Implementation of Bus Priority with Queue Jump Lane and Pre-Signal at Urban Intersections with Mixed Traffic Operations: Lessons Learned?

Abstract

In mixed traffic streams, especially near the intersections, buses suffer significantly due to congestion and excessive delays compared with other modes as they operate on fixed routes. To increase the attractiveness of bus journeys by improving schedule-reliability and reducing journey times, it is necessary to give priority to buses by segregating them from the main traffic stream. However, the road space is generally constrained in the cities and dedicated bus lanes are not a feasible solution in the majority of urban centers. This paper aims to investigate the effectiveness of queue jump lanes (QJL) with and without pre-signal for non-priority traffic. The impacts on traffic and bus operations are analyzed based on implementations at two signalized approaches with distinct traffic and roadway characteristics in the Kolkata city, India. The field implementation indicated travel time savings to passengers as a whole with variations with respect to different scenarios. Impacts on travel time and vehicle discharge yielded the effective benefits of the bus priority implementation. It was also meaningful and interesting to investigate the impacts on driver behavior in terms of bus stop manuevres, and the social acceptability of such implementation. The changes in safety-related aspects and driver violations are some of the aspects which could not be directly investigated in an analytical or micro-simulation platform, but needed a field implementation. The experiences gained from the field implementation of bus priority with QJL are expected to encourage practitioners to apply similar treatments in other cities in emerging countries with analogous operating conditions.