Efficient Transit Schedule Design of timing points: A comparison of Ant Colony and Genetic Algorithms

Authors

Ehsan Mazloumi
M Mesbah
Avi Ceder
Sara Moridpour
Graham Currie

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2012

Subject Area

mode - bus, operations - scheduling, place - australasia, planning - route design

Keywords

Transit Schedule Design, Ant Algorithm, Genetic Algorithm

Abstract

This work defines Transit Schedule Design (TSD) as an optimization problem to construct the transit schedule with the decision variables of the location of timing points and the amount of slack time associated with each timing point. Two heuristic procedures, Ant Colony and Genetic Algorithms, are developed for constructing optimal schedules for a fixed bus route. The paper presents a comparison of the fundamental features of the two algorithms. They are then calibrated based on data generated from micro-simulation of a bus route in Melbourne, Australia, to give rise to (near) optimal schedule designs. The algorithms are compared in terms of their accuracy and efficiency in providing the minimum cost solution. Although both procedures prove the ability to find the optimal solution, the Ant Colony procedure demonstrates a higher efficiency by evaluating less schedule designs to arrive at a ‘good’ solution. Potential benefits of the developed algorithms in bus route planning are also discussed.

Rights

Permission to publish the abstract has been given by Elsevier, copyright remains with them.

Comments

Transportation Research Part B Home Page:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01912615

Recommended Citation

Mazloumi, E., Mesbah, M., Ceder, A., Moridpour, S., & Currie, G. (2012). Efficient Transit Schedule Design of timing points: A comparison of Ant Colony and Genetic Algorithms. Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Vol. 46, (1), pp. 217-234.