Feeder Bus Stop Selection within an Integrated Feeder Bus Planning Framework

Urban rail transit systems constructed along demand-oriented corridors will supply the main travel mode to most commuters in their commute trip-chains. However, in residential areas, a long walking distance from home to stop makes travelers take a private mode. To date, the conventional approach has limitations when applied to residential areas, as the radial and tidal characteristics of trips start from rail stations. For the purpose of urban rail transit feeder bus system planning, the positioning and selection of feeder stops are critical to the efficiency of subsequent route arrangement, and a set of stops that mainly affects the average value of walking distance must be selected in the first step. This paper discusses a double circulation method developed to get the required stop-set using an optimal model, given the threshold value of Average Walking Distance. The subsets selected during the process should make each planning zone have at least one stop that serves commuters, and two questions will be answered: 1) How many required stops should be selected to satisfy the threshold value of AWD? and 2) Which alternative stops can be chosen in the required stop-set? Thus, the outcomes can assure both larger site coverage and less travel time.