Enhancing metro network resilience via localized integration with bus services

This paper advances the field of network disruption analysis by introducing an application to a multi-modal transport network, capitalizing on the redundancies and improved connectivity of an integrated metro-bus network. Metro network resilience to disruptions can be enhanced by leveraging on public bus services. To ensure better acceptance among operators and commuters, we focus on introducing localized integration with bus services instead of designing an entirely new bus network to achieve the desired resilience to potential disruptions. This is accomplished by increasing the capacity of bus services that run in parallel with affected metro lines as well as those connecting to different metro lines. Our analysis starts with a network representation to model the integrated metro and bus system. A two-stage stochastic programming model is further developed to assess the intrinsic metro network resilience as well as to optimize the localized integration with bus services. The approach is applied to a case study based on the Singapore public transit system and actual travel demand data. The results show that the metro network resilience to disruptions can be enhanced significantly from localized integration with public bus services.