Impact of Arterial BRT-Lite Green Dwell Time on General Traffic and Intersection Capacity

This paper studies the effect dwelling mixed-traffic arterial Bus Rapid Transit (BRT-"Lite") buses have on general traffic conditions and intersection capacity. Queue length and flow rate data collected from the busiest intersection along the bus route were used as proxies for quantifying traffic impacts. Two traffic scenarios were examined: (1) high volume oversaturated traffic; and (2) normal intersection conditions that were at or below saturation levels. Through use of linear regression models and a k-means clustering analysis - comparing traffic conditions before and after bus arrival as a function of green dwell time - it was found that BRT-Lite buses have no statistically significant impact on intersection performance or traffic capacity. This conclusion was further complemented by paired t-test results in which bus dwelling was found to result in an approximate change in both the average queue length and flow rate of only 1%. As a pilot study for the new BRT-Lite system, this research provides additional insights into the practical applicability of mixed traffic BRT systems and enriches the body of literature on related subjects.