Quantifying the joint impacts of stop locations, signalized intersections, and traffic conditions on bus travel time

Quantifying factors that affect bus travel time along arterials is necessary to prioritize investments to reduce bus travel time and its variability and to design advanced prediction and traveler information systems. The joint effects of bus stop location (near vs. far side), intersection delay and traffic conditions on travel time have not been addressed in the literature. To fill this research gap, this study integrates detailed transit, signal phase and traffic data at the stop-to-stop level. Statistical modeling results indicate that red time and the proportion of red time per cycle are the key traffic signal timing factors that affect bus stop-to-stop travel time variability. Bus stop location also has a statistically significant effect on intersection signal delay and passenger boarding times. The impact of traffic volumes on delay is not as high as signal delay but it is significant and varies drastically by segment and time of day.