Principles for setting single line and multiline control based on network characteristics

Abstract

Public Transport networks often include one or more sets of common consecutive stops between different lines. In such networks, both single line and multiline control can in principle be applied. In this study, we investigate the effect of both the size of different segments of the network and the characteristics of demand distribution on the performances of single line and multiline control. After introducing the key elements that characterize networks with overlapping segments, two sets of scenarios (a stop set size and a demand based scenario) are conducted on different network configurations, for both control schemes. Results show that the choice between the two control alternatives is more sensitive to demand distribution than to the lines’ topology. Passenger groups traversing different stop sets are the most consequential in terms of chosen control strategy’s optimality. The results suggest applying multiline shared transit corridor control for corridors given that those stops account for at least 50% of the total number of boarding passengers.