Optimization Of Microbus Routes Connecting To Urban Rail Stations

In recent years,cities have opened microbus lines,compared with conventional buses,microbus has a smaller model,flexible route form,short intervals,etc.,to improve regional public transport accessibility,to make up for the blind spots covered by rail transit and conventional buses,to solve the "last mile" of travel needs.However,the microbus lines currently in operation are not scientific and reasonable in terms of line planning and operation scheduling.Therefore,in this paper,we study the microbus routes that connect to urban rail stations,and initially build a more realistic route planning and operation scheduling model to provide a more scientific and reasonable theoretical support for the subsequent opening and operation of microbus.First,the traffic characteristics of microbus are analyzed.The study summarized the concept,characteristics and functional positioning of microbus,clarified the differences and connections between microbus and conventional bus,then classified the existing microbus routes,explained the operation mode of microbus routes,the form of connection with rail stations and compared with other feeder modes,and laid the theoretical foundation for the subsequent modeling analysis.Next,the existing microbus routes and passenger flow characteristics are analyzed.In terms of microbus line characteristics,five aspects are studied,including line distribution area,line length,line non-linear coefficient,average station spacing and rail connections;in terms of passenger flow characteristics,line passenger flow and passenger travel purposes are analyzed,and representative feeder microbus lines are selected for follow-up research to summarize the existing problems of operating microbus lines.Then,the clustering analysis was conducted for urban rail stations.A total of 12 types of POI data within the 10-minute walking circle of rail stations were selected as clustering variables,and four common factors were extracted from the clustering variables by using principal component analysis,and the 160 rail stations in Chongqing were classified into seven categories by using Gaussian mixture clustering.Again,the study discusses the microbus route planning principles,the influencing factors of route planning,the selection of candidate stations and the route planning process,followed by model construction and algorithm design.In the microbus route planning,a multi-objective optimization model with the maximum passenger flow in the route coverage area,the minimum total travel cost for passengers of each connection mode and the minimum bus line operation cost is established,and an improved particle swarm optimization algorithm is designed to solve the problem;in the scheduling optimization,an optimization model with the minimum passenger transfer cost and the minimum bus line operation cost is established,and an artificial bee swarm algorithm is designed to solve the problem.Finally,Caijia Station in Chongqing was selected as the rail station for microbus connection for route and scheduling optimization.The results show that,compared with the original route,the microbus route in the study time period,the microbus route satisfies48.8% increase in passenger travel demand,the microbus connection rate increases by11.48%,the total travel cost of travelers decreases by 15.5%,and the total travel cost decreases by 10.7%;The optimized departure schedule reduces passenger travel costs by13.7%,bus line operating costs by 17.4%,and total costs by 14.7% compared to the original schedule.The method of planning and scheduling optimization of feeder microbus routes proposed in this paper provides reference suggestions and solutions to solve the end travel difficulties,improve the regional traffic environment,and enhance the happiness of residents’ public transportation travel.