Using AVL raw data for regularity diagnosis on bus networks and route directions

Bus regularity is a key element for high frequency transit systems: it represents an appropriate measure of quality of service for both users and transit agencies. Therefore, evaluating the regularity is extremely desirable, but may also be a complex task in medium-size-cities, due to the huge amount of data, which must be collected and processed effectively. Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) technologies can address the data collection problem, but they involve several challenges such as correcting anomalies in gathered raw data and processing information efficiently. In this paper, we propose a methodology to automatically handle AVL raw data for measuring the Level of Service (LoS) of bus regularity in each bus route direction of a transit network, as well as in every bus stop and time period. The results are represented by easy-to-read Control Dashboards (CD). We discuss the experimentation of this methodology to provide valuable insights into the detailed characterization of bus regularity. The methodology is applied to raw data obtained from the transport agency CTM in Cagliari (Italy), whose vehicles are all equipped with AVL technologies.