Urban Bus Route Planning Method Integrating Heuristic and Non-Dominated Sorting Algorithms—A Case Study of Kunming Bus Route 119

Urban transportation is a crucial aspect of modern societal development, with bus route optimization playing a central role in urban transit planning. Well-designed bus routes can enhance the efficiency and attractiveness of public transportation, alleviate traffic congestion and pollution, and ultimately contribute to the overall growth of a city. This study investigates the selection of bus stop locations and route optimization from three perspectives: population density, facility distribution, and route length. Firstly, a scheme for optimizing bus stop locations is proposed based on population grid data, Points of Interest (POI), and road network data. Next, candidate points are generated using the road network, and a new heuristic algorithm is introduced to initially establish optimized routes. A nondominated sorting algorithm is then employed to identify the optimal solution set, balancing population coverage, facility accessibility, and route distance. The proposed method for bus stop location and route optimization is universally applicable to urban bus routes and can be validated through case studies in different cities. Finally, an empirical analysis is conducted using Route 119 in Kunming City, Yunnan Province, as a case study. Compared with the original bus route, the optimized route demonstrates improvements of 18.26% in route distance, 15.79% in Points of Interest (POI) accessibility, and 10.53% in population coverage.