Title: Evaluation of the Traffic Control System of Open Bus Rapid Transit Corridors: An Application to the City of Guangzhou
Abstract: Public transport systems play a crucial role on cities, especially in large and dense urban areas. Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is one of public transport services that are under a rapid development, due to its reduced investment cost compared with Light Rail Transport (LRT) and high transport capacity and performance. As this system can operate on dedicated infrastructure, or in shared corridors with dedicated lanes, traffic control system play a very relevant role on the resultant performance of the system. This dissertation aims to evaluate the traffic control system of an open BRT system, measuring the influence of general traffic on the performance of the system, but also the modeling of some disturbance processes to the overall system operation, as punctual reductions of the system capacity. This analysis was based on the very successful case study of Guangzhou Bus Rapid Transit (GBRT). The part of GBRT network selected for this study has approximately 5km of length and 7km of width, including BRT stations inside the dedicated corridor, but also in areas where the BRT lanes share their operation with other traffic. The modeling of the current problem was developed through the creation of plausible synthetic data of the case study, based on a calibrated road network, using data available from traffic speed and flow during the afternoon peak period. The problem was then modeled using traffic simulation software, inputting information about the general traffic of the study area, as well as the BRT services with the respective expected headways. With this model, four different scenarios were computed: the system without disturbances, with disturbances, with disturbances controlled and preemption BRT buses introduced. The assessment of the performance of the system considered all the perspectives of the different agents of the system: the BRT corridor manager, the BRT line operator, the BRT user and the overall traffic. For that purpose, several different indicators were developed to assess the performance of the system in the different scenarios of disturbance of the system and control. The results obtained show the significant added value of the performance of the system, especially for the BRT line operator, of introducing advance control systems to avoid disturbances to the system, and the pre-emption on traffic lights, not only inside the BRT corridor, but also in all the areas with no dedicated lanes for the bus operation. The developed model may allow also identifying in which traffic conditions an open BRT system may perform efficiently, producing high levels of service for the operators and the clients.
Publication Year: 2011
Publication Date: 2011-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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