A novel GIS-based decision-making framework for the school bus routing problem

The school bus routing problem(SBRP)is a central issue in transportation planning and optimization systems.SBRP seeks to plan an efficient schedule for a fleet of school buses where each bus picks up students from various bus stops and delivers them to their designated schools while satisfying various constraints such as the maximum capacity of a bus,and the time window of a school.Due to its inherent complexity,many heuristics have been proposed to solve this combinatorial problem in an effective way.In this paper,a novel geographic information systems(GIS)-based decisionmaking framework that combines GIS,clustering techniques,network cutting techniques,and a hybrid ant colony optimization metaheuristic with the iterated Lin–Kernighan local improvement heuristic is proposed for solving the SBRP as a split delivery vehicle routing problem(SDVRP).Experiments were conducted for evaluating the proposed framework by comparing the results for solving 11 routing problems using both the proposed decision-making framework and Arc-GIS 9.2 Network Analyst which uses the greedy Dijkstra’s algorithm.The reported results of the proposed framework generally outperform that of the ArcGIS Network Analyst.In addition,the proposed decision-making framework was applied to solve a real life SBRP to demonstrate its application.

Efficient Route Planning for Real-Time Demand-Responsive Transit

Demand Responsive Transit (DRT) responds to the dynamic users’ requests without any fixed routes and timetablesand determines the stop and the start according to the demands. This study explores the optimization of dynamicvehicle scheduling and real-time route planning in urban public transportation systems, with a focus on busservices. It addresses the limitations of current shared mobility routing algorithms, which are primarily designedfor simpler, single origin/destination scenarios, and do not meet the complex demands of bus transit systems. Theresearch introduces an route planning algorithm designed to dynamically accommodate passenger travel needsand enable real-time route modifications. Unlike traditional methods, this algorithm leverages a queue-based,multi-objective heuristic A∗ approach, offering a solution to the inflexibility and limited coverage of suburbanbus routes. Also, this study conducts a comparative analysis of the proposed algorithm with solutions based onGenetic Algorithm (GA) and Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm (ACO), focusing on calculation time, routelength, passenger waiting time, boarding time, and detour rate. The findings demonstrate that the proposedalgorithmsignificantly enhances route planning speed, achieving an 80–100-fold increase in efficiency over existingmodels, thereby supporting the real-time demands of Demand-Responsive Transportation (DRT) systems. Thestudy concludes that this algorithm not only optimizes route planning in bus transit but also presents a scalablesolution for improving urban mobility.

A hybrid dynamic programming-rule based algorithm for real-time energy optimization of plug-in hybrid electric bus

The optimization of the control strategy of a plug-in hybrid electric bus(PHEB) for the repeatedly driven bus route is a key technique to improve the fuel economy. The widely used rule-based(RB) control strategy is lacking in the global optimization property, while the global optimization algorithms have an unacceptable computation complexity for real-time application. Therefore, a novel hybrid dynamic programming-rule based(DPRB) algorithm is brought forward to solve the global energy optimization problem in a real-time controller of PHEB. Firstly, a control grid is built up for a given typical city bus route, according to the station locations and discrete levels of battery state of charge(SOC). Moreover, the decision variables for the energy optimization at each point of the control grid might be deduced from an off-line dynamic programming(DP) with the historical running information of the driving cycle. Meanwhile, the genetic algorithm(GA) is adopted to replace the quantization process of DP permissible control set to reduce the computation burden. Secondly, with the optimized decision variables as control parameters according to the position and battery SOC of a PHEB, a RB control is used as an implementable controller for the energy management. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed DPRB might distribute electric energy more reasonably throughout the bus route, compared with the optimized RB. The proposed hybrid algorithm might give a practicable solution, which is a tradeoff between the applicability of RB and the global optimization property of DP.

Multi-objective parameter optimization for a single-shaft series-parallel plug-in hybrid electric bus using genetic algorithm

Recently, the single-shaft series-parallel powertrain of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Bus （PHEB） has become one of the most popu- lar powertrains due to its alterable operating modes, excellent fuel economy and strong adaptability for driving cycles. Never- theless, for configuring the PHEB with single-shaft series-parallel powertrain in the development stage, it still faces greater challenge than other configurations when choosing and matching the main component parameters. Motivated by this issue, a comprehensive multi-objectives optimization strategy based on Genetic Algorithm （GA） is developed for the PHEB with the typical powertrain. First, considering repeatability and regularity of bus route, the methods of off-line data processing and mathematical statistics are adopted, to obtain a representative driving cycle, which could well reflect the general characteristic of the real-world bus route. Then, the economical optimization objective is defined, which is consist of manufacturing costs of the key components and energy consumption, and combined with the dynamical optimization objective, a multi-objective op- timization function is put forward. Meanwhile, GA algorithm is used to optimize the parameters, for the optimal components combination of the novel series-parallel powertrain. Finally, a comparison with the prototype is carried out to verify the per- formance of the optimized powertrain along driving cycles. Simulation results indicate that the parameters of powertrain com- ponents obtained by the proposed comprehensive multi-objectives optimization strategy might get better fuel economy, meanwhile ensure the dynamic performance of PHEB. In contrast to the original, the costs declined by 18%. Hence, the strat- egy would provide a theoretical guidance on parameter selection for PHEB manufacturers.