Using Simulation to Evaluate Shuttle Service Efficiency

Kuanysh Abeshev

, Polina Buyvol

, Ksenia Shubenkova

and Timur Gabdullin

School of Engineering Management, Almaty Management University, Rozybakiyeva st., 227, 050060, Almaty, Kazakhstan

Kazan Federal University, Syuyumbike prosp., 10a, 423822 Naberezhnye Chelny, Russian Federation

Keywords: e-Mobility, Shuttle Service, Simulation, Smart City, Transport System.

Abstract: The work is devoted to the study of the influence of the Smart City concept on the city transport system. It is

shown that in cities where industrial zones are separated from residential ones, there are problems with

increasing transport load in the morning and evening peak hours. Various methods (special routes, special

tariffs, etc.) are used to solve the problem of delivering workers to places of work, but, in our opinion, these

solutions should be combined with the concept of E-mobility, which implies both a transition to

environmentally friendly types of transport, and an increase in the stability of the transport system by reducing

the intensity of the traffic flow. This can be done through the organization of shuttle service of enterprises'

employees, which will allow to refuse using of personal cars for trips to work. An example of the solution of

the transport routing problem for the Naberezhnye Chelny city is given.

1 INTRODUCTION

Having entered the third millennium the modern

human civilization has faced global problems. Poor

air quality, climate change, unhealthy lifestyles and a

lack of balance between society and the natural

environment have an increasing impact on human

health and create new risks. All this requires radical

changes in energy, mobility and urban systems, which

are reflected in the concept of Smart City.

In recent years in the field of architecture and

urban science more attention is paid to the

implementation of the Smart Cities concept

(Williamson B., 2015). The main goal of creating

Smart City is to ensure the sustainable development

of cities and preserve the quality of life of their

citizens (Pribyl O., Svitek M., Lom M., 2016). This

concept combines various technologies that

contribute to reducing the negative impact on the

environment, which will ensure a more comfortable

living conditions. At the same time, it is necessary to

take into account the peculiarities of cities' planning

decisions, which have a significant impact on both the

population mobility and the stability of the transport

systems in general.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1140-7431

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5241-215X

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9246-6232

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5383-7265

2 METHODS

The solution can be the implementation of E-mobility

concept, which implies two ways: the transition to

sustainable (public) and environmentally friendly

(non-motorized and electric transport) types of

transport, as well as minimizing the need for

movement of residents through the management

optimization (Pribyl O., Svitek M., Lom M., 2016). If

it is impossible to refuse trips or minimize them, you

can reduce the number of vehicles on the city roads

by optimizing their occupancy and more rational use

of carrying capacity. This initiative aimed at

improving the environmental efficiency and

sustainability of urban systems will help reduce the

negative impact on the environment caused by human

activities.

One of these methods of reducing the intensity of

the traffic flow is the organization of shuttle service

of enterprises' employees, which can bring the

following benefits:

• improvement of the workers' health due to the lack

of stress associated with the regular driving of a

personal vehicle;

Abeshev, K., Buyvol, P., Shubenkova, K. and Gabdullin, T.

Using Simulation to Evaluate Shuttle Service Efﬁciency.

DOI: 10.5220/0009838806670672

In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Vehicle Technology and Intelligent Transport Systems (VEHITS 2020), pages 667-672

ISBN: 978-989-758-419-0

667

• enhancement of the company's image as an

organization that provides additional bonuses to

its employees in the form of free transport;

• increase of corporate culture and social interaction

of employees through regular joint trips;

• savings for the enterprise, since the organization

of a suburban transfer can be a cheaper way than

the construction and maintenance of parking for

the personal transport of employees;

• implementation of an environmental mission to

reduce the level of exhaust gas both by a single

employee and by the enterprise as a whole (“5

Reasons Why Employee Shuttles Are Good For

Business”, 2019).

Highlighting shuttle service as one of the key

practices of E-mobility, foreign researchers note the

need for efficient routing algorithms for this type of

public transport (Zhao, Y., Zhou, H., Liu, Y., 2017.;

Wicaksono A., Pasa Pratama P., Sulistio H.,

Kusumaningrum R., 2017).

The transport system is one of the main intelligent

systems in Smart City. Ensuring its safety and

sustainability is conducted in three directions: smart

infrastructure, smart vehicles, smart users.

