Modeling and Analysis of Bus Scheduling Systems of Urban Public Bus Transport

Abstract

Anbessa City Bus Service Enterprise (ACBSE) is the only public enterprise that provides transport services in and around the city of Addis Ababa. The enterprise uses a fixed bus schedule system to serve passengers in 110 routes. However, this type of bus assignment system created a problem in the company’s operational and financial performances. The objective of this paper is to develop an optimum bus assignment method using Linear Programming (LP). After thorough analysis of the existing bus scheduling system, the LP model is developed and used to determine the optimal number of buses for each route in four shifts. The output of the LP-model is then validated with the performances of the existing systems. The findings of the study show that the new model reveals better performances on the operating costs, bus utilization and trips and distance covered compared with the existing scheduling system. The enterprise’s bus utilization improved by the new system and cut costs on the one hand and improves the service quality to passengers on the other hand. The authors recommended the enterprise to adopt the new bus assignment system so that buses can be assigned based on the demand distribution of passengers for each route at a given shift.