01478424

Component

A critical element in estimating the capacity of a bus rapid transit (BRT) line is the flow capacity of the running way measured in buses per hour. In this paper, the authors estimate capacity in high volume bus services by using a simulation model. The inputs to the model include the mean dwell time of arriving buses, the dwell time variability, the headway variation of arriving buses, the configuration of the boarding locations and the presence or absence of a traffic signal. The output of the model is an estimate of the number of buses which can serve the stop per hour with a tolerable failure rate. The failure rate is the probability that arriving buses will not be able to access a boarding berth due to its being occupied by a previously arriving bus. The capacity of various stop configurations such as number of berths and queuing areas is also examined. The model does not require extensive data collection to yield reasonable results. The paper includes tables showing the capacity for a range of input options. The procedure was applied to the operation of Transmilenio in Bogota, Colombia.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AP015 Transit Capacity and Quality of Service.

01470560

13-4702

English

11p

2013

Transportation Research Board 92nd Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; Photos; References; Tables

Bus rapid transit; Bus terminals; Dwell time; Estimation theory; Headways

TransMilenio

Bus capacity

Bogota (Colombia)

Highways; Passenger Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Vehicles and Equipment; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2013 Paper #13-4702

PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Feb 5 2013 12:54PM