Joint Optimization of Speed and Holding Time Control for Bus Rapid Transit: A Multiobjective Approach

With the increased service quality standards from the demand side and competitions from the supply side, bus transit is facing great challenges. With exclusive lanes and specialized platforms, bus rapid transit (BRT) brings opportunities to comprehensively upgrade ground transportation services from dimensions of reliability, efficiency, and smoothness. To collectively minimize its punctuality deviations at stops, delays at intersections, and speed deviations compared with design speed along segments, a multiobjective goal programming model and its linearization is established to optimize speed and holding time for BRT operation trajectory. Fengpu Express line in Shanghai, China, is used as a case study to validate the performance of the proposed model. Results show that the average punctuality deviation, intersection delay, speed deviation, and passenger travel time for a single bus trip are reduced by 97.64%, 99.86%, 73.84%, and 13.22%, respectively. The average travel time of buses is shortened by 5.56%. Passenger waiting time and in-vehicle time are decreased by 29.49% and 11.21%. The performance of the joint method improves with the increase of the green ratio, the decrease of passenger boarding and alighting time, and the increase of maximum speed limits. Under the green ratio higher than present, passengers boarding and alighting time within -4 to 8 s increase of current stops, and 55 km/h and higher maximum speed limit, primary goals of on-time performance and low intersection delays could be best achieved.