Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Dynamic transit lanes for connected and autonomous vehicles

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Public Transport Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Transit lanes provide dedicated right-of-way to transit vehicles, but reduce the number of lanes available to other vehicles. Several studies have implemented intermittent bus lanes, which are sometimes reserved for transit but otherwise are available for general traffic. However, their efficiency suffers from the difficulties of communicating accessibility to drivers. We extend this concept by proposing dynamic transit lanes for connected autonomous vehicles, in which infrastructure continuously updates vehicles on lane accessibility. We present a cell transmission model of dynamic transit lanes in which the number of lanes available to general traffic changes in space and time in response to the presence or absence of transit vehicles. In order to extend the concept of transit signal priority in the context of connected autonomous vehicles and integrate it with dynamic transit lanes, we also modify the reservation-based intersection control system for autonomous vehicles to prioritize transit. Numerical results from small test cases show that the dynamic transit lanes and transit intersection priority allow transit to move nearly at free flow on the corridor despite congestion. Results from the downtown Austin city network using dynamic traffic assignment show that both transit and general traffic would experience significant benefits in realistic settings.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Agrawal AW, Goldman T, Hannaford N (2013) Shared-use bus priority lanes on city streets: approaches to access and enforcement. J Public Transp 16(4):2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Altché F, de La Fortelle A (2016) Analysis of optimal solutions to robot coordination problems to improve autonomous intersection management policies. In: Intelligent Vehicles Symposium (IV), 2016, pp 86–91. IEEE

  • Carlino D, Boyles SD, Stone P (2013) Auction-based autonomous intersection management. In: 2013 16th International IEEE conference on intelligent transportation systems (ITSC). IEEE, pp 529–534

  • Chiu Y-C, Bottom J, Mahut M, Paz A, Balakrishna R, Waller T, Hicks J (2011) Dynamic traffic assignment: a primer. Transp Res Part E-Circ (2011). https://trid.trb.org/view/1112932

  • Courant R, Friedrichs K, Lewy H (1967) On the partial difference equations of mathematical physics. IBM J Res Dev 11(2):215–234

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Currie G, Lai H (2008) Intermittent and dynamic transit lanes: Melbourne, Australia, experience. Transp Res Rec 2072:49–56

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daganzo CF (1994) The cell transmission model: a dynamic representation of highway traffic consistent with the hydrodynamic theory. Transp Res Part B Methodol 28(4):269–287

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daganzo CF (1995) The cell transmission model, part II: network traffic. Transp Res Part B Methodol 29(2):79–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daganzo CF (1998) Queue spillovers in transportation networks with a route choice. Transp Sci 32(1):3–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dresner K, Stone P (2004) Multiagent traffic management: a reservation-based intersection control mechanism. In: Proceedings of the third international joint conference on autonomous agents and multiagent systems, vol 2. IEEE Computer Society, pp 530–537

  • Dresner K, Stone P (2006) Traffic intersections of the future. The 21st national conference on artificial intelligence, NECTAR Track. AAAI Press, Boston, Massachusetts, pp 1593–1596

    Google Scholar 

  • Dresner K, Stone P (2007) Sharing the road: autonomous vehicles meet human drivers. IJCAI 7:1263–1268

    Google Scholar 

  • Duell M, Levin MW, Boyles SD, Waller ST (2016) Impact of autonomous vehicles on traffic management: case of dynamic lane reversal. Transp Res Rec 2567:87–94

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eichler M, Daganzo CF (2006) Bus lanes with intermittent priority: strategy formulae and an evaluation. Transp Res Part B Methodol 40(9):731–744

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fagnant DJ, Kockelman K (2015) Preparing a nation for autonomous vehicles: opportunities, barriers and policy recommendations. Transp Res Part A Policy Pract 77:167–181

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fajardo D, Au T-C, Waller S, Stone P, Yang D (2011) Automated intersection control: performance of future innovation versus current traffic signal control. Transp Res Rec 2259:223–232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Godunov SK (1959) A difference method for numerical calculation of discontinuous solutions of the equations of hydrodynamics. Matematicheskii Sbornik 89(3):271–306

    Google Scholar 

  • Guler SI, Cassidy MJ (2012) Strategies for sharing bottleneck capacity among buses and cars. Transp Res Part B Methodol 46(10):1334–1345

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guler SI, Menendez M, Meier L (2014) Using connected vehicle technology to improve the efficiency of intersections. Transp Res Part C Emerg Technol 46:121–131

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hausknecht M, Au T-C, Stone P, Fajardo D, Waller T (2011) Dynamic lane reversal in traffic management. In: 2011 14th International IEEE conference on intelligent transportation systems (ITSC). IEEE, pp 1929–1934

