Application of operational research techniques in public mass transport planning

For public mass transit planning processes the use of operations research techniques is of great importance. At first the main field of research and applications has been the operational planning, especially vehicle and duty scheduling problems. During the last years there has been an extension to strategic planning, concerning line network design, schedule synchronization and passenger information. Two problems are described in detail as examples for the different possibilities of using operations research techniques. The schedule synchronization problem represents an application to improve service quality by reducing transfer times, whilst an interactive optimization method for vehicle scheduling shows a procedure to increase efficiency in operating processes. The theoretical background is reviewed and results from practical applications are given. Finally some aspects of future developments are pointed out.