Large-scale transit service network design under continuous heterogeneous demand

Smith, Ryan

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/49736 Copy

Description

Title

Large-scale transit service network design under continuous heterogeneous demand

Author(s)

Smith, Ryan

Issue Date

2014-05-30T17:07:08Z

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Ouyang, Yanfeng

Department of Study

Civil & Environmental Eng

Discipline

Civil Engineering

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• transit network design
• hybrid network
• heterogeneous demand

Abstract

The design of public transit systems typically relies on discrete or continuous models to determine route layout and service frequency. To avoid computational complexity associate with discrete models, continuous models are proposed to formulate the problem in terms of a few key continuous variables. One drawback of many continuous models is that they typically assume a uniform distribution of passenger trips, however we know that trip origins and destinations are characteristically not uniform. The purpose of thesis is to (i) investigate how the design and operations of Daganzo (2010b) hybrid transit system is effected by spatially heterogeneous demand; and (ii) how large is and where to locate a transit network under a spatially heterogeneous demand. The spatially heterogeneity of the passenger demand is captured in the model by transforming a continuous passenger demand density function into zone-to-zone passenger demand. For (i), the optimal hybrid transit structure and operations is analyzed for two distinct spatial demand distributions each with a low and a high passenger demand scenario. The results show the effects on agency and user cost metrics when passenger demand is increased across the region and concentrated (i.e, the origins and destinations of passengers trips are grouped more tightly together in the center of the city). For (ii), automobiles are introduced as an alternative mode of travel and each person who choose this mode incurs a cost associated with not taking transit. This is formulated and people with an origin and/or a destination outside the transit service region are assumed to not take transit. For each transit mode a sensitivity analysis is performed on the penalty for not taking transit. The results indicate that the optimal size of the transit service region (i.e., the number of passengers served by the transit system) is dependent on the not taking transit penalty and the cost and operational characteristics of the transit mode. Finally, multiple future research ideas are presented to illustrate some of the other possibilities that may further enhance transit network design.

Graduation Semester

2014-05

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/49736

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2014 Ryan Smith

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