Dynamic spatial slice optimization for bus priority under the environment of mixed traffic

Bus priority, as an effective way to alleviate congestion. To do this, most existing strategies design a dedicated lane or road space for buses. However, the dedicated lane or road space can easily cause wastage of road space. To save road space, a strategy is proposed and makes a bus priority lane open to general vehicles. The strategy calls such a lane as Mixed-use Bus Priority Lane (MBPL). The challenge of the strategy is to protect buses from being interfered with by general vehicles while permitting general vehicles to enter the MBPL. To overcome the challenge, the strategy cuts the MBPL into several spatial slices at each moment. Spatial slices on the MBPL are dynamically allocated for buses and general vehicles. Hence, the strategy formulates a Dynamic Spatial Slice Optimization Model (DSSOM). The DSSOM can make buses and some general vehicles dynamically use the spatial slices. Sensitivity analysis is conducted under different congestion levels. The results demonstrate that the proposed strategy outperforms the state-of-art bus priority strategy in terms of delay reduction.