Assessment of Impact of Roadside Bus-Stops on Capacity of Urban Divided Roads Using Microscopic Simulation Model

Abstract

In developing countries, traffic congestion is not only due to substantial vehicular growth but also due to many roadside activities which affects the performance of roads. Among the various roadside activities, the presence of bus-stops has a significant influence on capacity of roads as the demand of public transport buses in urban areas of developing countries is relatively high. Researchers have attempted to study the impact of bus-stops on traffic flow characteristics. However, limited attempts have been made to study the influence of bus-stops on capacity using simulation models under mixed traffic. Thus, this study aims to assess the impact of roadside bus-stops on capacity of roads using a microscopic simulation model developed specifically for urban divided roads. The validated model was then applied to study the impact of bus-stop on capacity of urban roads. The percentage reduction in capacity due to the influence of bus-stop was obtained by performing sensitivity analysis by varying bus proportion. This study finds interesting applications in developing standards related to capacity estimation and reduction due to side frictions in Indian traffic. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.