Investigating the impact of transit preferential treatments on delay and level of service at urban intersections in heterogeneous traffic conditions

In many metropolitan cities, declining bus usage is often attributed to poor service quality. Improving bus travel time through Transit Preferential Treatments (TPTs) is an effective strategy to enhance service quality and encourage a shift toward public transit. While several studies have focused on reducing bus travel time using TPTs, their impacts on non-priority traffic remain insufficiently explored. This study evaluates the effects of Dedicated Bus Lane (DBL) and Queue Jump Lane (QJL) on intersection Level of Service (LOS) using VISSIM microsimulation. Eight signalized intersections in India were analysed. Model calibration was performed using sensitivity analysis and genetic algorithms implemented in MATLAB. Results indicate that QJL reduced intersection delays by up to 32.62% and improved LOS from C to B. In contrast, DBL increased delays by up to 18.97% without improving LOS. The findings demonstrate that QJL is more effective than DBL in enhancing intersection LOS under heterogeneous traffic conditions.