A microsimulation Study for bus priority systems using pre-signals

The provision of transit priority has been shown to offer numerous societal benefits in urban areas, including alleviating congestion, improving air quality, reducing climate impacts, and saving energy. Furthermore, bus priority has the potential to break the vicious cycle in which congestion reduces bus reliability and efficiency, causing individuals to switch to private cars and further exacerbating delays and congestion. This research aims to implement a bus priority system that utilizes a dedicated bus lane terminated upstream of the intersection, along with an additional signal, known as a pre-signal, at this location. Although pre-signals are already in use in some urban areas, and various studies have been conducted to improve their functionality through the use of adaptive control algorithms that respond to changing traffic demand, the optimal distance between the pre-signal and main intersection has not been thoroughly investigated along corridors, as previous studies have primarily focused on isolated intersections. The current study seeks to address this gap by developing an algorithm for determining the optimal pre-signal distance from the main signal in real networks, while also taking into account user safety. The study aims to achieve two primary goals: reducing delays experienced by public transit users and improving the intersection's discharge rate for private vehicles when the bus priority network is in use