APPLYING MULTIVARIATE GEOSTATISTICS FOR TRANSIT RIDERSHIP MODELING AT THE BUS STOP LEVEL

Sudden passenger demand at a bus stop can lead to numerous passengers gathering at the stop, which can affect bus system operation. Bus system operators often deal with this problem by adopting peer-to-peer service, where empty buses are added to the fleet and dispatched directly to the stop where passengers are gathered (PG-stop). However, with this strategy, passengers at the PG-stop have a long waiting time to board a bus. Thus, this paper proposes a novel mathematical programming model to reduce the passenger waiting time at a bus stop. A more complete stop-skipping model that including four cases for passengers’ waiting time at bus stops is proposed in this study. The stop-skipping decision and fleet size are modeled as a dynamic program to obtain the optimal strategy that minimizes the passenger waiting time, and the optimization model is solved with an improved ant colony algorithm. The proposed strategy was implemented on a bus line in Harbin, China. The results show that, during the evacuation, using the stop-skipping strategy not only reduced the total waiting time for passengers but also decreased the proportion of passengers with a long waiting time (>6 min) at the stops. Compared with the habitual and peer-to-peer service strategies, the total waiting time for passengers is reduced by 31% and 23%, respectively. Additionally, the proportion of passengers with longer waiting time dropped to 43.19% by adopting the stop-skipping strategy, compared with 72.68% with the habitual strategy and 47.5% with the peer-to-peer service strategy.

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Planning for the First and Last Mile: A Review of Practices at Selected Transit Agencies in the United States

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13042222 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 2222

Author(s):

Hossain Mohiuddin

Keyword(s):

Los Angeles ◽

Gap Analysis ◽

The United States ◽

Design Guidelines ◽

Plan Implementation ◽

Marginalized Communities ◽

Transit Ridership ◽

Last Mile ◽

Transit Agencies

A transit trip involves travel to and from transit stops or stations. The quality of what are commonly known as first and last mile connections (regardless of their length) can have an important impact on transit ridership. Transit agencies throughout the world are developing innovative approaches to improving first and last mile connections, for example, by partnering with ride-hailing and other emerging mobility services. A small but growing number of transit agencies in the U.S. have adopted first and last mile (FLM) plans with the goal of increasing ridership. As this is a relatively new practice by transit agencies, a review of these plans can inform other transit agencies and assist them in preparing their own. Four FLM plans were selected from diverse geographic contexts for review: Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro), Riverside (CA) Transit Agency (RTA), and Denver Regional Transit District (RTD), and City of Richmond, CA. Based on the literature, we developed a framework with an emphasis on transportation equity to examine these plans. We identified five common approaches to addressing the FLM issue: spatial gap analysis with a focus on socio-demographics and locational characteristics, incorporation of emerging mobility services, innovative funding approaches for plan implementation, equity and transportation remedies for marginalized communities, and development of pedestrian and bicycle infrastructures surrounding transit stations. Strategies in three of the plans are aligned with regional goals for emissions reductions. LA Metro and Riverside Transit incorporate detailed design guidelines for the improvement of transit stations. As these plans are still relatively new, it will take time to evaluate their impact on ridership and their communities’ overall transit experience.

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