An integrated framework for intercity bus scheduling under stochastic bus travel times

In this research, we develop an integrated framework to help the intercity bus carriers plan bus routes and schedules under stochastic bus travel times. Unlike past research, where stochastic disturbances in the planning and real-time stages are handled separately, the integrated framework embedded in an iterative solution process combines these two stages by repeatedly solving a series of planned bus scheduling and real-time schedule adjustment problems to find suitable bus routes and schedules. The test results, related to a major Taiwan intercity bus operation, show the good performance of the proposed framework.