AVL based Bus Priority at Traffic Signals: A Review and Case Study of Architectures

Recent developments in technologies such as Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) and advanced control systems have stimulated new interest in bus priority facilities using traffic signals. The use of AVL systems has generated opportunities for implementing flexible busspecific priority strategies according to performance. The extent of the opportunities available depends very much on the architecture of a bus priority system, including the location(s) of intelligence determining the priority level and its implementation, and the method of priority request to the traffic signal. These aspects are important from the point of view of bus priority performance, communication requirements and the cost of the system.