Modeling Real-Time Transit Information and Its Impacts on Travelers’ Decisions

The increasing deployment of automated data collection methods enables the provision of real-time transit information (RTI) to travellers. The generation of this information requires predictions on transit performance based on instantaneous data collection and processing. The disseminated information affects travellers' perceptions of transit conditions and subsequently their travel decisions. The analysis of these processes requires dynamic modelling of traffic conditions, transit operations and travellers’ decisions. This paper provides a modelling framework for evaluating the impacts of RTI. The model is implemented in BusMezzo, a transit and traffic simulation model. A multi-agent approach is used for emulating the dynamic loading of travellers and their interaction with the transit system through successive travel decisions. A network-wide evaluation of the impacts of various RTI systems is conducted for the rapid transit network in Stockholm, Sweden. The analysis suggests that providing network-level information through personal mobile devices can yield considerable time savings and substantially different time-dependent passenger loads.