Dispatching control at transfer stations in multi‐hub transit networks

Among dispatching control approaches, the holding option has attracted the most attention in bus control. However, holding a vehicle at a transfer station may exacerbate the delays because more passengers might accumulate at downstream stations and may also affect other connecting routes at other transfer stations. Our problem is to minimize the total costs of dispatching ready vehicles at each transfer station along coordinated routes in a multi‐hub transit network. The total costs include the waiting cost for on‐board passengers, the missed connection costs for late arrival passengers at the subject transfer station and possible transfer costs at downstream transfer stations. We develop a heuristic algorithm to optimize the holding times based on real time information about late vehicles. The results show that ready vehicles should be held longer when the arrival variances of late vehicles are small or when many late connecting passengers are expected.     

Queue-dependent vehicle dispatching with options and optimal fleet size

A queue-dependent vehicle dispatching rule, with options to use special vehicles (rented, reserve, shared etc.) for relieving long waiting lines, is considered. The transportation system under consideration has one source terminal and a fleet of N regular vehicles. Passengers are assumed to arrive individually at the source terminal according to a Poisson process. An efficient recursive algorithm is derived to analyse the performance of the system. An average cost criterion is used to determine the firm's fleet size and dispatching strategy for a simpler system. This is a variant of a “Random vehicle dispatching with options” rule proposed by Zuckerman and Tapiero (1980).     

Empty freight car dispatching model under freight car pool concept

In the last few years, growing attention has been given to the cost savings potential of the specialized freight car pool concept. Under this concept, a fleet of single-purpose freight cars are pooled at many loading points, and the cars emptied at unloading terminals can be sent back to any loading point in order to reduce empty car miles and time. As part of a continuing effort to improve the car dispatching method for this concept, this paper offers an improvement to the traditional linear programming transportation problem approach, incorporating daily variations of empty car supply and demand characteristics in the model. The proposed method, therefore, allocates cars between supply and demand points with the dispatching date specified, enabling the dispatcher to make daily car disposition decisions. It can incorporate both the travel distance cost and inventory cost of empty cars at terminals in the objective. If the holding of empty vehicles at the terminals for future dispatch is allowed, the problem is structured as a transshipment problem in which the overnight storage is the transshipment point.     

An operational planning model for the dynamic vehicle allocation problem with uncertain demands

The dynamic vehicle allocation problem arises when a motor carrier must simultaneously and in real time coordinate the dispatching of vehicles from one region to the next all over the country. The decision to send a vehicle loaded or empty from one region to the next, arriving in the destination region at some point in the future, must anticipate the downstream impacts of the decision. The consequences of another load in a particular region at some point in the future, however, are highly uncertain. A simple methodology is proposed which calculates approximately the marginal value of an additional vehicle in each region in the future. This information is then used to generate a standard pure network which can be efficiently optimized to give dispatching decisions for today.     

A dispatching decision support system for countering delay propagation in intermodal logistics networks

This paper specifies a dispatching decision support system devoted to managing intermodal logistics operations while countering delay and delay propagation. When service disruptions occur within a logistics network where schedule coordination is employed, a dispatching control model determines through an optimization process whether each ready outbound vehicle should be dispatched immediately or held to wait for some late incoming vehicles. Decisions should consider potential missed-connection costs that may occur not only at the next transfer terminals but also at hubs located further downstream. Numerical examples and a sensitivity analysis with different slack time settings for attenuating delay propagation are presented.     

A simple vehicle dispatching policy with non-stationary stochastic arrival rates

This paper provides an impulsive stochastic control approach to the vehicle dispatching problem with non-stationary and stochastic arrival rates. Both necessary and sufficient conditions for optimal dispatches are given with proofs given in appendices. It is shown by means of examples that stationary solutions previously considered are a special case of the theory outlined here. In addition, a discussion of other dispatching rules is included in the conclusion together with their effect on the mathematical optimality of vehicle dispatching.     

