IPTOP: Integrated Public Transport Optimisation and Planning

Funder: Innovation Fund Denmark | Partners: Trafikselskabet Movia, DSB, Banedanmark, Trafikstyrelsen, Rapidis

🏙️ Background & Policy Context

Historically, there has been a limited tradition in using transport models and mathematical optimisation as tools for public transport planning. Combined with the Danish set up with multiple organisations responsible for the public transport planning it is likely that the actual planning approach has led to solutions, which were suboptimal and inefficient for the passengers. However, with the recent years’ development in the availability of data, data storage and processing possibilities, development of more efficient optimisation algorithms, advances in transport modelling and the development of computer power the project ambition is to develop quantitative methods and tools that can enable a breakthrough in the support of the planning and operations of public transport in large scale.

Experience from transport surveys and models show that if the conditions for one type of transportation seen from the customer’s viewpoint are not satisfactory, then the customer will choose an alternative mode. Hence, even an expensive and green implementation of a transportation concept may fail to attract customers due to a mismatch between the customer requirements and the offered transportation possibilities. IPTOP takes on an integrated approach to optimisation and planning of public transport. The main focus of the project is on the supply side of the transport system, including stop patterns, frequency setting, timetabling, focus on transfers and vehicle scheduling, how this influences the demand, and to clarify the restrictions to the planning and optimisation. A common focus for rail is how the new Danish Signalling Programme (EU ERTMS, Level 2) can contribute to more stable railway timetables, and better utilisation of the infrastructure.

🚀 Objectives

IPTOP will develop innovative methods for transport service design and supervision that take advantage of previously unavailable traveller data. The practical goals of IPTOP are a balanced improvement in the traveller experience and operating efficiencies, and a consequent increase in public transport market share and progress in the response to climate change.

IPTOP asserts that recent advances in the field of analytics (databases, analysis tools) and new traveller data sources (due to new fare collection technologies) provide an opportunity for a completely fresh and new application of mathematical optimisation at a very large scale. In the past, narrow, localized optimization techniques have demonstrated benefits of 3-16%, according to the scenario and performance indicator used. IPTOP seeks even greater benefits from an integrated, large scale analysis of the transport network.

IPTOP will return significant publications and research contributions. The participation of transport firms, practitioners, and experienced researchers provides the resources to ad-dress large scale, real-life planning and optimisation problems that will be of interest in publications and international forums.

📚 Output

Publications

• Jiang, Y., Rasmussen, T. K., & Nielsen, O. A. (2022). Integrated optimization of transit networks with schedule-and frequency-based services subject to the bounded stochastic user equilibrium. Transportation Science, 56(6), 1452-1468.