Planning electric bus systems with solar photovoltaic integration using open transit data: A case study of the Dakar BRT
Electrification of urban bus systems is expected to accelerate due to its clear environmental benefits. However, effective electric bus deployment requires planning tools that can support decision-making on electrification strategies while balancing operational feasibility, costs, environmental benefits, and impacts on the local electricity grid. Such planning depends on the availability of detailed transit data, which remain scarce in many cities, particularly in developing countries. To address this gap, we present GTFS4EV, an open-source framework that uses publicly available General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) data to simulate bus operations and evaluate electrification scenarios. The framework provides quantitative insights across multiple dimensions. It estimates the minimum onboard battery capacity required for each bus, alongside charging infrastructure needs, economic and environmental impacts, and the potential for solar photovoltaic integration. We apply the framework to the Dakar Bus Rapid Transit system, comparing three charging strategies ("Depot only", "Terminal and depot" and "Terminal only") across different levels of PV capacities. Results show that the "Terminal and depot" strategy reduces the minimum onboard battery capacity from 285 to 57 kWh per bus, and the maximum charging load from 5.3 to 1.5 MW relative to the "Depot only" strategy. The "Terminal only" also provides benefits compared to the "Depot only", although it requires larger onboard battery capacities (155 kWh). Moreover, combining opportunity charging with solar photovoltaics reduces the charging costs by up to 46% relative to grid charging only. The study demonstrates how GTFS data can be leveraged to support electric bus planning and photovoltaic integration in data-scarce contexts.