Simulation model for applying operational tactics to evaluate transit system performance

Improvement of transit operations can increase the share of public transport in commuting daily trips in metropolises, and it has lots of benefits for passengers in increasing their satisfaction and for operators in decreasing their operational costs. The purpose of this research is to present a simulation model that can be used to analyze and evaluate system performance in the public transportation system of Tehran, Iran, by applying operational tactics and bus fleet management strategies. The considered operational tactics in this study are skip-stop, deadheading, and short-turn. Road-segment characteristics can influence the proposed discrete event simulation model, demand patterns, and transit service parameters as inputs and feedbacks outputs, including average passenger travel and waiting time as system performance indices. The presented simulation model is used to analyze and evaluate system performance in a presumed circular bus route by applying operational tactics that showed a 22% reduction in the average passenger travel time and 33% reduction in the average passenger waiting time by using skip-stop, the deadheading tactic decreased average passenger travel time and waiting time by 6% and 9% respectively. Also, the short-turn tactic showed 21% and 33% improvement in the average passenger travel time and the average waiting time as a system performance index. The results showed that operational tactics could be considered as management strategies to improve transit system performance. This research provided a simulation model as a tool that can be used for policy-makers to analyze and evaluate transit system performance by applying skip-stop, deadheading, and short-turn tactics.