Green vehicle technology to enhance the performance of a European port: A simulation model with a cost-benefit approach

In this paper, we study the impact of using a new intelligent vehicle technology on the performance and total cost of a European port, in comparison with existing vehicle systems like trucks. Intelligent autonomous vehicles (IAVs) are a new type of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) with better maneuverability and a special ability to pick up/drop off containers by themselves. To identify the most economical fleet size for each type of vehicle to satisfy the port’s performance target, and also to compare their impact on the performance/cost of container terminals, we developed a discrete-event simulation model to simulate all port activities in micro-level (low-level) details. We also developed a cost model to investigate the present values of using two types of vehicle, given the identified fleet size. Results of using the different types of vehicles are then compared based on the given performance measures such as the quay crane net moves per hour and average total discharging/loading time at berth. Besides successfully identifying the optimal fleet size for each type of vehicle, simulation results reveal two findings: first, even when not utilising their ability to pick up/drop off containers, the IAVs still have similar efficacy to regular trucks thanks to their better maneuverability. Second, enabling IAVs’ ability to pick up/drop off containers significantly improves the port performance. Given the best configuration and fleet size as identified by the simulation, we use the developed cost model to estimate the total cost needed for each type of vehicle to meet the performance target. Finally, we study the performance of the case study port with advanced real-time vehicle dispatching/scheduling and container placement strategies. This study reveals that the case study port can greatly benefit from upgrading its current vehicle dispatching/scheduling strategy to a more advanced one.     

Connecting e-hailing to mass transit platform: Analysis of relative spatial position

This paper analyzes and compares two different relative spatial position (RSP) designs in an integrated e-hailing/fixed-route transit system: a zone-based design that operates e-hailing vehicles within a zone, and a line-based design that operates e-hailing vehicles along a fixed-route transit line and with a stable headway. To conduct a meaningful comparison, the optimal design problems for both systems are formulated using a same analytical framework based on the continuous approximation approach. A comprehensive numerical experiment is performed to compare various cost components corresponding to the optimal designs, and a discrete-event simulation model is developed to validate the analysis. The analytical and simulation results agree with each other well, with a discrepancy in the total system cost less than 5% in most test scenarios. These results also suggest that the line-based system consistently outperforms the zone-based system in terms of both agency and user costs, for all scenarios tested. Compared to the zone-based design, the line-based design features a sparser fixed-route network (resulting in larger stop spacing) but a higher dispatching frequency. It is concluded that the higher efficiency of the line-based design is likely derived from the strategy of operating e-hailing vehicles with a more regular route/headway structure and allowing ride-sharing.     

Daily newspaper distribution planning with integer programming: an application in Turkey

Abstract

This paper concerns the newspaper distribution problem. It addresses the transportation of newspapers from printing plant to newsagents with distribution vehicles under various particular constraints. The objective is to minimize the distance traveled by the vehicles and/or the number of vehicles. In this study, the routes for vehicles of a leading newspaper distributor company in the Turkish press sector are examined. The problem is defined as determining optimal delivery routes for a fleet of homogeneous vehicles, starting and ending at the printing plant that is required to serve a number of geographically dispersed newsagents with known demands under capacity and time constraints, while minimizing the total distribution cost. An integar linear programming model is proposed as a solution using Cplex. Computational results demonstrate that the proposed model is fast and able to find optimal solutions for problem scenarios with up to 55 newsagents within reasonable computing times. It was found that the proposed model reduced the delivery cost by 21% on average when compared to the current manual method. The results show that this model is adequate for medium-sized distribution problems.     

Dynamic modeling and control of taxi services in large-scale urban networks: A macroscopic approach

Taxis are increasingly becoming a prominent mobility mode in many major cities due to their accessibility and convenience. The growing number of taxi trips and the increasing contribution of taxis to traffic congestion are cause for concern when vacant taxis are not distributed optimally within the city and are unable to find unserved passengers effectively. A way of improving taxi operations is to deploy a taxi dispatch system that matches the vacant taxis and waiting passengers while considering the search friction dynamics. This paper presents a network-scale taxi dispatch model that takes into account the interrelated impact of normal traffic flows and taxi dynamics while optimizing for an effective dispatching system. The proposed model builds on the concept of the macroscopic fundamental diagram (MFD) to represent the dynamic evolution of traffic conditions. The model considers multiple taxi service firms operating in a heterogeneously congested city, where the city is assumed to be partitioned into multiple regions each represented with a well-defined MFD. A model predictive control approach is devised to control the taxi dispatch system. The results show that lack of the taxi dispatching system leads to severe accumulation of unserved taxi passengers and vacant taxis in different regions whereas the dispatch system improves the taxi service performance and reduces traffic congestion by regulating the network towards the undersaturated condition. The proposed framework demonstrates sound potential management schemes for emerging mobility solutions such as fleet of automated vehicles and demand-responsive transit services.     

