Event Details

Maryam Kamali of Alchera Technologies will present a seminar to the Management Science Department

Abstract: Understanding where and why buses are delayed is critical for improving public transport reliability and planning effective interventions. This talk delves into the end-to-end process of using live bus location data to identify problem areas on the road network where delays or high variability in travel time frequently occur. We begin by discussing the technical and practical challenges of accurately mapping noisy GPS traces to road segments. Next, we present methods for constructing a baseline or "free-flow" model of bus travel times along road segments, which allows us to flag locations with significant or recurring deviations.With these delays identified, we focus on interpreting their causes—highlighting our work on associating delay patterns with signalised intersections, where timing and queuing effects often play a significant role. While some root causes remain difficult to isolate, we discuss the limits of current data and the potential of combining additional contextual sources to close that gap. By walking through this pipeline—from raw GPS traces to delay detection and partial explanation—this talk aims to share practical insights and open questions for further research and collaboration in transport analytics.