Bus Network Microsimulation with General Transit Feed Specification and Tap-in-Only Smart Card Data

Simulation models are vital instruments for properly evaluating proposed interventions on the public transport network. Because of data constraints, traditional planning models have been based on simplified representations of supply and demand. The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the feasibility of constructing a highly detailed public transit microsimulation model using general transit feed specification (GTFS) (complete planned service in the form of schedules transmitted to the public) and smart card data collected from a surface bus network. Since the validation protocol is tap-in only and the validation equipment by default provides no location information, algorithms are developed to derive boarding and alighting locations by using the recorded times of the fare validations. The GTFS schedule data are transformed into network format. The smart card data and GTFS data generate, respectively, highly detailed representations of transit demand and supply that are ideally suited for analysis using a powerful microsimulation tool (in this case, TRANSIMS). The results of these procedures demonstrate the feasibility of using smart card data and GTFS data as the basis for simulation of a surface transit network and offer the potential to dramatically increase the precision and versatility of public transport planning.