Holding for Transfers

The lack of coordinated transfers in a public transport network causes passengers to wait longer for their connections. This work proposes a new model to improve transfers in medium to high frequency systems lacking a timetabled operation. We propose a real-time mathematical programming model using a rolling horizon approach for transfer’s coordination. The single control decision in this model consider, using a rolling horizon approach, the holding decision at a transfer station in order to prevent a certain fraction (maybe not all of them) of the transferring passengers from missing a connecting vehicle. The performance of the strategy model is obtained from a stochastic simulation and then compared against a no control strategy. The results show that the proposed strategy reduces waiting times for the transferring passengers in over 20%, while not affecting the travel time distribution along the line. Furthermore, the variability in all performance indicators is reduced when compared to no control.