Bus-to-Depot Allocation: Models and Decision Support System
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 136, Issue 7
Abstract
Reducing the cost of operations is one of the most important considerations for urban transport systems. Deadhead kilometer costs are an important aspect of operating costs and are associated with buses traveling empty to and from depots; minimizing these costs is referred to as the bus-to-depot allocation problem and addressing it may be important in reducing overall costs. We present a model and an associated decision support system (DSS) for optimally allocating buses to depots while minimizing deadhead costs and keeping depot occupancy at “ideal” operational levels. The model and DSS are tested in the Athens, Greece, large urban transit system and results indicate that considerable cost savings can be realized compared to current allocation schemes.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Collette, Y., and Siarry, P. (2003). Multiobjective optimization: Principles and case studies, Springer, Berlin.
Eberlein, X. J., Wilson, N. H., and Bernstein, D. (1998). “The real-time deadheading problem in transit operations control.” Transp. Res., Part B: Methodol., 32(2), 77–100.
Forbes, M. A., Holt, J. N., and Watts, A. M. (1994). “An exact algorithm for multiple depot bus scheduling.” Eur. J. Oper. Res., 72(1), 115–124.
Kalaga, R. R., Datta, R. N., and Reddy, K. S. (2001). “Allocation of buses on interdependent regional bus transit routes.” J. Transp. Eng., 127(3), 208–214.
Maze, T., Khasnabis, S., and Kutsal, M. D. (1982). “Optimization methodology for bus garage locations.” J. Transp. Eng., 108(TE6), 550–569.
Maze, T., Khasnabis, S., and Kutsal, M. D. (1983). “Application of a bus garage location and sizing optimization.” Transportation Research Record. 17A, Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C., 65–72.
Prakash, S., Balaji, B. V., and Tuteha, D. (1999). “Optimizing dead mileage in urban bus routes through a non-dominated solution approach.” Eur. J. Oper. Res., 114(3), 465–473.
Sharma, V., and Prakash, S. (1986). “Optimizing dead mileage in urban bus routes.” J. Transp. Eng., 112(1), 121–129.
Uyeno, D. H. and Willoughby, K. A. (1995). “Transit centre location-allocation decision.” Transportation Research Part A, 29A (4), 263–272.
Van der Perre, P., and Van Oudheusden, D. L. (1997). “Reducing depot-related costs of large bus operators: a case study in Bangkok.” Eur. J. Oper. Res., 96(1), 45–53.
Willoughby, K. A. (2002). “A mathematical programming analysis of public transit systems.” Omega, 30, 137–142.
Willoughby, K. A., and Uyeno, D. H. (2001). “Resolving splits in location/allocation modeling: A heuristic procedure for transit center decisions.” Transp. Res. Part E, 37, 71–83.
Wu, T. -H., Low, C., and Bai, J. -W. (2002). “Heuristic solutions to multi-depot location routing problems.” Comput. Oper. Res., 29, 1393–1415.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Jun 18, 2009
Accepted: Oct 21, 2009
Published online: Oct 28, 2009
Published in print: Jul 2010
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.