A Markov Chain-Based Stochastic Queuing Model for Evaluating the Impact of Shared Bus Lane on Intersection

Abstract

The introduction of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems has the potential to alleviate urban traffic congestion. However, in certain cities in China, the increasing prevalence of privately owned vehicles, combined with the underutilization of bus lanes due to infrequent bus departures, has contributed to heightened congestion in general lanes. The advent of Internet of Things (IoT) technology offers a promising opportunity to develop intelligent public transportation systems, facilitating efficient management through seamless information transmission to end devices. This paper presents an IoT-based shared bus lane (IoT-SBL) that integrates intersection information, real-time traffic queuing conditions, and bus location data to encourage passenger vehicles to utilize the bus lane. This encouragement can be communicated through traditional signaling methods or future Infrastructure-to-Vehicle (I2V) and Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication technologies. To evaluate the effectiveness of the IoT-SBL strategy, we proposed a stochastic model that incorporates queuing effects and derived a series of performance metrics through model analysis. The experimental findings indicated that the IoT-SBL strategy significantly reduces vehicle queuing, decreases vehicle delays, enhances intersection throughput efficiency, and lowers fuel consumption compared to the traditional bus lane strategy.