Planning for an Aging Fleet of Shuttle Vehicles with Simulation

San Francisco State University operates a small but aging fleet of shuttle vehicles that facilitate travel by its affiliates to, from, and around campus. Its shuttle system is primarily intended to supplement municipal bus service in connecting the university to the nearest Bay Area Rapid Transit train station in Daly City, California, approximately a mile and a half south of campus. This article presents an animated discrete‐event simulation model of the system that can be used by campus planners to make capital improvement decisions about the fleet. In particular, the model can help identify the best type of shuttle (in terms of capacity and number of doors) to replace the older existing vehicles. Furthermore, experimentation with the model can predict how different fleet configurations would accommodate various increases in ridership; e.g., if ridership increases 40% over the next few years, a satisfactory level of service can be maintained by replacing just two of the fleet's six existing shuttles with new 39‐passenger, two‐door, low‐floor vehicles.