Sustainability, Vol. 11, Pages 5535: Customized Bus Network Design Based on Individual Reservation Demands (Sustainability)

With the advantages of congestion alleviation, environmental friendliness, as well as a better travel experience, the customized bus (CB) system to reduce individual motorized travel is highly popular in increasing numbers of cities in China. The line planning problem is a key aspect of the CB system. This paper presents a detailed flow chart of a CB network planning methodology, including individual reservation travel demand data processing, CB line origin–destination (OD) area division considering quantity constraints of demand in areas and distance constraints based on agglomerative hierarchical clustering (AHC), an initial set of CB lines generating quantity constraints of the demand on each line and line length constraints, and line selection model building, striking a balance between operator interests, social benefits, and passengers’ interests. Finally, the impacts of the CB vehicle type, the fixed operation cost of online car-hailing (OCH), and the weights of each itemized cost are discussed. Serval operating schemes for the Beijing CB network were created. The results show that the combination of CB vehicles with 49 seats and 18 seats is the most cost-effective and that CBs with low capacity are more cost-effective than those with larger capacity. People receive the best service when decision-makers pay more attention to environmental pollution and congestion issues. The CB network’s service acceptance rate and the spatial coverage increase with the fixed operating cost per OCH vehicle per day c0C. The CB vehicle use decreases as c0C ccincreases. The results of this study can provide technical support for CB operators who design CB networks.