New Modifications to Bus Network Design Methodology

A new methodology is provided for solving the bus network design problem, covering both network design and frequency setting. Two new bus network design models are created that build on the methodology proposed by Baaj and Mahmassani. A modification considers that commercial speeds of buses vary depending on the aggregated frequency of buses on each street or corridor. A further modification is the updating of route frequencies during route generation. The models were applied to the street network of Barcelona, Spain. Outputs were compared, and it was found that the new models produce bus networks with faster average travel speeds, smaller fleet size, fewer route kilometers, and fewer buses per link than previous methodologies. These results demonstrate that consideration of the variability of bus speeds and required route frequencies during route generation and frequency setting can significantly improve the performance of a bus network.