Competence of Bus Rapid Transit Systems Coupled with Transit Signal Priority at Signalized Junctions

Abstract

Abstract One of the primary causes of poor public transport performance is delays at intersections. Among the efficient and sustainable solutions to boost mass transportation performance, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) consists of infrastructures integrating dedicated bus lanes and smart operational service with different ITS technologies like Transit Signal Priority (TSP). This research studies the competence of buses operating on junctions of the BRT corridor where they have Signal Priority on the dedicated lane. The studied intersection is located around the center of the Addis Ababa BRT-B2 line, which is relatively gentle grade and characterized by the high traffic and pedestrian volume. Microscopic models were created for the chosen intersection, along with possible calibration and validation; moreover, a statistical comparison was performed to evaluate different scenarios with the goal of displaying the deployment benefits. To assess the performance of BRT buses and their overall influence on general traffic, scenarios with and without TSP were evaluated. PTV VISSIM and the VisVAP add-on simulation program were used to examine TSP alternatives. Incorporating TSP reduced the travel time by up to 4.78% in the priority direction, the average travel speed increased by 7.25%, and the queue length also reduced by a maximum of 6%, whereas in the non-priority direction, the queue length increased by a maximum of 2.5%. Moreover, the overall average passenger delay has reduced by an average amount of 15%. One of the simplest ways to improve transit performance could be signal priority strategies, which has a minor influence on the general traffic.