Combinatorial Optimization of Exclusive Bus Lanes and Bus Frequencies in Multi-Modal Transportation Network

Abstract

Bus priority strategy has widely been recognized as an effective countermeasure in the practical field of urban traffic congestion mitigation. This study proposes a bi-level programming model to comprehensively analyze the combinational optimization problem of exclusive bus lanes (EBLs) with variable bus frequencies (BFs) in multi-modal transportation networks. The objective function is to minimize the sum of the road users’ travel costs and the transit operating costs. The upper level model is an optimal decision-making program for setting up EBLs and BFs, and the lower level is a multi-modal transportation network equilibrium model. An efficient genetic algorithm is designed to solve the problem. The results of the numerical analysis show that the combinatorial optimization scheme of EBLs and BFs performs well with regard to the objective function in the model. The outperformance of combinatorial optimization scheme becomes greater with increased traffic demand, whereas oversetting of EBLs can result in reduced operating efficiency of the transportation system.