Developing an Intelligent Strategy for Intermittent Bus Lanes in the Vicinity of Signalized Intersections to Reduce Total Person Delay Case Study: Isfahan, Iran

Enhancing the quality of public transportation while simultaneously minimizing the total person delay (including both private-vehicle and transit passengers) constitutes a core objective in modern urban traffic management. A key approach to achieving this dual objective is the implementation of Intermittent Bus Lanes Priority. A novel and adaptive method for implementing this strategy is proposed in this study, and its performance is evaluated via microscopic simulation of a 5.5-km corridor containing seven signalized intersections in Isfahan using Aimsun Next. Two comparative scenarios were modeled for this corridor: (1) the existing condition with a dedicated bus lane, and (2) the proposed Intermittent Bus Lane Priority Strategy. The existing traffic volumes under normal and saturated flow conditions, along with various bus headways, were examined to enable a more detailed assessment of the impacts of intermittent priority under different traffic states and bus operational conditions. The primary performance indicator used for evaluation was the total passenger delay across the entire simulated transportation network, which was considered a comprehensive metric of overall system efficiency. The results demonstrate that the proposed strategy significantly improves network efficiency, reducing the Total Person Delay by up to 24.4%. Furthermore, under saturated traffic conditions, the car delay decreases remarkably by up to 28.2%, despite a slight trade-off observed as an increase in bus delays, ranging from 4% to 13.9. The study's findings indicate that, given the current infrastructure in the country, this approach holds significant potential for achieving substantial improvements in the efficiency and performance of urban transport networks.