An evolutionary model of urban bus transport network based on B-space

Abstract

In this paper, an evolutionary model of bus transport network in B-space is developed. It includes the effect of the overlapping ratio of new route on network performance and overcomes the disadvantage, i.e. lack of economic consideration, in the evolutionary bus transport network model in P-space proposed by Chen et al (2007). The degree distribution functions are derived by using the mean-field method and the master equation method, separately. The relationship between the new stop ratio of a route, λ, and the error in exponential of degree distribution function from the mean-field method is developed as ΔSlope = λ/(1 - λ) + ln(1 - λ). Finally, the bus transport networks of Hangzhou and Nanjing are simulated by using this model, and the results show that some characteristic index values of the simulated networks are closer to the empirical data than those from Chen's model.