A novel Dynamic programming approach for Two-Echelon Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem in City Logistics with Environmental considerations

Abstract The paper proposes a Two-Echelon Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem with Environmental consideration, intended for managing urban freight distribution in City Logistics. It presents a novel Dynamic programming approach that divides the main problem into several ones and uses an exact algorithm to obtain optimal route paths. The approach applies Fuzzy C-Means Clustering for assigning a group of customers to a satellite. The initial solution is improved with roulette selection, 2-opt, and Or-opt exchange heuristics. The approach was tested on benchmark instances, and obtained results are satisfactory. Moreover, the proposed method highlights the environmental improvement we can obtain in managing urban freight transportation

A green logistics solution for last-mile deliveries considering e-vans and e-cargo bikes

Abstract The environmental challenges and the initiatives for sustainable development in urban areas are mainly focused on eco-friendly transportation systems. Therefore, we introduce a new green logistics solution for last-mile deliveries considering synchronization between e-vans and e-cargo bikes, developed as a Two-Echelon Electric Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows and Partial Recharging (2E-EVRPTW-PR). The first echelon represents an urban zone, and the second echelon represents a restricted traffic zone (e.g., historical center) in which e-vans in the first and e-cargo bikes in the second echelon are used for customers' deliveries. The proposed 2E-EVRPTW-PR model aims to minimize the total costs in terms of travel costs, initial vehicles' investment costs, drivers' salary costs, and micro-depot cost. The effectiveness of the proposed solution has been demonstrated comparing two different cases, i.e., the EVRPTW-PR considering e-vans for the first case, and the 2E-EVRPTW-PR considering e-vans and e-cargo bikes for the second case. The comparison has been carried out on existing EVRPTW-PR instances for the first case, and on novel 2E-EVRPTW-PR instances for the second case, in which customers of initial EVRPTW-PR instances have been divided into two zones (urban and restricted traffic zones) by using Fuzzy C-mean clustering. Moreover, results encourage logistics companies to adopt zero-emission strategies for last-mile deliveries, especially in restricted traffic zones

An equality-based model for bike-sharing stations location in bicycle-public transport multimodal mobility

Bike-sharing systems can be implemented to complete the coverage of public transport networks which could be insufficient to serve an entire urban area. Some methodologies that maximise coverage or accessibility are suggested in the literature. In this paper, we propose a bike-sharing stations location model that includes not only these issues but also equality aspects. The model aims to minimise inequalities in bicycle-public transport mobility among observed population groups trying to maintain specified levels of accessibility and coverage at the same time. We evaluated the performance of the model on a test network and carried out a sensitivity analysis according to the available budget. The results showed that maximising accessibility or coverage alone, without considering equality, may lead to an unequal distribution of accessibility among the population, producing discrimination between different groups. The outcomes of the application revealed the significance of the model in evaluating equality in the network design phase for achieving not only a satisfactory bike-sharing system and public transport multimodal accessibility of each zone but also a high equality measure among the considered population groups. Budget availability also played an essential role since a minimum budget value is needed to achieve higher levels of equality. The proposed approach could serve transport and public authorities as a decision support system in planning future investment as well as promoting multimodal mobility because it links bike-sharing stations with stops/stations of the public transport lines networks

Airport Access Mode Choice: Analysis of Passengers’ Behavior in European Countries

Transportation systems require many challenges in providing seamless door-to-door mobility. The main initiatives are encouraging a shift from private to other transport modes by providing a fully integrated multimodal service in which the coordination and data sharing among different stakeholders are required. The idea of this paper is to analyze the mode choice, as well as the variables that affect the travelers’ airport access mode choice. For that purpose, we used multinomial logistics (MNL) regression to determine probability of mode choice given various multimodal chain alternatives. The inputs of the proposed model were based on the answers from the participants of the online survey which was disseminated in Europe. Through more than 2000 answers to the survey, we collected the data related to the factors that influence the airport access mode choice, travelers’ attitude, motives for traveling, as well as the socio-demographics of participants. Afterwards, we investigated the influence of the main factors that have an impact on the non-coordination in the multimodal travel chain. The obtained results highlight the impact of the factors “reliability” and “waiting time” in making mode choice

Airport Access Mode Choice: Analysis of Passengers’ Behavior in European Countries

Transportation systems require many challenges in providing seamless door-to-door mobility. The main initiatives are encouraging a shift from private to other transport modes by providing a fully integrated multimodal service in which the coordination and data sharing among different stakeholders are required. The idea of this paper is to analyze the mode choice, as well as the variables that affect the travelers’ airport access mode choice. For that purpose, we used multinomial logistics (MNL) regression to determine probability of mode choice given various multimodal chain alternatives. The inputs of the proposed model were based on the answers from the participants of the online survey which was disseminated in Europe. Through more than 2000 answers to the survey, we collected the data related to the factors that influence the airport access mode choice, travelers’ attitude, motives for traveling, as well as the socio-demographics of participants. Afterwards, we investigated the influence of the main factors that have an impact on the non-coordination in the multimodal travel chain. The obtained results highlight the impact of the factors “reliability” and “waiting time” in making mode choice