Transit Assignment for Congested Public Transport Systems: An Equilibrium Model

TLDR

Congestion from insufficient transit line capacity is concentrated at stops, making waiting times on access links flow‑dependent. The study proposes a new formulation for the assignment problem on congested transit networks. The authors model congestion by a special transit‑network formulation and analyze solution algorithms for the resulting assignment problem.

Abstract

We propose a new formulation for the assignment problem over congested transit networks. The congestion effects due to insufficient capacity of system elements (transit lines) are considered to be concentrated at transit stops. Waiting times on access links are therefore dependent on passenger flows. A special formulation of the transit network is used in order to model correctly the congestion effects. Finally, algorithms for solution are analyzed.