IOE574_Project

A simulation study on Bus Transportation Systems Alternatives

The aim of this project is to simulate the University bus (or M-Bus) system for the city of Ann Arbor using 4 different types of buses - conventional buses (liquid fuel based), all electric buses, and hybrid buses. We aim to aid the city planner in making a decision on which type of bus would be the most feasible for the given situation. In order to make this decision, we compare several metrics associated with the operational feasibility of different alternatives through sensitivity analysis on performance based measures, number of buses in the fleet and the level of fuel to be maintained at the start of each day. The simulation model proposed in the paper consists of two parts - a recharging/refilling station (which is modeled in the form a route) and the actual transportation model itself. The transportation network is in the form of a network flow and utilizes a start and end node which represent a bus depot from which the buses are assigned to different routes. The routes are cyclic which makes the re-deployment of a bus to another route possible. We hope that the simulation model will give us (and the decision makers) insights about the level of complexity involved in the decision making process as well as a starting point as to what to look into, and consider, in the event that the planners are looking to switch to a hybrid or even a fully electric system.