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A new consistent vehicle routing problem for the transportation of people with disabilities
Author(s) -
Feillet Dominique,
Garaix Thierry,
Lehuédé Fabien,
Péton Olivier,
Quadri Dominique
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
networks
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.977
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1097-0037
pISSN - 0028-3045
DOI - 10.1002/net.21538
Subject(s) - vehicle routing problem , benchmark (surveying) , heuristic , consistency (knowledge bases) , computer science , mathematical optimization , routing (electronic design automation) , service (business) , operations research , artificial intelligence , mathematics , computer network , economics , geography , economy , geodesy
In this article, we address a problem of the transportation of people with disabilities where customers are served on an almost daily basis and expect some consistency in the service. We introduce an original model for the time‐consistency of the service, based on so‐called time‐classes. We then define a new multiday vehicle routing problem (VRP) that we call the Time‐Consistent VRP. We address the solution of this new problem with a large neighborhood search heuristic. Each iteration of the heuristic requires solving a complex VRP with multiple time windows and no waiting time which we tackle with a heuristic branch‐and‐price method. Computational tests are conducted on benchmark sets and modified real‐life instances. Results demonstrate the efficiency of the method and highlight the impact of time‐consistency on travel costs. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, Vol. 63(3), 211‐224 2014