A deviation-based demand-responsive bus service adjustment strategy for same-platform transfers with autonomous rail rapid transit
针对自主式快速轨道交通（ART）与常规公交间换乘不便的问题，提出一种公交车辆可偏离原路线进入ART站台实现同台换乘的策略，并优化发车时刻与停站控制，以同时减少乘客和运营方的时间成本。
In recent years, the Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit (ART) system, which operates on “virtual tracks”, has been adopted in many cities considering its higher flexibility and lower operating and maintenance cost compared to the traditional metro system. However, a persistent challenge lies in the missing coordination between the ART services and the conventional bus services, frequently resulting in excessively long transfer distance and waiting time for passengers. To address this issue, this study proposes a deviation-based demand-responsive bus service adjustment strategy to facilitate transfers between the bus and ART systems. Under this strategy, when transfer requests are triggered by passengers via devices installed on buses or ART platforms, a bus adjusts its route to enter the ART station platform, thereby enabling same-platform transfers. The proposed mechanism synchronizes bus arrival and departure times with ART schedules to avoid disruptions to ART operations. Furthermore, buses execute these deviations without skipping any scheduled stops to minimize adverse impacts on non-transferring passengers. To further enhance operational efficiency and realism, conditional stop control and holding control strategies are incorporated, along with time-varying traffic conditions. A mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model is formulated to jointly minimize both passengers’ and operators’ time. The model is decomposed into two subproblems, and solved using a hybrid Gurobi − Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search (GALNS) algorithm. The proposed model and algorithm are validated through a real-world case study in Yibin, China. Promising numerical results indicate that, by adopting the proposed deviation-based demand-responsive strategy, the total time decreases by 1.12%, 0.42%, 21.75%, and 23.48%, respectively, compared to solutions without considering demand responsiveness, control strategies, route deviation, and any strategy. The proposed bus service adjustment strategy provides a valuable guidance on improving the flexibility of conventional bus operations and enhancing the convenience of transfers between the bus and ART systems.