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Can bus bunching reduce waiting time?

Bus bunching is ostensibly regarded as a detrimental phenomenon in bus systems. We study a bus loop with two bus stops, one regular and one spike bus stop, where bunched buses can outperform staggered buses. The spike bus stop models a bus stop connected to a train or metro service, where passengers arrive in groups at periodic intervals (spikes). We introduce the configuration of synchronised bunched buses, where bunched buses wait for the spike in demand. For a wide range of parameters, synchronised bunched buses outperform perfectly staggered buses in terms of minimising the waiting time of commuters. We present an analytical formulation of the average waiting time in the case of bunched buses, synchronised bunched buses and perfectly staggered buses with the consideration of different passenger demand, number of buses, and bus capacity. We demonstrate the validity of our analytical results through an agent-based simulation of the bus loop system.