Generating Alternative Pre-Trip Guidance for Metro Users by Considering Travel Time and Trip Feeling

摘要

The metro system is a critical part of urban public transportation systems because of its high capacity and reliable operation status. Although metro systems have attracted a large number of passengers, information service and trip guidance is still extremely deficient. Lack of effective guidance information may lead to the loss of network capacity and is not conductive to improving the level of service for metro systems. Unfortunately, few studies have paid attention to trip guidance for metro users. In order to provide alternative pre-trip guidance for metro users, a method to generate dynamic path guidance is proposed. First, a valid path set was generated by conducting a K-shortest path searching algorithm to avoid path enumeration. Then, a passenger flow assignment strategy based on the metro schedule was designed to identify the real trip path of each metro user from the valid path set. Third, pre-prior sectional passenger flow was forecasted from historical travel information accumulated from individuals. Finally, alternative pre-trip suggestions were generated by combining trip time and trip feeling with variable weights. The proposed method was tested using the metro network in Nanjing city, China. The empirical results show that metro users without pre-trip guidance information may choose a path which is neither time-saving nor comfortable. Comparatively, the guidance information generated by the proposed algorithm can help metro users find the most suitable paths.