Simulation Study Found a 490.5 Vehicle Miles Traveled Reduction During a Two-Hour Peak Period with a Fully Automated Mobility On-Demand Fleet of 31 Vehicles.
Researchers Assessed Mobility Benefits of a Fully Automated on-Demand System Using a Case Study in Duluth, Minnesota.
Duluth, Minnesota, United States
Designing an Autonomous Service to Cover Transit’s Last Mile in Low-Density Areas
Summary Information
Fully Automated Mobility-on-Demand (AMoD) services have the potential to provide last-mile coverage where fixed-route transit can only provide limited service. This study designed an AMoD service to solve the transit last-mile problem in Greater Minnesota, using the Miller Hill Mall (MHM) area in Duluth, MN as the case study location. The study utilized attribute data from 2018, and transit service data between December 2021 and March 2022. The researchers developed mathematical models and AMoD control algorithms, as well as simulation experiments, for evaluating the AMoD service in terms of its impacts on mobility.
METHODOLOGY
The simulation assumed transit routes in the MHM area would terminate at a transit hub, with the last mile replaced by an AMoD system using 19, 25, or 31 small fully Automated Vehicles (AVs) in different scenarios. The transit hub was placed at an existing station on the study area's periphery. The AMoD service was integrated with a transit mode choice model and divided the MHM area into 21 local zones, each with a specific drop-off location. A time-based model was used to simulate the AMoD operation over a two-hour peak period, with five-minute intervals accounting for variables such as travelers waiting, vehicle availability, and vehicle movements.
FINDINGS
The results indicated that mode shift from personal vehicles to the integrated transit-AMoD service could result in a reduction of 387.5, 456.3, and 490.5 Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) during a two-hour afternoon peak For AMoD fleet sizes of 19, 25, and 31 vehicles, respectively. These reductions account for the new VMT introduced by the AMoD vehicles but do not include the decrease in bus VMT resulting from shortening fixed-route transit routes to the transit hub.
