Modal split and commuting patterns on a bottleneck-constrained highway with peak-only bus lane

ABSTRACT

In this paper, commuters’ travel mode and departure time choice behaviors on a bottleneck-constrained highway with a peak-only bus lane (PBL) are investigated. The PBL occupies part of the capacity of the bottleneck when it is open. The capacity of the bottleneck for both auto and bus modes is time-varying. As the total number of commuters grows, we consider three regimes with different equilibrium commuting patterns – low, medium and high travel demand. The analytical results for the arrival rates of the two modes are presented and the numerical results are consistent with the analytical results. When the PBL is instituted, the number of bus mode commuters increases and total travel cost decreases with other parameters remaining fixed. The optimal capacity and opening period for the peak-only bus lane and the optimal bus dispatch frequency are discussed in detail.

KEYWORD:

• Bottleneck model
• peak-only bus lane
• time-varying capacity
• modal split
• commuting
• simulation

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2018YFB1600900), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants No. 71621001, 71631002, 71771021), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2019JBM035).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2018YFB1600900), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants No. 71621001, 71771021, 71931002), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2019JBM035).