Optimal all-stop, short-turn, and express transit services under heterogeneous demand

As a major mode choice of commuters, public transit plays an important role in relieving congestion on urban transportation networks. A model is developed for cost-efficient operation that optimizes all-stop, short-turn, and express transit services and the associated frequencies by considering heterogeneous demand. For a transit line with given stations and origin-destination demand, the objective total cost function is optimized by considering a set of constraints that ensure frequency conservation and sufficient capacity subject to operable fleet size. A numerical example is designed that is based on a real-world rail transit line to demonstrate the applicability and effectiveness of the developed model. Results show that optimized integrated service patterns and associated service frequencies significantly reduce total cost.