Optimization of Bus Routes Network in Federal Capital City Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

The lack of optimal bus routes has been a great problem for the effective operation of the transport system in the Federal Capital City. This has resulted to challenges, such as, inadequate accessibility to public buses, long time of walking to or waiting at bus stops as faced daily by commuters.The results of the assessment of the current bus route network in the Federal Capital city suggested that there is need to optimize the present bus route networks to connect with all the districts of the City for overall accessibility to commuters. This study therefore  determines the optimum bus route network for the City using Ant Colony Optimization Technique. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) were utilized to determine more efficient passenger routes based on the insights derived from the trip distribution analysis. Consider factors  such as travel time, travel distance, traffic congestion, and transportation mode preferences to develop passenger routes that are both time-efficient and cost-effective. A combination of an interview, a questionnaire and a GPS (Garmin76x) was used to gather information from commuters and public transportation operators  to determine trip production and attraction of districts; travel time and travel distance from districts to districts. Geographic Information System (GIS) in Arc-GIS 10.6.1 environment, was employed to analyze and modify the gathered data to digitize the map of the City showing  districts, road network and trip distribution of  residents. The study revealed that the current bus routes network does not cover the routes that have concentration points of movement of commuters; therefore, compared to public buses, which have fares ranging from ₦50 to ₦100 every drop, passengers who use registered taxis and unofficial private automobile taxis spend excessive amounts of money on transportation fees. These taxis' fares range from ₦200 (400%) to ₦500 (500%) per drop. The optimized and optimum bus routes network provided in this study are suggested for implementation  to facilitate an effective bus service operating system in the Federal Capital City.