Optimal design of public bus service with demand equilibrium

Analytical models are developed to optimize bus service with their demand characteristics. The optimizing bus services design options are analyzed in this paper, while route spacing and headway are included with or without vehicle capacity constraints. Optimal levels of these variables are obtained analytically for the objective functions of profit maximization. The analysis uses an equilibrium framework with transient ridership sensitive to the level of service provided by the bus system. The major results consist of closed-form solutions for the optimal area operating policies that are dependent upon local conditions (vehicle capacity constraints) and coefficients of the demand.