Performance Measures for Multi-vehicle Allowance Shuttle Transit (MAST) System
Luca Quadrifoglio, Kai Yin, and Wei Lu, September, 2014
This study investigates the performance measures for multi-vehicle mobility allowance shuttle transit (MAST) system. Particularly, researchers were primarily concerned with two measures, waiting time and ride time, to evaluate the performance and help design of m-MAST systems. The MAST system is an innovative concept that allows transit vehicles to deviate from a fixed route consisting of a few mandatory checkpoints to serve on-demand customers within a predetermined service area, and thus can be both affordable and convenient enough to attract the general public. For the MAST system, the fixed route can be either a loop or a line between two terminals. The checkpoints are usually located at major transfer stops or high demand zones and are relatively far from each other. Researchers developed analytical results for the waiting time probability distribution and its expected value as well as the expected ride time for different types of customers in terms of the system parameters for both 1-MAST system and multi-vehicle MAST (m-MAST). Researchers also discussed the assumptions behind the estimation. Based on the analytical results, researchers provided the inherent constraints between these parameters and demand.
Keywords: Hybrid Transit, Analytical Modeling, Performance Measures
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