Designing bus routes and frequencies for Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong

Abstract

A real bus network design problem for a suburban residential area, Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong, is investigated. The problem considers bus service from origins inside this area to destinations in the city. The aim is to improve the existing bus network by reducing the number of transfers and total travel time of users. This is achieved by the proposed integrated solution method, which simultaneously solves the route design and frequency setting problems. In the proposed method, a genetic algorithm that tackles the route design problem is hybridized with a neighborhood search heuristic that addresses the frequency setting problem. A new representation scheme and specific genetic operators are developed so that the genetic algorithm can search all possible route structures rather than selecting from an initial set of predefined routes. The proposed method reduces the number of transfers and total travel time by 20.6% and 7.0%, respectively.