MODELING BUS DELAYS DUE TO PASSENGER BOARDINGS AND ALIGHTINGS

Two causes of bus delay are examined: the delay from the stopping and starting at passenger stops dwell time as the passengers board and alight from the bus. Evaluation of data on the number of passengers boarding and alighting at stops along a route showed that the negative binomial is a good descriptor of this distribution. Additional data were used to determine dwell time per passenger as a function of the passenger boardings and alightings. By using these intermediate results, a procedure was developed to determine the resulting bus delay and its effect on operating speed, ridership, and ultimately on route performance. This methodology was then tested with data from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.