Planning bus rapid transit line based on the maximum service population coverage

Bus rapid transit (BRT) has advantages in speed, comfort and capacity over conventional bus service and hence is chosen by more and more cities. However, the planning of BRT line is lack of a scientific approach and heavily relies on planner's experience. This paper, aiming to develop a scientific model for BRT line planning, establishes a mathematical model with the objective of maximizing the service population, which is subjected to a number of constraints such as distance between stations, expense, etc. The problem is formulated as a single-objective linear integer programming model, and is solved with exhaustive attack method by selecting the best plan out of a group of feasible solutions. In addition, the BRT line and stop settings are further assessed with the factor of non-linear coefficient. It provides planners a scientific and robust method to improve the BRT line planning. Copyright © 2016 by Science Press.