Impact of Arterial BRT-Lite Green Dwell Time on General Traffic and Intersection Capacity
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 146, Issue 4
Abstract
This paper studies the effect dwelling mixed-traffic arterial Bus Rapid Transit (BRT-“Lite”) buses have on general traffic conditions and intersection capacity. Queue length and flow rate data collected from the busiest intersection along the bus route were used as proxies for quantifying traffic impacts. Two traffic scenarios were examined: (1) high volume oversaturated traffic; and (2) normal intersection conditions that were at or below saturation levels. Through use of linear regression models and a -means clustering analysis—comparing traffic conditions before and after bus arrival as a function of green dwell time—it was found that BRT-Lite buses have no statistically significant impact on intersection performance or traffic capacity. This conclusion was further complemented by paired -test results in which bus dwelling was found to result in an approximate change in both the average queue length and flow rate of only 1%. As a pilot study for the new BRT-Lite system, this research provides additional insights into the practical applicability of mixed traffic BRT systems and enriches the body of literature on related subjects.
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Data Availability Statement
Queue length and flow rate data sets are available from the corresponding author by request.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Metro Transit and the Minnesota Traffic Observatory (MTO) for their assistance in providing the data necessary to make this research possible. This research is conducted at the University of Minnesota Transit Lab (http://umntransit.weebly.com/), currently supported by the following projects, in addition to others: National Science Foundation, award CMMI-1637548; Minnesota Department of Transportation, Contract No. 1003325 Work Order No. 15; Minnesota Department of Transportation, Contract No. 1003325 Work Order No. 44; and Transitways Research Impact Program (TIRP), Contract No. A100460 Work Order No. UM2917. Any limitation of this study remains the responsibility of the authors.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 146 • Issue 4 • April 2020
Copyright
©2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 18, 2019
Accepted: Sep 4, 2019
Published online: Jan 29, 2020
Published in print: Apr 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Jun 29, 2020
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