Development of a dynamic traffic microsimulator for on-demand transit operations within an integrated modelling system

This study develops an intelligent dynamic agent-based microsimulation (iDAMS) module for on-demand transit (ODT) operations within an integrated transport, land-use and energy (iTLE) model. A real-time optimization component within the iDAMS is formulated by the utilization of travelling salesman problem and simulated annealing metaheuristics that perform dynamic passenger-vehicle assignment. It simulates ODT operations for meeting the 24-hour auto-trip demand of Halifax, Canada, to compare the performance of the proposed system with personal cars (PCs). The optimization objectives are to determine the optimal fleet size and seat capacity that satisfies maximum trip requests while minimizing waiting time, travel time and vehicle kilometres travelled (VKT). Simulation results indicate that the ODT system can deliver service similar to PCs in Halifax while decreasing cost and emissions (13% reduction in VKT). The tools developed in this research will provide transit planners ability to conduct ODT scenario simulation and test system performance in real time.