Multiline holding based control for lines merging to a shared transit corridor

In transit corridors, multiple lines share a sequence of consecutive stops to provide higher joint frequency in higher demand areas. A key challenge is to coordinate the transition from single line to joint operation. A holding control strategy aimed at minimizing passenger travel times is introduced for lines merging into a shared corridor, accounting for the coordination of vehicle arrivals from the merging lines as well as the regularity of each line. The criterion is tested using an artificial network and a real-world network to analyze the impact of demand distribution and compare cooperative versus single line control. We illustrate how the real-time strategy yields overall passenger gains, depending on the composition of different user groups. Results are assessed based on operation and passenger performance indicators and show that coordination is achieved. When combined with joint control in the common part, the proposed approach achieves consistent network-wide travel time benefits.