Model for the optimal location of bus stops and its application to a public transport corridor in Santiago, Chile

Abstract

The location and number of bus stops are key to the operational efficiency of the services that use them; these criteria affect commercial speed, reliability, and passenger access times. In the defining of the number of stops, a trade-off arises between reduced access time, which widens a route’s coverage area, and both the operational speed of the route and the users’ in-vehicle travel time. In this study, a model for optimally locating stops was developed, and the model was applied to theGrecia Avenue public transport corridor in the city of Santiago, Chile. The proposed model uses a continuous and multiperiod approximation of corridor demand; this approximation allows for the determination of the density of stops, which minimizes the sum of operator costs and total costs to passengers. The model simultaneously solves for the optimal stop density and the headway between successive buses. The actual stop locations of the Grecia Avenue corridor were compared with the optimal locations suggested by the model, and many similarities were found.