Agent-based multimodal transport planning in dynamic environments

Abstract

The development and maintenance of traffic concepts in urban districts is expensive and leads to high investments for altering transport infrastructures or for the acquisition of new resources. We present an agent-based approach for modeling, simulation, evaluation, and optimization of public transport systems by introducing a dynamic microscopic model. Actors of varying stakeholders are represented by intelligent agents. While describing the inter-agent communication and their individual behaviors, the focus is on the implementation of information systems for traveler agents as well as on the matching between open source geographic information systems, and standardized transport schedules provided by the Association of German Transport Companies. The performance, efficiency, and limitations of the system are evaluated within the public transport infrastructure of Bremen. We discuss the effects of passengers' behaviors to the entire transport network and investigate the system's flexibility as well as consequences of incidents in travel plans. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.