A queue jumper is a special bus preferential treatment that combines a short stretch of a special lane, such as a right-turn bay, with a transit signal priority (TSP) to allow buses to bypass waiting queues of traffic andthen to cut out in front of the queue by getting an early green signal. Queue jumper lanes are easier to justify than bus lanes because they do not take away a lane from the general traffic, yet they can operate like a bus lane in the area of intersections. In addition, the queue-bypassing capability of queue jumper lanes can avoid the queue uncertainties that are known to limit the effectiveness of mixed-lane TSP, especially under saturated conditions. The objectives of this paper are to propose a signal control design for queue jumper lanes with active TSP strategies and to compare the performance of the proposed queue jumper TSP with the general active mixed-lane TSP. The VISSIM (VISual SIMulation) simulation tool was usedas a testbed for different design alternatives. The results show that queue jumper lanes with the proposed design can reduce more bus delays than can the commonly used mixed-lane TSP, especially under high traffic volumeconditions. It was also found that jumper TSP with a near-side bus stop is superior to the far-side counterpart in terms of both bus delay and intersection delay.
Abstract