The influence of deposit control additives on exhaust CO and HC emissions from gasoline engines (case study: Tehran)

Air pollution is the most serious environmental problem in Tehran with exhaust emissions from spark-ignition engines accounting for a major part of problem. The formation and accumulation of deposits on the internal surfaces of engines could adversely affect the exhaust emission from vehicles. It is the perception that some of fuel additives can remove these deposits due to their detergency. The Iranian Department of Environment decarbonized more that 250,000 SI engine vehicles in Tehran with the goal of reducing exhaust CO and HC emissions from gasoline engine vehicles by engine deposit removal. Here, the influence of engine deposit removal by decarbonization on the exhaust CO and HC emissions from more than 500 gasoline engine vehicles is examined. It is found that the decarbonization process could reduce the exhaust CO and HC emissions, significantly. Emissions from Peykan and Pride vehicles decreased considerably after decarbonization.     

The design of capacitated intermodal hub networks with different vehicle types

In this study, we allow using alternative transportation modes and different types of vehicles in the hub networks to be designed. The aim of the problem is to determine the locations and capacities of hubs, which transportation modes to serve at hubs, allocation of non-hub nodes to hubs, and the number of vehicles of each type to operate on the hub network to route the demand between origin-destination pairs with minimum total cost. Total cost includes fixed costs of establishing hubs with different capacities, purchasing and operational costs of vehicles, transportation costs, and material handling costs. A mixed-integer programming model is developed and a variable neighborhood search algorithm is proposed for the solution of this problem. The heuristic algorithm is tested on instances from the Turkish network and CAB data set. Extensive computational analyzes are conducted in order to observe the effects of changes in various problem parameters on the resulting hub networks.     

Fleet scheduling and dispatching for demand-responsive passenger services

This paper describes a software system designed to manage the deployment of a fleet of demand-responsive passenger vehicles such as taxis or variably routed buses. Multiple modes of operation are supported both for the fleet and for individual vehicles. Booking requests can be immediate (i.e. with zero notice) or in advance of travel. An initial implementation is chosen for each incoming request, subject to time-window and other constraints, and with an objective of minimising additional travel time or maximising a surrogate for future fleet capacity. This incremental insertion scheme is supplemented by post-insert improvement procedures, a periodically executed steepest-descent improvement procedure applied to the fleet as a whole, and a “rank-homing” heuristic incorporating information about future patterns of demand. A simple objective for trip-insertion and other scheduling operations is based on localised minimisation of travel time, while an alternative incorporating occupancy ratios has a more strategic orientation. Apart from its scheduling functions, the system includes automated vehicle dispatching procedures designed to achieve a favourable combination of customer service and efficiency of vehicle deployment. Provision is made for a variety of contingencies, including travel slower or faster than expected, unexpected vehicle locations, vehicle breakdowns and trip cancellations. Simulation tests indicate that the improvement procedures yield substantial efficiencies over more naı̈ve scheduling methods and that the system will be effective in real-time applications.     

A rolling horizon algorithm for auto-carrier transportation

This paper introduces a rolling horizon algorithm to plan the delivery of vehicles to automotive dealers by a heterogeneous fleet of auto-carriers. The problem consists in scheduling the deliveries over a multiple-day planning horizon during which requests for transportation arrive dynamically. In addition, the routing of the auto-carriers must take into account constraints related to the loading of the vehicles on the carriers. The objective is to minimize the sum of traveled distances, fixed costs for auto-carrier operation, service costs, and penalties for late deliveries. The problem is solved by a heuristic that first selects the vehicles to be delivered in the next few days and then optimizes the deliveries by an iterated local search procedure. A branch-and-bound search is used to check the feasibility of the loading. To handle the dynamic nature of the problem, the complete algorithm is applied repeatedly in a rolling horizon framework. Computational results on data from a major European logistics service provider show that the heuristic is fast and yields significant improvements compared to the sequential solution of independent daily problems.     