For solving the problem of population's mobility

it is necessary that the carrying capacity of the city's

transport system conforms to the transport needs of

its inhabitants. Searching for more rational ways of

using existing road capacity requires the creation of

intelligent traffic control systems (Tretyakova, M.L.,

2015).

The first generation of Intelligent Transport

Systems (ITS) focused on improving vehicle

efficiency and driver awareness to ensure the safety

and comfort of transport service consumers. For

solving such problems microscopic simulation

models are used (Bakibayev, T., Bekmagambetova,

G., Turarbek, A., 2015). Macroscopic models of

vehicle traffic imitate determining the dynamics of

the flow, the maximum road and infrastructure

capacity (Viti, F., Tampere, C., 2014.).

From a technological point of view a huge

breakthrough in the field of ITS occurred in the last

decade, when wireless communication between

sensors and decision support systems (DSS) was

developed (Tsybunov, E., Shubenkova, K., Buyvol,

P., Mukhametdinov, E., 2018). This made it possible

to implement integrated multi-object systems

(Wismans, L., Berkum, E., Bliemer, M., 2014), for

example, to solve the problems of intellectualization

of traffic lights (Gorodokin, V., Almetova, Z.,

Shepelev, V., 2017; Makarova, I., Shubenkova, K.,

Mavrin, V., Buyvol, P., 2018).

Any

DSS can't be implemented without an

intelligent core, a module, that taking into account a

wide range of characteristics of the traffic flow, the

patterns of influence on it of a large number of

external and internal factors, will make well-founded

management decisions in the field of traffic

management. The intelligent core can be a program

module for improving the urban passenger transport

network, since the vehicle routing problem is one of

the most important in the management of urban

passenger transport (Makarova, I., Khabibullin, R.,

Shubenkova, K., 2015).

The construction of city's bus transport routes can

be attributed to the stochastic problem of transport

routing, where the demand for transportation varies

randomly depending on a large number of factors.

Since the city's public transport route network is

a complex system, and its optimization is a complex

multi-parameter task, a scientifically grounded

solution when developing and adjusting it requires

heuristic, meta-heuristic, fuzzy logic methods

(Belyakov, S., Savelyeva, M., Kiyashko, D.,

Lashchenkova, A., 2018), and modeling of processes

using a mathematical apparatus.

Today criterion function in developed

mathematical models is one of the following

characteristics:

• the minimum total time spent by passengers for

the whole process of moving;

• the minimum waiting time at the stopping point;

• the minimum total costs for the movement of

vehicles along the routes per unit time;

• the maximum profit of the transport company

taking into account the costs of operating vehicles

(Makarova, I., Khabibullin, R., Shubenkova, K.,

2015).

However, it should be borne in mind that

obtaining an analytical solution using mathematical

models used to describe multiparametric processes in

multifunctional systems may require considerable

resources. When solving this class of problems, it is

more rational to use information technologies in the

form of simulation models of transport systems, since

they can be applied to determine the optimal state of

the systems under study for different values of the

parameters repeatedly (Makarova, I., Khabibullin, R.,

Shubenkova, K., 2011). Today for simulating

transport flows, software packages such as the

programs of PTV Vision (VISUM and VISSIM),

AnyLogic, GPSS World, Dracula, Paramics, Sistm,

etc. are used (Devyatkov, V., Vlasov, S., Devyatkov,

Т., 2009).

Each program of simulation has its advantages

and disadvantages. So, GPSS World is characterized

by a simple user interface, not enough functional

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models editor, poorly automated research technology,

an outdated way of presenting and analyzing results,

etc. The main advantage of AnyLogic is that it is the

only simulation tool that combines system dynamics,

agent and discrete-event modeling. The

disadvantages of AnyLogic can be attributed to the

fact that when modeling such a complex multi-

parameter process as road traffic, for a good

performance requires a powerful processor.

Therefore, for modeling traffic flows it is more

productive to use specialized packages, such as

programs of PTV Vision, which simulate various

motion scenarios at both the micro level (VISSIM)

and the macro level (VISUM).

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

For verifying the adequacy of the above theoretical

provisions the Naberezhnye Chelny city was chosen.

The planning structure of the city was based on a

linear structure of the open type with a "classical"

functional zoning, with a parallel location of industrial

and residential areas, a suburban recreation area.

