Design optimization of flex-route transit services considering passengers'departure and destination choice
Flex-route transit,which allow vehicles to deviate from the fixed route to pick up and drop off passengers,offer greater accessibility compared to traditional buses.However,excessive de-viations to non-stops increase the distance and travel time of the vehicle,resulting in delays for pas-sengers both on board and waiting at stops.To regulate this demand,a variable fare for pick-up and drop-off requests at non station locations is proposed in this study.The number of fixed stops,head-ways,and base fares of a flex-route transit system is optimized to maximize the social welfare(the sum of the operator's profit and consumer surplus)per unit time.First,an optimization model is con-structed by analyzing the operation process of flex-route transit using the continuous approximation method without financial constraints(allowing profit deficit)or with financial constraints(ensuring no losses in operations under financial subsidies).Second,the optimal number of fixed stops,head-way,and base fare for the model without financial constraints are determined using the BONMIN solver.Finally,the model is verified through sensitivity analyses of the potential travel demand,shape of the service area,fare adjustment factor,and vehicle capacity.The results indicate the exis-tence of two thresholds for financial subsidies per unit time.The empirical analysis,focusing on the Los Angeles MTA 646 night bus service,shows that there is a threshold for potential travel demand under uniform and differentiated fares.When the potential travel demand exceeds 120 p/h,the optimi-zation of social welfare per unit time is higher at a fare adjustment factor of one,compared to fare ad-justment factors of 0.2,0.4,0.6,and 0.8,which is nearly 1%.This study provides a useful reference for optimizing the flex-route transit service design and calculating the required financial subsidies.
flexible transitpublic transportation service designLogit modelflex-route transitnon-linear optimization
万方数据
维普