Stochastic optimal path problem with relays

This paper studies the optimal path problem for travelers driving with vehicles of a limited range, such as most battery electric vehicles currently available in the market. The optimal path in this problem often consists of several relay points, where the vehicles can be refueled to extend its range. We propose a stochastic optimal path problem with relays (SOPPR), which aims at minimizing a general expected cost while maintaining a reasonable arrival probability. To account for uncertainty in the road network, the travel speed on a road segment is treated as a discrete random variable, which determines the total energy required to traverse the segment. SOPPR is formulated in two stages in this paper. In the first stage, an optimal routing problem is solved repeatedly to obtain the expected costs and arrival probabilities from any node to all refueling nodes and the destination. With this information, the second stage constructs an auxiliary network, on which the sequence of refueling decisions can be obtained by solving another optimal path problem. Label-correcting algorithms are developed to solve the routing problems in both stages. Numerical experiments are conducted to compare the stochastic and deterministic models, to examine the impact of different parameters on the routing results, and to evaluate the computational performance of the proposed algorithms.     

Coordinated platooning with multiple speeds

In a platoon, vehicles travel one after another with small intervehicle distances; trailing vehicles in a platoon save fuel because they experience less aerodynamic drag. This work presents a coordinated platooning model with multiple speed options that integrates scheduling, routing, speed selection, and platoon formation/dissolution in a mixed-integer linear program that minimizes the total fuel consumed by a set of vehicles while traveling between their respective origins and destinations. The performance of this model is numerically tested on a grid network and the Chicago-area highway network. We find that the fuel-savings factor of a multivehicle system significantly depends on the time each vehicle is allowed to stay in the network; this time affects vehicles’ available speed choices, possible routes, and the amount of time for coordinating platoon formation. For problem instances with a large number of vehicles, we propose and test a heuristic decomposed approach that applies a clustering algorithm to partition the set of vehicles and then routes each group separately. When the set of vehicles is large and the available computational time is small, the decomposed approach finds significantly better solutions than does the full model.     

Vehicle dispatching with competition

This paper considers a vehicle dispatching problem with competition. For Poisson arrival processes, three dispatching policies are considered, (i) a C-policy, consisting in sending a vehicle as soon as it is filled to capacity C, (ii) a T-policy, assuming an infinite capacity and consisting in sending a vehicle every T periods and (iii) a (T, C)-policy consisting in sending a vehicle every T periods or whenever it is filled to capacity C, whichever comes first. Two firm models with cooperating and non-cooperating solution modes are resolved and results summarized in a table. Applications and examples are resolved for demonstration purposes.     

Dial-a-ride with customer operated dispatching

Demand responsive bus operation generally requires some type of manual dispatching. If the volume of traffic is low and few vehicles are in service, the cost of dispatching relative to the total operating costs will be substantial. Consequently, many operators hesitate to introduce a dial-a-ride system.In a joint project between Gothenburg Transport Authority (GS) and Volvo, the latter has designed a device to be fitted to the general telephone system whereby a telephone dial can be used to transmit coded information over the public telephone network to a central recorder. In a dial-a-ride service this device can be used as a robot dispatcher.During a period of 11 weeks in 1976 this device was tested in practical operation in the northeastern part of Gothenburg, the second largest city of Sweden. During the same period a prototype Volvo vehicle for low volume demand was also tested in this dial-a-ride service.During this experiment it appeared that customers easily adjusted to the new procedure of getting their bus. These promising results have led GS to continue the development of this system for large scale operation.At the time of the experiment in Gothenburg, Mr. Elmberg was the director of planning of the Gothenburg Transport Authority.     

Innovations in the regulation and operation of taxicabs

This paper reviews a number of recent innovations in the regulation and operation of taxicabs in U. S. cities. The paper discusses the growing involvement of various levels of government in public transportation programs which affect the taxicab industry, and identifies the opportunities and problems created for the industry by this increased government activity. Innovations in the types of public transportation services which can be provided by taxicabs are discussed first, followed by a review of the administrative procedures which can be employed to involve taxicab companies in publicly funded programs. Proposals for changes in the regulations governing taxicab services and prices are discussed next, with particular attention to significant regulatory changes which have been implemented in U.S. cities in recent years. Finally, innovations in the technology of taxicab operations are reviewed, including improvements to vehicles, computerized dispatching techniques, and procedures and equipment for computing fares for taxicab services.