Modeling techniques for periodic vehicle routing problems

This paper presents a continuous approximation model for the period vehicle routing problem with service choice (PVRP-SC). The PVRP-SC is a variant of the period vehicle routing problem in which the visit frequency to nodes is a decision of the model. This variation can result in more efficient vehicle tours and/or greater service benefit to customers. We present a continuous approximation model to facilitate strategic and tactical planning of periodic distribution systems and evaluate the value of service choice. Further, results from the continuous model can provide guidelines for constructing solutions to the discrete PVRP-SC.     

Reduction of capacity and projected costs associated with seat belt installation on school buses

This study examines the potential effects the installation of seat belts on school buses would have on the fleet capacity in Alabama and the resulting cost implications. The study also documents the myriad research studies and professional opinions offered on the potential safety effects of equipping school buses with safety restraints/seat belts. Four seat configurations for the school buses were analyzed. The first configuration represents the most common current bus seating configuration without seat belts, 3 seats on each side of the aisle and 12 rows (3/3-12). The physical space required for seat belt hardware may result in a loss of a row of seats and may reduce the number of students seated per row. Thus, three more configurations were studied: loss of a row of seats (3/3-11), loss of one seat per row (3/2-12), and loss of both a row of seats and a seat per row (3/2-11). The capacity for each configuration for each bus using current pupil loads was determined. The costs associated with installation of seat belts, and purchase and operation of new buses were obtained. Should school bus seat belts become mandatory in Alabama, the results obtained in this study can be used by any school system to determine the optimum configuration for their pupils, which will identify the number of additional buses that must be purchased by the school system. This study found that many of the buses that would become overloaded due to seat belt installation and the resultant loss of seating will be carrying only a few excess pupils. Transportation supervisors may be able to handle such overloads by transferring these pupils to other buses or by adjusting their bus routes to minimize purchase of new buses. Additional suggestions for handling bus overloads were offered in the body of this report.     

Estimating the inefficiency in the Norwegian bus industry from stochastic cost frontier models

A stochastic cost frontier function based on data from 170 of the 175 Norwegian subsidized bus companies is estimated under two alternative presumptions regarding the distribution of the inefficency among the bus operators. When the inefficiency is assumed to be half-normally distributed, the average inefficiency in the industry is estimated to be 13.7 per cent. This calculated value is nearly halved (7.2 per cent) when the exponential distribution is applied, while the ranking of the companies according to inefficiency is unchanged. By regressing the estimated inefficiency values for each company on some exogenous variables describing its ownership structure and the subsidy policy which it faces, it is seen that inefficiency of the companies which negotiate with the public authorities over the subsidy amounts is slightly higher than the inefficiency of the companies which face a subsidy policy based on cost norms. Our analysis gives, however, no significant differences in the efficiency between privately owned bus companies and publicly owned bus operators, and shows only minor economies of scale.     

A methodology to derive the critical demand density for designing and operating feeder transit services

Feeder lines are one of the most often used types of flexible transit services connecting a service area to a major transit network through a transfer point. They often switch operations between a demand responsive and a fixed-route policy. In designing and running such systems, the identification of the condition justifying the operating switch is often hard to properly evaluate. In this paper, we propose an analytical model and solution of the problem to assist decision makers and operators in their choice. By employing continuous approximations, we derive handy but powerful closed-form expressions to estimate the critical demand densities, representing the switching point between the competing operating policies. Based on the results of one-vehicle and two-vehicle operations for various scenarios, in comparison to values generated from simulation, we verify the validity of our analytical modeling approach.     

The design of bus route systems — An interactive location-allocation approach

An interactive modelling approach is developed to solve the practical problem of bus route network design. Possible bus routes are identified with facilities which can be located. Zones or pairs of zones in the urban area are identified with customers who will be allocated to the established facilities. It is shown that the classical Set Covering Problem is useful under the assumption of fixed demand; the Simple Plant Location Problem is effective under the assumption of demand which is sensitive to the level of bus service provided.     

Designing a home-to-work bus service in a metropolitan area

This paper presents a model and an algorithm for the design of a home-to-work bus service in a metropolitan area. This type of service must display an equilibrium between conflicting criteria such as efficiency, effectiveness, and equity. To this end, we introduce a multi-objective model in which, among other aspects, equity is considered by time windows on the arrival time of a bus at a stop. Time windows can have other uses such as, for example, guaranteeing synchronization of the service with other transportation modes. This is one of the guiding principles of the proposed model which is based on concepts that simultaneously tackle several issues at once. Along this line, we propose a cluster routing approach to model both bus stop location and routing in urban road networks where turn restrictions exist. The resulting multi-objective location-routing model is solved by a tabu search algorithm. As an application, we analyze a home-to-work bus service for a large research center located in Rome, Italy. This case study provides a benchmark for the algorithmic results, and shows the practical relevance of the proposed methodology.     

Are urban bus services natural monopolies?

Although Britain's local bus services have been open to free competition for more than three years, most have continued to be operated as monopolies by the original incumbents. Some competition has occurred, but the incumbents have usually driven off entrants. This paper uses findings from case-studies of competition and from deregulation generally to consider whether monopoly operation has inherent advantages over competitive operation. If so, urban bus routes would be natural monopolies. The evidence suggests that they may be, because single-operator services are more convenient for users.     

Investigating the subjective and objective factors influencing teenagers’ school travel mode choice – An integrated choice and latent variable model

In this paper, we apply Bhat and Dubey’s (2014) new probit-kernel based Integrated Choice and Latent Variable (ICLV) model formulation to analyze children’s travel mode choice to school. The new approach offered significant advantages, as it allowed us to incorporate three latent variables with a large data sample and with 10 ordinal indicators of the latent variables, and still estimate the model without any convergence problems. The data used in the empirical analysis originates from a survey undertaken in Cyprus in 2012. The results underscore the importance of incorporating subjective attitudinal variables in school mode choice modeling. The results also emphasize the need to improve bus and walking safety, and communicate such improvements to the public, especially to girls and women and high income households. The model application also provides important information regarding the value of investing in bicycling and walking infrastructure.