Developing models and simulations for transit service improvements of congested urban corridors

加拿大各地的运输机构在为沿着拥挤的城市走廊的乘客提供可靠的服务方面面临着越来越大的挑战。在不列颠哥伦比亚省（BC）过境的情况下，过境延误的费用，由于交通堵塞通过中城走廊沿着企业路和斯普林菲尔德路基洛纳估计每年约30万美元。基洛纳大约三分之一的过境旅行通过这些走廊。为了应对日益增长的可靠性和成本挑战，BC Transit已经确定了几个服务改进策略作为潜在的解决方案。此外，交通拥堵可能会受到这些走廊的建筑环境特征的影响，例如购物中心的存在和密集的十字路口。需要进一步的研究，以确定公交优惠待遇和建成环境配置，有效地提高服务可靠性在不同的交叉口。本研究开发了创新的建模方法和仿真工具，用于测试替代服务改善策略对交通可靠性（即旅行时间变化）的影响。本研究的目的是：1）开发一个交通微观模拟工具，以检查的影响，公交优惠待遇的旅行时间变化，2）开发统计模型，测试的建成环境特性的旅行时间变化的影响。这项研究的结果将有助于不列颠哥伦比亚过境公司确定优先投资领域，以有效改善过境服务。这种提高的可靠性将通过增加乘客量和收入以及降低过境延误的成本直接使BC过境受益。增加的收入和节省的成本将进一步促进对扩大交通网络的投资，以服务不列颠哥伦比亚省更大范围的人口。这项研究的结果还将有助于加拿大在未来10年内有效地将1800亿加元的加拿大基础设施投资计划中的资金分配给过境服务改善项目。除了经济利益外，加拿大还将从该项目中获得多重利益，包括减少交通堵塞和温室气体排放，以及改善人口健康和无障碍环境。

Transit agencies across Canada are experiencing increased challenges to offer reliable services to passengers along the congested urban corridors. In the case of British Columbia (BC) Transit, the cost of transit delays due to traffic congestion through the midtown corridors along Enterprise Way and Springfield Road of Kelowna is estimated approximately $300,000 annually. Around one-third of transit trips in Kelowna pass through these corridors. To address the growing reliability and cost challenges, BC Transit has identified several service improvement strategies as potential solutions. Moreover, traffic congestion is potentially influenced by the built environment characteristics of these corridors, such as presence of shopping centres, and closely spaced intersections. Further research is required to identify transit preferential treatments and built environment configurations for effectively improving service reliability at different intersections. This research develops innovative modelling methods and simulation tools for testing alternative service improvement strategies on transit reliability (i.e. travel time variation). The objectives of this study are to: 1) develop a traffic microsimulation tool for examining the impact of transit preferential treatments on travel time variation, and 2) develop statistical models for testing the influence of built environment characteristics on travel time variation. The findings of this study will assist BC Transit to identify priority investment areas for effective improvement of transit services. This improved reliability will directly benefit BC Transit through increased ridership and revenue, and reduced cost for transit delays. The increased revenue and cost savings will further facilitate investments in expanding the transit network to serve a larger segment of the population in BC. The outcome of this research will also help Canada to effectively allocate funds under the $180 billion Investing in Canada infrastructure plan on transit service improvement projects over the next 10 years. In addition to the economic benefits, Canada will have many-fold benefits from this project including reductions in traffic congestions and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and improvements in population health and accessibility.