01516542

Component

This paper reports on a system developed to address the Dial-A-Ride problem and an implementation for Maryland where real-world practical constraints are considered in providing customized vehicle routing and scheduling for about 450 trip requests daily. The system, called Mobile Resource Management System (MRMS), allows for dispatch operators to quickly study different operational scenarios and, in a strategic setting, explore tradeoffs between level-of-service and various system characteristics, including fleet composition, fleet size and dispatch rules. Such insights play a key role in making long-term investment decisions or estimating cost of servicing contracts that have service level agreements. Test comparison of manual and MRMS-based routes indicated an estimated annual operational expense reduction of $0.82 million, or about 17% of the total annual expense. In addition to the cost benefits, improved quality of service and the reduction in total vehicle-kilometers traveled leading to environmental benefits are demonstrated.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AP060 Paratransit.

01503729

14-1705

English

18p

2014

Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References; Tables

Costs; Optimization; Paratransit services; Quality of service; Routing; Scheduling; Vehicle miles of travel

Maryland

Operations and Traffic Management; Public Transportation; I70: Traffic and Transport

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2014 Paper #14-1705

PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Jan 27 2014 2:37PM