Vehicle safety assessment of bus stops near intersections: a comparison between curbside bus stops and bus bays

Curbside bus stops and bus bays are mainstream forms of bus stops in China. There is no specific study available to assess and compare the safety performance of bus stops near intersections. The study provides insights into contributing factors that are positively or negatively related to the variation of the severity of conflicts between vehicles near curbside bus stops or bus bays in the vicinity of signalized intersections. The traffic conflict technique and the ordered probit model are developed to identify the contributing factors on conflict severity outcomes (potential, slight and serious). Results show that conflict-related variables are significantly different under two types of bus stops (location of the bus stop, distance from the intersection, traffic volume, number of dwelling buses, et al). There are more conflicts occurring near curbside bus stops under the same observation period, but the proportion of serious conflicts are higher around bus bays. Bus stops built downstream the intersection can help to decrease the severity level of conflicts from the point of view of vehicle safety. In addition, appropriate distance from the intersection, bus route design and non-motorized vehicle management are conducive to improving the level of road safety. This paper focuses on the conflicts between vehicles without considering the effects of these various options on the safety of pedestrians, the safety performance of bus stops deserves further research.