Transport-planning framework of the city is a

longitudinal highway connecting the city's residential

areas, which gives grounds for attributing the planning

scheme of its street-road network to a rectangular one.

The main "diameter" of the city is the longitudinal

highway, which includes M. Jalil Ave.,

Naberezhnochelninsky Ave., Mira Ave.

Today, Naberezhnye Chelny has 28 routes of

municipal passenger transport, 14 tram routes and 14

passenger transport routes involved in the

transportation of KAMAZ employees. However, the

industrial zone also includes areas that can't be

reached by any of the existing routes. The BSI zone is

deserved particular attention from the point of view of

transport accessibility: if other city's industrial zones

are connected with residential by tram or bus routes,

20.3 thousand employees of 195 enterprises located on

the BSI are forced to get to their jobs on private

vehicles. This leads to the fact that the carrying

capacity of the road linking residents to their place of

work can't cope with the load estimated at 20,000

vehicles per day.

For solving this problem it is necessary to

determine what will be more effective - using regular

public transport or shuttle service. Since the main

demand for transportation to this city's industrial zone

falls on the morning and evening hours, the

functioning of regular public transport routes can be

disadvantageous. At the same time, the organization

of shuttle service on the enterprises located in the

considered zone also involves several problems:

1. the need to organize the delivery of employees

of different enterprises located in close proximity to

each other on one bus;

2. the need to agree on schedules for the beginning

and end of the working day of all enterprises located

in this zone;

3. the need to develop such routes to ensure the

delivery of workers from different points of the city,

as well as neighboring settlements, to the designated

hour for a certain (limited) period of time, with a

minimum number of vehicles and with minimal costs;

4. shuttle routes should be laid in such a way as to

minimize the mileage, and at the same time avoid

overloaded sections of the road network.

In such conditions, it is possible to adopt the

optimal management decision in the sphere of

passenger transportation organization in Naberezhnye

Chelny only by analyzing the existing situation and

choosing the best possible option, taking into account

the redistribution of the transport load to the problem

areas of the street-road network (SRN).

The mathematical formulation of the problem

consists in the need to determine the performance

indicator, describe the variables of the model

influencing it, and also to determine the fundamental

and technical limitations so that the problem is correct

and solvable.

The performance indicator (objective function or

optimization parameter) should be measurable, and,

most importantly, really evaluate the effectiveness of

the system in a pre-selected sense. Since when

organizing urban transportation it is necessary to

satisfy the needs of the population in moving for the

minimum time, as well as reduce the transport load on

the problematic sections of the SRN, the target

functional of the model is:











delive

passenger average - fffffZmin,

vehicles;route ofnumber total- )(X f Zmin,

5432122

i11

)

where

– number of vehicles on the i-th route;

– average passenger stopping time;

– average passenger waiting time for a bus;

– average time of embarkation and debarkation

of passengers;

– average delay time of vehicles at a stop due

to waiting in line for supplying vehicles to the place

of embarkation and debarkation;

– average bus ride time.

After formulating the optimization criterion, it can

begin to build a transport model, which is a software

package consisting of a network model, a demand

model for transport, and an impact model. The

network model is an image of a road network in the

form of nodes and segments superimposed on a map

of the city taking into account the scale for subsequent

Using Simulation to Evaluate Shuttle Service Efﬁciency

669

automatic calculation of the length of each section.

The demand model consists of many demand objects

and describes the transport needs of the population

using the standard four-stage model integrated in the

PTV VISUM software package. The network model

and the demand model are the basis for constructing a

model of impact (on the user, on the carrier, on the

environment).

The user model allows to select the optimal route

for moving the passenger, which forms the basis for

constructing cartograms of transport loads on sections

of the city’s SRN. The core of the motion simulation

procedures are search algorithms that calculate the

paths between transport areas. In PTV VISUM, the

routing problem can be solved either by the branch and

bound method (VISUM User Manual, 2018), or

reduced to the task of finding the shortest paths.

When applying the branch and bound method in

the PTV VISUM transport model for each passenger

flow formation area, a search tree for suitable partial

routes is generated in which all fairly good route

options are saved. The result is not just one best route,

but many good options, which further ensures a

differentiated distribution of transport demand

between routes. To assess the quality of the considered

route options, the so-called “search resistance” is used

in PTV VISUM. It is the sum of functions such as

travel time and frequency of transfers. A feature of the

branch and bound method, adapted for PTV VISUM,

is that, in principle, if single route option was optimal

at some level of research it is not deleted.

