Estimation for running time and energy losses due to unproductive stops at bus stations in urban-rural traffic corridors

To provide data support for developing fixed-route DRT based on FRT to reduce operating costs inside base routes in urban-rural traffic corridors, this paper estimated running time and energy losses due to unproductive stops at bus stations in urban-rural traffic corridors. Firstly, 14 urban-rural bus routes without ticket sellers in Xi’an are selected to demonstrate the universality of unproductive stops at bus stations. Secondly, a model for estimating running time and energy losses based on the VT-CPFM model is developed. Finally, running time and energy losses due to unproductive stops in two representative urban-rural traffic corridors are estimated. Estimated results show that the average running time loss ratios of different rounds in Routes 332, 333, 335, 338 and G1 range from 8.30% to 17.52% and that average fuel loss ratios range from 9.16% to 13.30%. In addition, the monetary loss in energy consumption of Route G1 in 2019 is estimated to be up to 193213 yuan. This study proves that unproductive stops at bus stations generally exist in urban-rural bus routes and can result in significant running time and energy losses and that developing fixed-route DRT based on FRT leveraging V2I with mobile APP in representative urban-rural traffic corridors is very necessary, which is expected to reduce energy consumption and running time.