Inter-City Bus Routing and Timetable Setting Under Stochastic Demands

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2006

Subject Area

operations - scheduling, infrastructure - vehicle, infrastructure - fleet management, planning - methods, planning - route design, ridership - demand, organisation - management, mode - bus

Keywords

Vehicle passenger service, Timetables, Taiwan, Stochastic programming, Simulation, Scheduling, Routing, Programming (Mathematics), Optimization theory, Numerical solutions, Numerical analysis, Motor bus transportation, Mathematical programming, Mathematical models, Intercity bus transportation, Heuristic methods, Formosa, Fleet management, Computer simulation, China (Republic : 1949- ), Bus transportation, Bus routes, Algorithms

Abstract

Vehicle fleet routing and timetable setting are essential to the enhancement of an inter-city bus carrier’s operating cost, profit, level of service and competitiveness in the market. In past research the average passenger demand has usually served as input in the production of the final fleet routes and timetables, meaning that stochastic disturbances arising from variations in daily passenger demand in actual operations are neglected. To incorporate the stochastic disturbances of daily passenger demands that occur in actual operations, in this research, we established a stochastic-demand scheduling model. We applied a simulation technique, coupled with link-based and path-based routing strategies, to develop two heuristic algorithms to solve the model. To evaluate the performance of the proposed model and the two solution algorithms, we developed an evaluation method. The test results, regarding a major Taiwan inter-city bus operation, were good, showing that the model and the solution algorithms could be useful in practice.

Comments

Transportation Research Part A Home Page: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09658564

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