A transit route simulator for the evaluation of control strategies using automatically collected data

This thesis develops and tests an extensible simulation model that uses automatically collected transit data to simulate transit route operations, demand, and control mechanisms. This model is motivated by the increasing availability of automatically collected transit data, which enables more detailed simulation and validation and also allows for advanced control strategies that can be evaluated using simulation. A framework is presented for using simulation to evaluate the improvement in service quality enabled by data. Most previous transit route simulation models included an explicit representation of traffic flow, which requires extra input data and introduces extra complexity. A detailed simulator design is presented that uses only transit-derived data to simulate vehicle and passenger movements and outputs a detailed log for flexibility of performance measurement. A case study of operations on the CTA's Route 9 Ashland was used to demonstrate and test the simulator. The simulator could be used to test alternative operator and supervisor behavior strategies and supervisor deployment schemes, as well as potential technological advances involving real-time data. Schedule, vehicle movement, terminal departure punctuality, passenger demand, and dwell time inputs for the simulator were derived from Route 9's schedule, AVL data, and APC data. The case study simulation was subjected to validation tests that compare simulated and real headway regularity, trip travel time, and maximum load statistics. Significant differences were found in all three tests. Adjustments were employed in attempt to make the simulation match reality.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Moses, Isaac E

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Nigel H.M. Wilson.

• Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/32413

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/32413