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Optimal fleet size, frequencies and vehicle capacities considering peak and off-peak periods in public transport

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  • Jara-Díaz, Sergio
  • Fielbaum, Andrés
  • Gschwender, Antonio

Abstract

The fleet for surface transit in urban areas - number of buses and vehicle size - is usually determined by the characteristics of demand during the peak period, adjusting frequencies for other periods where those characteristics are quite different. Here the problem is formulated analytically considering a representative single line where hourly passengers flow and average trip lengths differ between peak and off-peak periods. Analytical and numerical results show that minimizing social costs (operators and users) for the whole day yields a larger fleet of smaller buses than if only the peak period is considered. Contrary to previous results on this issue, optimal frequencies across periods differ by a large amount, as optimal peak and off-peak frequencies are larger and smaller respectively than what would be obtained modeling each period by itself. The optimal bus size lies in-between the capacities obtained when each period is independently optimized. Several other interesting counterintuitive results are shown.

Suggested Citation

  • Jara-Díaz, Sergio & Fielbaum, Andrés & Gschwender, Antonio, 2017. "Optimal fleet size, frequencies and vehicle capacities considering peak and off-peak periods in public transport," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 65-74.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:106:y:2017:i:c:p:65-74
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2017.09.005
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