Modelling the Proportion of Dwell Time in Bus Transit System

Dwell time is an essential component of bus trip travel time, and it is affected by quantities of factors. To calculate the dwell time at bus stops, we must know the time when doors open and close, however, sometimes the events of doors open and closed are not recorded in GPS data. To solve this problem, we assume that there is a stable proportional relationship between dwell time and trip time, and if it is true, the estimation of dwell time can be greatly simplified. A proportion model, DT = kTT, was established in this research，and it was tested by more than 20,000 trips of route No. 210 located in Shanghai, and the calibrated coefficient k is equal to 0.261, varying little, among different time-of-days, and different month, which prove that we can use this proportionality to estimate the dwell time of bus route once trip travel time is available.