Scholarly record

BENEFITS OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT PRIORITY AT TRAFFIC SIGNALS: SMALL TOWN EXPERIENCE

Andrea Kociánová

Abstract

Public transport is a key component of sustainable mobility in cities. One way to increase attractiveness of public transport to citizens is to offer shorter travel time compared to other transport modes. Ensuring faster and smoother transit of road-based public transport vehicles (buses, trolleybuses, etc.) is possible by active prioritizing of these vehicles at signalized intersections. The article describes technologies and principles of decentralized GPS-based priority system operation with two-way real-time data communication between vehicles and traffic signal controllers. Verification of this system efficiency in terms of delay reduction is presented by results achieved in a small town (population approximately 50 000) with limited space options at signalized intersections (with low number of shared lanes and without dedicated bus lanes). The legitimacy of the system implementation has been confirmed by saving about 45-75% of the transit time at the monitored intersections, which resulted in adjustment of timetable, shortening travel times by approximately 12% per each trolleybus line and increasing an average travel speed by approximately 14%. It has a positive impact not only on public transport attractiveness to citizens, but also on operational savings for public transport operators and on the environment.

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