A Comprehensive Analysis of Clustering Public Utility Bus Passenger’s Behavior during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Utilization of Machine Learning with Metaheuristic Algorithm

Abstract

Public utility bus (PUB) systems and passenger behaviors drastically changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study assessed the clustered behavior of 505 PUB passengers using feature selection, K-means clustering, and particle swarm optimization (PSO). The wrapper method was seen to be the best among the six feature selection techniques through recursive feature selection with a 90% training set and a 10% testing set. It was revealed that this technique produced 26 optimal feature subsets. These features were then fed into K-means clustering and PSO to find PUB passengers’ clusters. The algorithm was tested using 12 different parameter settings to find the best outcome. As a result, the optimal parameter combination produced 23 clusters. Utilizing the Pareto analysis, the study only considered the vital clusters. Specifically, five vital clusters were found to have comprehensive similarities in demographics and feature responses. The PUB stakeholders could use the cluster findings as a benchmark to improve the current system.