Green Light Optimal Speed Advisory Customization for Urban Buses: an Experimental Approach

Urban transportation systems are undergoing significant transformations to mitigate environmental impacts while enhancing efficiency and passenger experience. In this context, optimizing bus operations allows to achieve these goals. This paper presents an experimental approach to customize Green Light Optimal Speed Advisory (GLOSA) systems specifically tailored for urban buses (B-GLOSA). B-GLOSA systems provide real-time speed recommendations to the bus driver, aiming to synchronize the vehicle movement with traffic signal timing, thereby reducing energy consumption while improving travel time reliability and passengers comfort. However, existing GLOSA implementations primarily focus on private vehicles and lack customization for the unique characteristics of urban buses that must stop at specific locations for a certain amount of time to allow passengers to load and unload. Our proposed approach involves a comprehensive experimental framework, integrating real-world data analysis, simulation modeling, and field tests. The experimental results demonstrate the potential of B-GLOSA systems in optimizing urban bus operations while reducing energy consumption by 26% and longitudinal acceleration RMS by 21%.