Ant colony algorithm for rational route network design of urban public transport

Abstract

The relevance of the study is due to the need to optimize spontaneously formed route networks of urban public transport. Effective solution to this problem is the use of decision support systems. However, the automation of these tasks requires research in order to obtain efficient algorithms suitable for practical application. The aim is to offer a new model of optimization the system of urban public transport, enabling to consider the interests of its members, and adaptation of metaheuristic ant colony algorithm to the problem of designing route networks of urban public transport. Testing the proposed model and algorithm was performed on two data sets. The first test allowed us to estimate performance of the algorithm and model on a simple network; the second test allowed us to estimate the effectiveness of the algorithm and the model on a real route network of the city of Tomsk (Russia). The findings showed that the optimized route network of the city is more effective than the current one due to reducing the number of interchange stations and the time spent by passengers in public transport.