The simulation of MRT transfer system based on bus holding strategies with platform constraints

This research aims at the bus holding strategies for the simulation of mass rapid transit (MRT) transferring system in a terminal station with platform constraints for bus in the metropolitan area. We developed and evaluated the transfer system through computer simulation models for MRT with bus system that the goals of bus holding strategies in the model were: reduce bus waiting time, reduce passengers waiting time for the bus, and reduce passengers traveling time. In order to enhance the performance of the MRT-Bus transfer system, we develop several bus holding strategies scenarios that use different traveling time functions of buses at different time intervals, such as rush hours and off-peak hours, with bus platform capacity constraints in the transfer models to construct proposed transfer models in the MRT transfer system. Real-time traffic information acquired by the intelligent transportation systems (ITS) through global positioning system (GPS) provided input data for the simulation models. Performance index function were derived and served as performance measure to compare different bus holding strategies.