A Study and Implementation of the Transit Route Network Design Problem for a Realistic Urban Case

The design of public transportation networks presupposes solving optimization problems, involving various parameters such as the proper mathematical description of networks, the algorithmic approach to apply, and also the consideration of real-world, practical characteristics such as the types of vehicles in the network, the frequencies of routes, demand, possible limitations of route capacities, travel decisions made by passengers, the environmental footprint of the system, the available bus technologies, besides others. The current paper presents the progress of the work that aims to study the design of a municipal public transportation system that employs middleware technologies and geographic information services in order to produce practical, realistic results. The system employs novel optimization approaches such as the particle swarm algorithms and also considers various environmental parameters such as the use of electric vehicles and the emissions of conventional ones.