Bus Line Optimisation Using Autonomous Minibuses

Abstract: Due to demographic changes, the transportationdemand is predicted to increase significantly in the next decades.Considering the transport sector’s impact on society and theenvironment, the development of a sustainable transport systemis of great importance. Two possible building blocks in such asystem are connectivity and automation, and this project aims tostudy a way of combining these two.The purpose of this project is to investigate how the introductionof autonomous minibuses to a pre-existing bus systemwould affect its operational cost and environmental impact. Thisis done using a linear programming model that finds the optimalcombination of conventional buses and autonomous minibuseswith respect to cost. The model is implemented in the modellingsystem GAMS for bus lines 1–4 in Stockholm using data ontravel demand. Two scenarios are analysed; the first allowingan arbitrary number of minibuses, and the second being morerealistic and restricting the number of minibuses. The solutionsare then compared to the corresponding solutions using onlyconventional buses.In both cases, the results indicate that considerable savingscan be obtained while maintaining or even improving availability.From this, we draw the conclusion that when such technologyis truly available, it would be advisable to investigate if thesesavings can weigh up the costs related to necessary investments.