Rule-Based System for Platform Assignment in Bus Stations

Abstract

Of all the tasks related to bus station management, one of the most important decisions that greatly affects the quality of the service is the assignment of platforms. A bad assignment procedure may be uncomfortable for frequent passengers who often suffer changes in departure gates, or may even be affected by the lack of platforms. Assignment is complicated due to the frequent incidents that cause delays in or the moving forward of services (with the corresponding changes in assignment), and to increases in services that convert the platforms into a limited resource. Even though this problem of platform assignment has been studied in more detail in the field of airport terminals, the difficulties in road transportation are both distinct and significant. In this paper we develop an intelligent system employing rule-based models for the daily management of the platforms of a bus station. The developed system is currently being used in a real bus station with more than 1,000 daily services.