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Pre-design method for advanced public transport systems

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Abstract

Thanks to vehicle automation, a new generation of urban transport systems that can supply car-like quality of service with Public Transport-like impacts was made possible. They are called Advanced Public Transport Systems and consist of small automated collective vehicles running on demand.

A pre-design method for a first dimensioning of such systems was developed by simulating nearly 3 000 scenarios with Dial-A-Ride software and performing statistical regressions on the results.

The method needs as input: network length, expected demand, vehicle top speed, maximum waiting time, and vehicle capacity. In six steps the method gives: number of vehicles, average waiting time, vehicle⋅kilometers, commercial speed, occupancy rate, and costs.

The regressions are given for 20-place vehicles, 15 km/h top speed, and 1 000 s waiting time CTS. All the R 2 coefficients are higher than 0.75 and in most cases than 0.85.

Empirical validations, made by comparing pre-design regressions with other system data, showed that the method gives accurate results.

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Correspondence to Daniele Stam.

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Alessandrini, A., Filippi, F., Stam, D. et al. Pre-design method for advanced public transport systems. Public Transp 2, 5–23 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12469-010-0020-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12469-010-0020-y

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