A framework for selecting bus priority system locations in medium-sized cities: Case study in Araraquara, Brazil

Prioritising public transport allows reducing externalities caused by the intense use of individual motorised transport and to increase the social well-being of the population. There is a lack of research in medium-sized cities, where commonly origin-destination data is not available. This study aims to provide a framework for selecting priority roads to implement bus lanes in medium-sized cities and the solution approach involves three major stages: (i) criteria selection; (ii) weighting of criteria using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP); and (iii) a case study and spatial analysis using Geographical Information System (GIS) tools. Selected criteria relate to demographic characteristics, land use, infrastructure and operation of the current public transport system. Results show a connected network, similar to an old public transport system that operated in the city where the case study was located, and also presenting an intrinsic relation between the built environment and the public transport system. The proposed framework fills the literature gap of applying AHP to implement priority public transport systems in cities without demand data and assists decision-making processes to better allocate resources to improve public transport infrastructure as it presents priority areas for intervention.