Title: Assessment of public transport control systems: a comparative analysis of platforms and a new platform architecture

Authors: Nesrine Ghariani; Sabeur Elkosantini; Saber Darmoul; Lamjed Ben Said

Addresses: SOIE Laboratory, High Institute of Management of Tunis, University of Tunis, Tunisia ISG Tunis, 41, Rue de la Liberté, Cité Bouchoucha 2000 Le Bardo, Tunis, Tunisie ' Industrial Engineering Department, King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh, 11421, Saudi Arabia ' Industrial Engineering Department, King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh, 11421, Saudi Arabia ' SOIE Laboratory, High Institute of Management of Tunis, University of Tunis, Tunisia ISG Tunis, 41, Rue de la Liberté, Cité Bouchoucha 2000 Le Bardo, Tunis, Tunisie

Abstract: Public transportation systems (PTSs) are complex and dynamic networks that are constantly exposed to disturbances. Many studies focused on the development of public transport control systems (PTCSs) to improve the efficiency of PTSs and ensure acceptable levels of quality of service (QoS). Although the performance of such systems has been analysed and assessed using simulation platforms, there is still a need for a common evaluation platform that allows both benchmarking and assessment of PTCSs based on a set of key performance indicators (KPI). This paper reviews existing simulation platforms and evaluates their ability to assess PTCSs based on a comparative analysis framework. Then, the paper introduces a new platform architecture for the evaluation and benchmarking of public transport control systems. We show that the suggested architecture fills in (at least part of) the gaps of existing platforms.

Keywords: public transport; control systems; performance evaluation; assessment; comparative analysis; key performance indicators; KPIs; platform architecture; quality of service; QoS; benchmarking; simulation platforms.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSTL.2016.078679

International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics, 2016 Vol.8 No.5, pp.509 - 530

Received: 06 Aug 2014
Accepted: 06 Mar 2015
Published online: 01 Sep 2016 *

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