When routing, the optimal route can also be

determined by solving the "shortest path problem." In

this case, the road network is presented in the form of

a graph, where road junctions are the peaks, and roads

are the edges connecting them. One-way streets can be

represented by oriented ribs. This method also allows

to enter the characteristics of the ribs to indicate

priority directions of movement. The weights of the

ribs can be calculated on the basis of the length of the

SRN section or the time and money costs of moving

along this section (Abraham, I., Delling, D., 2010). In

PTV VISUM, if the shortest path search method is

used, which is performed according to only one

criterion, the best route option is established between

two transport areas. The search procedure determines

the path with the smallest “search resistance”, that is

the best route will be considered for which a linear

combination of travel time and transfer frequency is

minimal.

For this purpose, a city's transport model was built

in the environment of macroscopic modeling VISUM,

and then the calculation of the distribution of traffic

loads along sections of the street-road network was

carried out. Figure 1a shows the peak load on the road

segment linking the city's residential area to the BSI

zone (red figures indicate the number of private

vehicles passing through these sections, and blue

figures indicate the number of public transport

passengers). Passenger traffic is 9450 vehicles per

peak-hour, which exceeds the capacity of this site by

more than 2000 vehicles. Verification and validation

of the model was carried out by comparing the

calculated values with the data obtained as a result of

field observations.

For carrying out the analysis of "what will happen

if ..." a shuttle route was added to the city's transport

model, where buses powered by Nefaz 5299 gas-

engine fuel with a nominal capacity of 119 people

operate. The choice of this fleet is due to the need to

improve the environmental friendliness of

transportation. When selecting the optimal number of

substations, the PTV VISUM “Create Revolutions"

procedure was used. The calculated time of the bus's

turnover along the route was 40 minutes. The

possibility of organizing the delivery of employees to

the enterprises at the beginning of the working shift at

6:00, 7:00 and 8:00 is considered. In this case, the

transport load can be reduced from 9,450 to 7,200

individual transport units, if three buses are used on

the route (Figure 1b).

)

Figure 1: а) Existing transport load in the zone of the BSI,

b) Expected transport load when adding a shuttle route.

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670

4 SUMMARY

Managing urban passenger transport is a complex

task, the solution of which is impossible without the

intellectualization of management. Existing domestic

and foreign experience shows that the

implementation of management decisions in the field

of transport should be carried out only after they are

tested on models (both analytical and simulation).

Modern means of simulation allow to solve problems

of different levels in complex systems. The choice of

a particular system is performed depending on the

task class and system capabilities. For modeling the

city's transport systems and solving routing problems,

the optimal option is the environment of

macromodelling VISUM. The shuttle operations

allow solving a number of tasks that are related to the

optimization of processes in both the transport and

production systems. The adequacy of the proposed

solution was tested on a model developed for the

Naberezhnye Chelny city. When developing the

transport model, methods of transport routing,

determination of passenger traffic and transport

correspondence, simulation, computer experiment

were applied. After verification and validation of the

developed model, a computer experiment with

current parameters and with the shuttle route was

conducted. Experiments on the model showed that the

opening to the BSI zone of the shuttle route would

reduce the transport load on the problem area of the

city's road network by 21%.

5 CONCLUSIONS

Growing motorization of the population along with

problems in the organization of public transport

created a number of problems that adversely affect

the functioning of the city's transport system and its

security. This causes both economic and

environmental damage and negatively affects the

environment and health of city residents. The concept

of Smart City implies the creation of an urban area

that provides sustainable economic development and

a high quality of life through superiority in many key

areas. Realization of the main goal of sustainable

mobility is to gain access to destination points for

city's residents while reducing the negative impact on

the environment. This can be achieved either by

switching to environmentally friendly transport, or by

reducing the number of trips by private transport due

to the predominant use of public transport. In the case

of separation of residential and industrial zones one

of the effective methods of solving the problem is the

creation of new opportunities for collective mobility

– using of shuttle service of enterprises' employees.

Simulation is the best way to find the best option of a

new shuttle transportation route.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by the Russian Foundation

for Basic Research: grant No. 19-29-06008\19.

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