Optimal bus reassignment considering in-vehicle overcrowding

Public transport services are often designed to meet travel demand under regular situations. However, severe weather conditions (e.g., heavy rainfall, snow, thunderstorms, etc.) can adversely impact the service operation, leading to problems such as in-vehicle overcrowding, delays, and trip cancella...

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Main Authors: Zakir H. Farahmand, Konstantinos Gkiotsalitis, Karst T. Geurs
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-11-01
Series:Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259019822400246X
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author Zakir H. Farahmand
Konstantinos Gkiotsalitis
Karst T. Geurs
author_facet Zakir H. Farahmand
Konstantinos Gkiotsalitis
Karst T. Geurs
author_sort Zakir H. Farahmand
collection DOAJ
description Public transport services are often designed to meet travel demand under regular situations. However, severe weather conditions (e.g., heavy rainfall, snow, thunderstorms, etc.) can adversely impact the service operation, leading to problems such as in-vehicle overcrowding, delays, and trip cancellations. In this study, we propose a novel approach to address in-vehicle overcrowding issues during weather disruptions. In this approach, we dynamically reassign buses from low-demand trips to lines where the expected demand exceeds the capacity threshold of the in-service buses. This way, the existing capacity is utilized more efficiently without requiring additional vehicles or drivers. Considering the shortage of bus drivers in Europe, as well as in the Netherlands, this is a more efficient solution than other alternatives such as deploying additional buses from the depot. Experiments were conducted on a bus network in Enschede in the Netherlands. The results showed that in several disrupted situations, we can reassign bus trips to overcome overcrowding issues without significant negative impacts on the operation or passengers. However, the approach entails a trade-off between passengers of a canceled trip and an overcrowded trip. Some passengers must wait for the next bus or use other means of transport as a consequence of bus reassignment.
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spelling doaj-art-d968e3ac2f1948a2b45ff27f2ec7a3c22025-08-20T01:57:58ZengElsevierTransportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives2590-19822024-11-012810126010.1016/j.trip.2024.101260Optimal bus reassignment considering in-vehicle overcrowdingZakir H. Farahmand0Konstantinos Gkiotsalitis1Karst T. Geurs2Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Technology, University of Twente, Drienerlolaan 5, 7500 AE Enschede, the Netherlands; Corresponding author.Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Iroon Polytechniou 5, 15773 Athens, GreeceDepartment of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Technology, University of Twente, Drienerlolaan 5, 7500 AE Enschede, the NetherlandsPublic transport services are often designed to meet travel demand under regular situations. However, severe weather conditions (e.g., heavy rainfall, snow, thunderstorms, etc.) can adversely impact the service operation, leading to problems such as in-vehicle overcrowding, delays, and trip cancellations. In this study, we propose a novel approach to address in-vehicle overcrowding issues during weather disruptions. In this approach, we dynamically reassign buses from low-demand trips to lines where the expected demand exceeds the capacity threshold of the in-service buses. This way, the existing capacity is utilized more efficiently without requiring additional vehicles or drivers. Considering the shortage of bus drivers in Europe, as well as in the Netherlands, this is a more efficient solution than other alternatives such as deploying additional buses from the depot. Experiments were conducted on a bus network in Enschede in the Netherlands. The results showed that in several disrupted situations, we can reassign bus trips to overcome overcrowding issues without significant negative impacts on the operation or passengers. However, the approach entails a trade-off between passengers of a canceled trip and an overcrowded trip. Some passengers must wait for the next bus or use other means of transport as a consequence of bus reassignment.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259019822400246XBus ridershipIn-vehicle overcrowdingOptimizationWeather disruptions
spellingShingle Zakir H. Farahmand
Konstantinos Gkiotsalitis
Karst T. Geurs
Optimal bus reassignment considering in-vehicle overcrowding
Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Bus ridership
In-vehicle overcrowding
Optimization
Weather disruptions
title Optimal bus reassignment considering in-vehicle overcrowding
title_full Optimal bus reassignment considering in-vehicle overcrowding
title_fullStr Optimal bus reassignment considering in-vehicle overcrowding
title_full_unstemmed Optimal bus reassignment considering in-vehicle overcrowding
title_short Optimal bus reassignment considering in-vehicle overcrowding
title_sort optimal bus reassignment considering in vehicle overcrowding
topic Bus ridership
In-vehicle overcrowding
Optimization
Weather disruptions
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259019822400246X
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