Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Working papers in Transport Economics,
CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI)

No 2013:27: Impacts of holding control strategies on transit performance: a bus simulation model analysis

Oded Cats (), Anahid Nabavi Larijani (), Haris N. Koutsopoulos () and Wilco Burghout ()
Additional contact information
Oded Cats: KTH, Postal: Centrum för Transportstudier (CTS), Teknikringen 10, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
Anahid Nabavi Larijani: KTH, Postal: Centrum för Transportstudier (CTS), Teknikringen 10, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
Haris N. Koutsopoulos: KTH, Postal: Centrum för Transportstudier (CTS), Teknikringen 10, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
Wilco Burghout: KTH, Postal: Centrum för Transportstudier (CTS), Teknikringen 10, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden

Abstract: Transit operators are interested in strategies to improve service reliability as it is an important measure of performance and level of service. One of the common practices aimed to reduce service unreliability is holding control strategies. The design of these strategies involves the selection of a set of time point stops and the holding criteria for regulating the departure time. In order to analyze the impacts of holding strategies on transit performance, it is necessary to model dynamically the interactions between passenger activity, transit operations and traffic dynamics. An evaluation of different holding criteria and number and location of time point stops was conducted using BusMezzo, a dynamic transit simulation model. The holding strategies were implemented in the model and applied to a high frequency trunk bus line in Stockholm. The analysis of the results considers the implications of holding strategies from both passengers and operator perspectives. The analysis suggests substantial gains from implementing holding strategy based on the mean headway from the preceding bus and the succeeding bus. This strategy is the most efficient in terms of passenger time savings as well as fleet costs and crew management.

Keywords: Transit Operations; Reliability; Simulation; ITS; Holding

JEL-codes: R40

24 pages, September 27, 2013

Note: Full bibliographic details: previously published in Transportation Research Record, Vol. 2216, pp 51-58 (2011). DOI: 10.3141/2216-06

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