  • He Q, Head KL, Ding J (2012) Pamscod: platoon-based arterial multi-modal signal control with online data. Transp Res Part C Emerg Technol 20(1):164–184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • He Q, Head KL, Ding J (2014) Multi-modal traffic signal control with priority, signal actuation and coordination. Transp Res Part C Emerg Technol 46:65–82

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu J, Park BB, Lee Y-J (2015) Coordinated transit signal priority supporting transit progression under connected vehicle technology. Transp Res Part C Emerg Technol 55:393–408

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levin MW, Boyles SD (2015a) Effects of autonomous vehicle ownership on trip, mode, and route choice. Transp Res Rec 2493:29–38

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levin MW, Boyles SD (2015b) Intersection auctions and reservation-based control in dynamic traffic assignment. Transp Res Rec 2497:35–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levin MW, Boyles SD (2015c) A multiclass cell transmission model for shared human and autonomous vehicle roads. Transp Res Part C Emerg Technol 90:114–133

    Google Scholar 

  • Levin MW, Boyles SD (2016) A cell transmission model for dynamic lane reversal with autonomous vehicles. Transp Res Part C Emerg Technol 68:126–143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levin MW, Rey D (2017) Conflict-point formulation of intersection control for autonomous vehicles. Transp Res Part C Emerg Technol 85:528–547

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levin MW, Pool M, Owens T, Juri NR, Waller ST (2014) Improving the convergence of simulation-based dynamic traffic assignment methodologies. Netw Spat Econ 15:655–676

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levin MW, Boyles SD, Patel R (2016a) Paradoxes of reservation-based intersection controls in traffic networks. Transp Res Part A Policy Pract 90:14–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levin MW, Fritz H, Boyles SD (2016b) On optimizing reservation-based intersection controls. IEEE Trans Intell Transp Syst 18:1–11

    Google Scholar 

  • Li Z, Chitturi M, Zheng D, Bill A, Noyce D (2013) Modeling reservation-based autonomous intersection control in vissim. Transp Res Rec 2382:81–90

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lighthill MJ, Whitham GB (1955) On kinematic waves. II. A theory of traffic flow on long crowded roads. Proc R Soc Lond A Math Phys Eng Sci 229:317–345

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mounce R, Carey M (2014) On the convergence of the method of successive averages for calculating equilibrium in traffic networks. Transp Sci 49(3):535–542

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poole Jr RW, Balaker T (2005) Virtual exclusive busways: improving urban transit while relieving congestion, Technical report

  • Qiu F, Li W, Zhang J, Zhang X, Xie Q (2015) Exploring suitable traffic conditions for intermittent bus lanes. J Adv Transp 49(3):309–325

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richards PI (1956) Shock waves on the highway. Oper Res 4(1):42–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schepperle H, Bohm K (2008) Auction-based traffic management: towards effective concurrent utilization of road intersections. In: 2008 10th IEEE conference on E-commerce technology and the fifth IEEE conference on enterprise computing, E-commerce and E-services. IEEE, pp 105–112

  • Tuerprasert K, Aswakul C (2010) Multiclass cell transmission model for heterogeneous mobility in general topology of road network. J Intell Transp Syst 14(2):68–82

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vasirani M, Ossowski S (2012) A market-inspired approach for intersection management in urban road traffic networks. J Artif Intell Res 43:621–659

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Viegas J, Lu B (2001) Widening the scope for bus priority with intermittent bus lanes. Transp Plan Technol 24(2):87–110

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Viegas J, Lu B (2004) The intermittent bus lane signals setting within an area. Transp Res Part C Emerg Technol 12(6):453–469

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Viegas JM, Roque R, Lu B, Vieira J (2007) Intermittent bus lane system: demonstration in Lisbon, Portugal. In: Transportation Research Board 86th annual meeting, Washington

  • Wong G, Wong S (2002) A multi-class traffic flow model-an extension of LWR model with heterogeneous drivers. Transp Res Part A Policy Pract 36(9):827–841

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu H (2010) Numerical study of urban traffic flow with dedicated bus lane and intermittent bus lane. Phys A 389(16):3134–3139

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu F, Ukkusuri SV (2015) A linear programming formulation for autonomous intersection control within a dynamic traffic assignment and connected vehicle environment. Transp Res Part C Emerg Technol 55:363–378

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for Dr. Stephen D. Boyles’ comments and suggestions. The authors also appreciate the support of the Data-Supported Transportation Operations and Planning Center, the NSF CAREER Program, Grant No. 1254921, and Minnesota Department of Transportation Award No. 99008 Work Order No. 211.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo-Engineering, University of Minnesota, 500 Pillsbury Drive S.E., Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA

    Michael W. Levin & Alireza Khani

Authors
  1. Michael W. Levin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alireza Khani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael W. Levin.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Levin, M.W., Khani, A. Dynamic transit lanes for connected and autonomous vehicles. Public Transp 10, 399–426 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12469-018-0186-2

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12469-018-0186-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation