LARGE SCALE IMPLEMENTATION OF A TIME ORIENTED VEHICLE SCHEDULING MODEL

The authors state that although the current implementation of the time oriented vehicle scheduling algorithm has been developed to meet the operational requirements of the scheduling module of theCARSD/MIS system, delays in the CARSD/ MIS project prevented the required operational interface and testing.

Abstract

The objective of this research project was the development of a vehicle scheduling model with three special properties: 1) the ability to solve large scale vehicle scheduling problems with time window and time dependent customer demand constraints; 2) the capability of being integrated within the Computer Assisted Routing, Scheduling, and Dispatching/Management Information System (CARSD/MIS) currently being developed by the Transportation Administration of Dade County, Florida for UMTA as a prototype for other coordinated paratransit services; and 3) the ability to provide operational solutions to vehicle scheduling problems obtained from the research literature and from CARSD/MIS database. This document reports the development of a time oriented vehicle scheduling model. The model is unique in its ability to incorporate easily time window and time dependent customer demand constraints. Solutions to the model are obtained through the use of a branch and bound procedure. A disjunctive graph model, similar to those employed in activity and job shop scheduling, is used in the solution procedure to obtain bounding information. The efficacy of this procedure is demonstrated on vehicle scheduling problems obtained from the research literature. The authors state that although the current implementation of the time oriented vehicle scheduling algorithm has been developed to meet the operational requirements of the scheduling module of the CARSD/MIS system, delays in the CARSD/MIS project prevented the required operational interface and testing.