Modeling loading area effectiveness at off-line bus stops with no clear-cut separation of berths

ABSTRACT

The loading area effectiveness is a key factor for the estimation of the bus stop capacity. The basic assumption of the existing studies is that the berths of the bus stop are divided clearly. In this paper, a new loading area effectiveness model is proposed for computing the number of effective loading areas of the off-line bus stops that have no clear-cut separation of berths. The key parameters, including the critical overtaking exiting distance gap, critical overtaking entering distance gap, and dwelling space-gap between two adjacent buses were calibrated by field data. A simulation-based approach is applied to solve the model. The proposed model was validated and the sensitivity analysis of main factors were also conducted. The results reveal that the driving behavior plays an important role. On average, 4.1% increase in the loading area effectiveness can be obtained by one meter decrease of the critical overtaking entering space-gap.

KEYWORDS:

• Loading area effectiveness
• off-line bus stops
• capacity
• berths

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 51608324].