Research on the Stability of Urban Bus Network Based on Complex Networks Theory

The stability of urban bus transport networks has a great impact on urban traffic operations and residents’ daily travel. This paper analyzes the stability of urban bus networks based on complex networks theory. The urban bus network of Shangluo is chosen for analysis. Several featured metrics of complex networks are calculated, including node degree, degree distribution, shortest path, average shortest path, and clustering coefficient. The small-world effects are verified for the urban bus network based on calculation results. Then, the stability of the bus network is analyzed for both random attack and intentional attack mode. Under both random and intentional attacks, the network efficiency is significantly reduced respectively. Nevertheless, the network efficiency declines more quickly under the intentional attack mode. The intentional attack has more significant impacts on the network stability. The analysis results could provide some valuable insights for the bus network planning of Shangluo in the future.