An overview of solutions to the bus bunching problem in urban bus systems

Abstract

Bus bunching has been a persistent issue in urban bus system since it first appeared, and it remains a challenge not fully resolved. This phenomenon may reduce the operational efficiency of the urban bus system, which is detrimental to the operation of fast-paced public transport in cities. Fortunately, extensive research has been undertaken in the long development and optimization of the urban bus system, and many solutions have emerged so far. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the existing solutions and serve as a guide for subsequent research in this area. Upon careful examination of current findings, it is found that, based on the different optimization objects, existing solutions to the bus bunching problem can be divided into five directions, i.e., operational strategy improvement, traffic control improvement, driver driving rules improvement, passenger habit improvement, and others. While numerous solutions to bus bunching are available, there remains a gap in research exploring the integrated application of methods from diverse directions. Furthermore, with the development of autonomous driving, it is expected that the use of modular autonomous vehicles could be the most potential solution to the issue of bus bunching in the future.