Bus transportation system design of community bus "Notty" based on optimization theory

Buses play an important role in suburban cities. Therefore the bus transportation system design is important. A design issue of the bus transportation system is made up of four steps. First step is bus stop number decision problem. Second step is the bus stop location decision problem. Third step is the bus route decision problem. The last step is the scheduled time decision problem. In this paper, we propose a solving algorithm for bus transportation system design problem based on optimization theory. The proposed algorithm was applied to the bus transportation system design problem of "Notty". We have created two routes. One of them is a route for the students. The time per a lap of route was shortened by about 21 minutes. It has become possible to ride two entire loops in the same time it takes to ride one entire conventional loop. Another route is for citizen. We could decrease the number of bus stops from 120 to 32. We examined the time going to hospitals, supermarkets and the railroad station. The proposed method was able to shorten time with the exception of two cases. In consequence, convenience for the user was improved.