Public transport bunching: A critical review with focus on methods and findings for implications for policy and future research

Abstract

Bunching affects both public transport users and operators adversely. It increases waiting time at stops and onboard, reduces travel speed and comfort, costs more, and substantially deteriorates service reliability. This paper reviews the definition of bunching, underlying causes, modeling, and control strategies. Terminology is to classify demand and supply-related bunching determinants based on spatio-temporal and static and dynamic variability, which is overlooked in the existing literature. Furthermore, seven potential control strategies are examined within a systematic classification of control methods for qualitative assessment purposes. In this assessment, various passenger and operat..