Transit signal priority in a connected vehicle environment: User throughput and schedule delay optimization approach

Abstract

Transit signal priority (TSP) is a common strategy to improve bus right-of-way at signalized intersections. However, TSP systems have several challenges, such as negative externalities for non-transit users, and handling conflicting priority requests. Considering recent advances in connected vehicle technology, we propose a user-based signal priority strategy (UST) to facilitate bus movement at intersections while minimizing adverse effects to non-transit users. Additionally, we extend UST by minimizing bus scheduled delay (UST-SD) to compensate bus delay that is caused by network congestion. We compare UST and UST-SD with a conventional TSP ring barrier controller (RBC) at an isolated signalized intersection in a microscopic simulation environment. The findings show that the proposed strategy improves user and vehicle performance measures while providing priority for buses.