DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS FOR PLANNING BUS OPERATIONS DURING MEGA EVENTS: THE ATHENS 2004 SUMMER OLYMPICS

Planning a public transportation network for accommodating mega events is a complicated process where various parameters such as significantly increased demand for transportation and irregular mobility patterns must be considered. Before and during mega events, planners and operators have to decide, on a number of occasions, regarding the system's operational characteristics on the basis of various assumptions and evolving parameters. This paper presents a decision support system especially developed to support planning and operations of a dedicated bus network for mega events. The decision support system includes a mathematical programming algorithm that can be used to jointly select optimal bus size and headways for all network lines.