Vulnerability analysis of an intercity bus carrier’s short-term operations

An intercity bus service includes several bus stations for passenger access and bus service routes for bus operating between designated pairs of stations. Fundamentally, whether stations and bus service routes are operating normally or not has a direct impact on profits and the passenger service rate. However, changes in passenger demand patterns over time can lead to changes in the importance of stations and bus service routes, a problem that has rarely been discussed in the literature. This study applies a scheduling model to perform vulnerability analyses related to intercity bus schedules and routes in short-term operations. A series of analyses were conducted to observe the changes in the optimization results by changing its configurations. The results illustrate the vulnerability of the transportation system components under different scenarios and operating strategies, which could help an intercity bus carrier respond early to effectively maintain its operations.