity time and do not account for the time necessary to open and close doors. We study single decker, double decker and articulated buses and identify the specific effects of floor/entrance type, number of activities and occupancy on both boarding and alighting dynamics. A linear relationship between average boarding and alighting times and their respective standard deviations is also found, whereas the variability of boarding and alighting time decreases with the number of passengers boarding and alighting. After observing the cumulative boarding/alighting processes under different occupancy conditions, we propose a new model to estimate passenger activity time, by introducing critical occupancy – a parameter incorporating the friction between boarding/alighting and on-board passengers. We conduct regression analyses with the proposed and another popular model for simultaneous boarding/alighting processes, finding that the critical occupancy plays a significant role in determining the regime of boarding and alighting processes and the overall activity time. Our results provide potential implications for practice and policy, such as identifying optimal vehicle type for a particular route and modelling transit service reliability.     

快速公交“整合式”运营模式分析——以杭州市B1线为例

为解决快速公交过多占用道路资源、影响其他车辆行驶的矛盾,缓和交通供需压力,以杭州市为例,对"整合式"运营模式进行分析.首先介绍杭州B1线实施"整合式"运营模式的背景,然后分析其实施的可行性,提出这种运营模式的优势是使B1线客流明显增长,系统设备得以充分利用.考虑到该运营模式对快速公交造成排队进站、停车时间延长、准点率下降等不利影响,建议引入的线路条数不宜太多,并提出减小影响的相关措施.     

Lessons in ownership, regulation and management from 100 years of bus transport in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka observes 100 years of bus passenger transport in 2007. During this period the country has seen different forms of service providers ranging from private sector monopolies to state sector monopolies. It also has seen several changes in state policy ranging from welfare orientated service provision to entire market determined without any regulation. The existing regulated mixed competition is also characterized by poorly equipped regulators. In conclusion, the paper traces the different stages of failure that have led to the poor quality of bus transport services existing at present.     

Reducing bunching with bus-to-bus cooperation

Schedule-based or headway-based control schemes to reduce bus bunching are not resilient because they cannot prevent buses from losing ground to the buses they follow when disruptions increase the gaps separating them beyond a critical value. (Following buses are then overwhelmed with passengers and cannot process their work quick enough to catch up.) This critical gap problem can be avoided, however, if buses at the leading end of such gaps are given information to cooperate with the ones behind by slowing down.This paper builds on this idea. It proposes an adaptive control scheme that adjusts a bus cruising speed in real-time based on both, its front and rear spacings much as if successive bus pairs were connected by springs. The scheme is shown to yield regular headways with faster bus travel than existing control methods. Its simple and decentralized logic automatically compensates for traffic disruptions and inaccurate bus driver actions. Its hardware and data requirements are minimal.     

Dynamic bus holding strategies for schedule reliability: Optimal linear control and performance analysis

As is well known, bus systems are naturally unstable. Without control, buses on a single line tend to bunch, reducing their punctuality in meeting a schedule. Although conventional schedule-based strategies that hold buses at control points can alleviate this problem these methods require too much slack, which slows buses. This delays on-board passengers and increases operating costs.It is shown that dynamic holding strategies based on headways alone cannot help buses adhere to a schedule. Therefore, a family of dynamic holding strategies that use bus arrival deviations from a virtual schedule at the control points is proposed. The virtual schedule is introduced whether the system is run with a published schedule or not. It is shown that with this approach, buses can both closely adhere to a published schedule and maintain regular headways without too much slack.A one-parameter version of the method can be optimized in closed form. This simple method is shown to be near-optimal. To put it in practice, the only data needed in real time are the arrival times of the current bus and the preceding bus at the control point relative to the virtual schedule. The simple method was found to require about 40% less slack than the conventional schedule-based method. When used only to regulate headways it outperforms headway-based methods.     

清洁发展机制在快速公交系统中的可行性分析

介绍清洁发展机制(CDM)的内涵,CDM项目的总要求及项目审批程序和过程。基于哥伦比亚波哥大快速公交系统(Trans Milenio)项目,根据清洁发展机制(CDM)的运行经验,分析我国快速公交系统(BRT)申请清洁发展机制的可行性及发展趋势,最后,对开展的相关工作提出建议。     

中国快速公交系统发展简评

过去6年中,中国有13个城市建设了长达350 km的快速公交(BRT)系统,发展速度超过了其他任何国家和地区.然而,无论是处于城市周边地区的BRT走廊,还是低需求量设计的中心地区走廊,这些BRT系统容量较小、客流需求处于中低水平.直到2010年2月广州市BRT开通后,这一情况才得以改变.从最早于1999年在昆明市实行的...     

电子风扇在海格客车上的节能应用

通过将客车原有的传统冷却系统改为带电子风扇的ATS冷却系统后,进行油耗对比试验。试验结果表明,带电子风扇的ATS冷却系统能够显著降低车辆油耗。另外。如果能将ATS采用整体式模块化设计,将大大减少其布置使用空间,有助于新的发动机排放控制技术的实施。     

基于北斗的节能型智能公交电子站牌的开发及应用

解决“市民出行难”问题一直是政府部门关注的民生问题,实现公交信息化是解决“出行难”问题的重要环节和出路.本文提出了一种基于北斗导航系统的节能型智能公交电子站牌系统结构设计方案,有利于市民选择公交作为出行方式.同时,能提升公交公司的服务水平和质量。     

城乡公交线路片区组织的实施条件研究

城乡公交线路片区组织的有效整合资源配置,能促进城乡公交服务均等化与可持续发展。论文界定了片区组织内涵,分别阐述单线片区、多线片区以及区域整合组织形式的空间定位与行车组织形式。分别讨论单线片区干线组织、支线联运、干支线联运三种形式的实施条件;针对多线片区,提出通过分析相邻城镇公交干线走向、高峰期客流、上下行客流分布的差异特征,判别实施多线片区组织的可能性。从城乡公交干支线客流差异性、客流时空特征角度,提出了以提高企业经营效益为目标的片区组织实施条件。