Bus rapid transit using compensation method as bus priority system at isolated three-arm junction

Abstract

Current nature of Malaysia society and lifestyle creates various needs of travel. Nowadays, there are more affordable cars than it was for the last decades. People choose to invest in buying themselves a car rather than using public transportation that leads to congestion on the road. Johor Bahru is also one of the cities in Malaysia that suffers traffic congestion due to the rapid increase in transit needs and population density. Perbadanan Pengangkutan Awam Johor planned to introduce Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system to help solve the problem regarding the traffic congestion. In this paper, the implementation of BRT system in an unsignalised junction were assessed using four scenarios of mode split to determine the performance of the BRT system before and after implementation. The four scenarios of mode split involved are base scenario, 84%:16%, 62%:38% and 46%:54% of private vehicles user against public transit user respectively. Microscopic traffic simulations of PTV VISSIM was used to carried out the assessment of BRT system and compensation method was used as the bus priority system at the junction. The costs of congestion were calculated based on the results from the VISSIM simulations. The level of service for the junction were compared between the scenarios. Further analysis showed that the mode split of 46% private vehicle users and 54% public transit users are more beneficial compared to other scenarios in term of travel time and cost of delay. The level of service had improved at some of the approaches at the junction.