Design of optimization model and Decision Support System to determine the capacity of a number of types of public transportation of urban bus lines

The bus transport system is one of the most important public transportation systems. Improvement of this system has a significant effect on performance and increase the efficiency of cities’ transportation systems and consequently it will have more satisfaction and attraction for passengers. One of the key issues in this field is the optimal allocation in number of vehicles, which is known as the transport timetable. Specifically, allocating each of these devices to each line more than needed will cause excess capacity for that line and conversely, allocation less than needed leads to passenger discontent as a service receiver. Therefore, the main purpose of the research is to estimate the precise and optimal number of vehicles and the number of bus commuting in each line, each time and any kind of day. In this research, mathematical optimization models are used to solve this problem. The proposed model is an integer programming model. Background of the research, interview with the practitioners, bus operating company directors and public transport experts were used for making the model. In order to evaluate the designed model, in addition to solving a few small examples, a pilot experiment was carried out on set of lines of the Azadi terminal of Mashhad Bus Network. The model results were compared with the actual values. The results of the responses obtained from the model showed that with the number of vehicles less than the actual number of buses in the days under investigation, all the constraints of the system, especially demand, are provided.