University of Twente Student Theses
Stop-skipping pattern of bus line optimizing waiting, travel and in-vehicle times
Ster, M.S. van der (2021) Stop-skipping pattern of bus line optimizing waiting, travel and in-vehicle times.
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Abstract: | This bachelor thesis is written in cooperation with Keolis Nederland and the University of Twente. It starts off with an introduction of the problem and states the research question that will be answered at the end of this report. This will be followed by a literature review, which contains similar works and preliminary research. The literature review is used to gain knowledge about the subject and gather information regarding the theory of stop-skipping. This results in the methodology for this research which is divided into two parts: First, the methodology for the data analysis will be described and second the model formulation of stop-skipping strategy. Section 6 presents the results of the data analysis, a substantiation for the bus line choice and the model results. In the conclusion the research question is answered, and a discussion is written to add all points of attention. At last, recommendations for further research are given. Public transit company Keolis Nederland experiences revenue losses due to active COVID regulations in the Netherlands. These losses are caused by a lower demand and therefore new strategies are urgent in order to keep the losses minimal. This research covers the strategy of stop-skipping which skips 1 or more stops to reduce the travel time. This strategy is applied on a bus line in the region ‘Twente’ in the Netherlands. The choice for this bus line is reinforced by a data analysis on all bus lines in the area to see what bus lines suffer the most. The stop-skipping strategy is displayed as a model that contains a mixed-integer non-linear mathematical program. Central is an objective consisting of three terms that is minimized based on constraints. These three terms are the passenger waiting time, bus travel time and passenger in-vehicle time, respectively. With branch and bound the model finds an optimal pattern where 1 or more bus stops are skipped. The values of the three objective terms are compared to the old situation where all bus stops are served. The solution of the model shows a deviating stop-skipping pattern in the last trip. Therefore, an adapted solution is analysed by using the same stop-skipping pattern for trip 4 as found in trip 2. Comparing the time values of the adapted solution with the current situation showed that the bus travel time and in-vehicle time decreases with 2.6% and 7.1% respectively, but the passenger waiting times increases with 5,6%. A sensitivity analysis confirms the choice for the cost factors in this research and shows that other cost factors lead to either unrealistic stop-skipping pattern where too many stops are skipped, resulting in high waiting times. |
Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
Faculty: | ET: Engineering Technology |
Programme: | Civil Engineering BSc (56952) |
Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/88675 |
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