Minimization of fuel consumption in city bus transportation: A case study for Izmir

Abstract

In this study, we handle a real life optimization problem of a metropolitan city bus service. The problem's focus is the fuel consumption due to dead mileage, given the bus requirements of all route schedules. We obtain the optimal route bus-garage allocations that minimize the total distance covered in all pull-out and pull-in trips, and reach significant improvement levels with respect to the current situation. We consider the midday demand fluctuations on each route, so that some of the buses have to make extra pull-in and pull-out trips before parking at their night garages after ending their last service trips. Moreover, we develop a multicriteria model which takes into account the fuzzy levels of passenger satisfaction and parking safety combined with the previous minimization objective. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the Program Committee