How the issue time of information affects passengers in public transport disruptions: an agent-based simulation approach

Abstract

In public transport disruptions, a key relation between the services of operating company and passengers’ satisfaction is the disseminated information. This paper focus on how the issue time of information affects passengers in the unplanned/unexpected public transport disruptions. Due to different information issue time, passengers’ behaviours are assumed and simulated. An agent-based micro-simulation model (MATSim) is applied for the city of Zürich, Switzerland, for the benefit of heterogeneous activity-based simulation in a multi-modal network. We develop a novel within-day replanning approach in MATSim, to study agents’ route choices responding to public transport disruptions in one single iteration. The disruption is assumed as a rail track blockage between Zürich HB and Zürich Oerlikon via both Zürich Wipkingen and Zürich Hardbrücke. Statistic results are analysed for all the agents who may be involved in the defined disruption. Agents’ travel chain shows their adaptations to the corresponding information scenarios. Agents’ scores reveal that the issue time of information significantly impacts agents’ satisfaction in public transport disruption. In other terms, an investment in better information might be complementary and comparable in an investment in a better management of the operations during the disruption, in interconnected multimodal networks.