Machine Learning Approaches for Real-Time Traffic Density Estimation and Public Transport Optimization

One of the most common problems in modern urban environments is traffic congestion, which leads to unreliable bus arrival times and passenger delays. In this study, we apply various machine learning models to predict traffic density with the aim of improving the accuracy of bus arrival time estimations. A large dataset comprising over 100,000 instances containing attributes such as date and time, maximum, minimum, and average speed, longitude, latitude, and geohash is utilized to classify traffic density as either “1 (High)” or “0 (Low).” We implement and compare five machine learning models: Logistic Regression, Gradient Boosting, Support Vector Machine (SVM), K-Nearest Neighbors (K-NN), and Naïve Bayes. The results demonstrate the potential of machine learning in reducing unnecessary delays and enhancing the accuracy of bus arrival predictions. This research contributes to improving the efficiency of public transportation systems in the future.