Bus priority at traffic signals : evaluating strategy options.

This article compares different strategy options for providing bus priority at traffic signals. The different strategies considered vary in the strength of the priority awarded and in the selection of the buses that are to receive priority. The strategies include so-called differential priority, where buses receive individual priority treatment according to some criterion such as lateness, and nondifferential priority, where all buses are treated in the same way. The strategies are compared using a simulation model, SPLIT, that has been developed and validated. The article describes some of the modelling issues that are involved in simulating bus priority systems and how they have been treated with the SPLIT model.