Bus rapid transit control system using restrictive holding and operating tables

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) are systems that have gained worldwide popularity for its cost-benefit relationship compared with others more costly options such as investment in rail mobility. However, the lack of control actions in the system make phenomena like bunching of buses, breach of programming, over-loading of articulated buses, lack of comfort, increased waiting times of passengers, increased operational costs and users´ demotivation to use the service. This paper proposes a methodology based on an optimization model to maintain the regularity of the system, using as a decision variable a control strategy known as holding. It is introduced in the mathematical model the variation of the average speed, online information about the location of the articulated buses and the scheduling table of the system operation. Additionally, a parametric feature, as a weight indicating the feasibility of applying to stations, the control strategy, is also included into the model. The combination of this weight with the control strategy is named parametric holding strategy. The results showed that the proposed control system helps to maintain regularity and the programming compliance.