The University of Michigan Implements a Hub-and-Spoke Design to Accommodate Social Distancing in the Campus Bus System Under COVID-19 Restrictions

Gongyu Chen (), Xinyu Fei (), Huiwen Jia (), Xian Yu () and Siqian Shen ()
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Gongyu Chen: Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Xinyu Fei: Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Huiwen Jia: Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Xian Yu: Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Siqian Shen: Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109

Interfaces, 2022, vol. 52, issue 6, 539-552

Abstract: The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has led to significant challenges for schools and communities during the pandemic, requiring policy makers to ensure both safety and operational feasibility. In this paper, we develop mixed-integer programming models and simulation tools to redesign routes and bus schedules for operating a real university campus bus system during the COVID-19 pandemic. We propose a hub-and-spoke design and utilize real data of student activities to identify hub locations and bus stops to be used in the new routes. To reduce disease transmission via expiratory aerosol, we design new bus routes that are shorter than 15 minutes to travel and operate using at most 50% seat capacity and the same number of buses before the pandemic. We sample a variety of scenarios that cover variations of peak demand, social distancing requirements, and bus breakdowns to demonstrate the system resiliency of the new routes and schedules via simulation. The new bus routes were implemented and used during the academic year 2020–2021 to ensure social distancing and short travel time. Our approach can be generalized to redesign public transit systems with a social distancing requirement to reduce passengers’ infection risk.

Keywords: bus routing and scheduling; integer programming; simulation; social distancing; COVID-19 pandemic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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