Integrated Framework for Bus Timetabling and Scheduling in Multi-Line Operation Mode

Bus service is of great significance to urban residents. With the convergence of bus lines and the formation of bus hubs, a multi-line operation mode which can realize the centralized management of vehicles is applied to the daily bus service planning. To solve the bus service planning problem systematically in the multi-line operation mode, we propose an integrated framework for bus timetabling (TT) and vehicle scheduling (VS), which are the two fundamental processes of bus service planning. Firstly, the determination processes of TT and VS are correlated by constructing the multiple vehicles’ trip-link chains with departure time information to facilitate simultaneous optimization. Secondly, a multi-objective optimization model is constructed, which considers higher service quality and lower operating costs as objectives. Logic and operational rules are also considered as constraints to ensure the implementation of the solutions. Thirdly, we propose and implement a heuristic solution algorithm based on neighborhood search to achieve high-performance solutions. Finally, we validate the efficiency and effectiveness of our framework under the actual bus operation scenario in Chongqing, China. The Pareto frontier solutions are provided to bus operators as alternative operation schemes.