Impact of Exclusive Bus Lanes on Traffic Performance in Urban Areas

Abdelfatah, Akmal; Abdulwahid, Amro R. · 2017 · Crossref

DOI: 10.11159/icte17.125

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

Get this paper ↗ (DOI — opens at the source; we link to it, we don't host it)

Summary

This study investigates the impact of Exclusive Bus Lanes (XBLs) on urban traffic performance, motivated by the need to mitigate congestion in rapidly growing cities in the UAE, particularly Sharjah. As private vehicle use increases and infrastructure development lags, the authors propose XBLs as a cost-effective alternative to expensive infrastructure expansions. The research aims to determine under which traffic conditions XBLs effectively improve bus performance without causing excessive deterioration in the performance of other vehicles. The researchers employed a micro-simulation model using VISSIM software to analyze a typical four-leg intersection in Sharjah. The model was calibrated using data from the Sharjah Road and Transportation Authority, incorporating specific geometric characteristics such as lane widths, storage lengths, and fixed signal timings. The experimental design involved a parametric study varying several key factors: demand-to-capacity (D/C) ratios ranging from 0.55 to 1.15 to represent different congestion levels; traffic turning percentages (varying through and left-turn ratios); bus headways (5 to 20 minutes); and bus movements (through vs. left-turn). Each scenario was simulated for one hour with a 15-minute warm-up period, and results were averaged across five random seeds to ensure statistical validity. The results indicate that XBLs are most effective at D/C ratios of 0.80 or higher. Under these conditions, bus travel time, intersection delay, and average speed improved significantly, with buses maintaining constant performance regardless of congestion levels. For example, at a D/C ratio of 1.15, bus travel time improved by 22.6%, and intersection delay decreased by 36.8%. However, the implementation of XBLs negatively impacted vehicles in adjacent lanes. The average deterioration for other vehicles across all D/C ratios was +5% in travel time, +11% in intersection delay, and -5% in average speed. At high congestion levels (D/C ≥ 0.95), this deterioration became severe, with other vehicles experiencing up to a 124.3% increase in travel time and a 227.6% increase in intersection delay. Additionally, XBLs were found to be ineffective for buses making left turns at D/C ratios of 0.95 or less. The study concludes that XBLs are a viable strategy for improving public transportation efficiency in high-congestion scenarios but come at the cost of reduced performance for private vehicles. The authors recommend implementing XBLs only during peak hours when D/C ratios exceed 0.80 to minimize negative impacts on general traffic. They also suggest avoiding XBLs on links where buses frequently turn left, as these lanes do not provide significant benefits in such cases. These findings offer practical guidance for urban planners in balancing transit priority with overall network efficiency.

Provenance

The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed.

Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-26; verification: verified.

Topics

Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.

• traffic density