A Kriging-based optimization method for meeting point locations to enhance flex-route transit services. Issue 1 (31st December 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Li, Mingyang; Tang, Jinjun; Zeng, Jie; Huang, Helai
• Is Part Of: Transportmetrica. Volume 11:Issue 1(2023)
• Page Start: 1281
• Page End: 1310
• Publication Date: 2023-12-31
• Subjects: On-demand transportation -- flex-route transit service -- meeting point locations -- Kriging-based global optimization method; Transportation -- Mathematical models -- Periodicals; 388.015118
• DOI: 10.1080/21680566.2023.2195984
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2168-0566

Abstract

Abstract : As a promising on-demand transportation mode in low-demand areas, flex-route transit, has attracted much attention in the transportation research field. However, unexpectedly high demand levels caused by travel uncertainty impact the reliability and development of flex-route transit services. Although the meeting point strategy can deal with this problem effectively, selecting a location for the meeting points can substantially influence the performance of this strategy. In this study, meeting point location selection is modeled as a simulation-based optimization (SO) problem, and a Kriging-based global optimization method using a Pareto-based multipoint sampling strategy (KGO-PS) is proposed to solve this problem. Through comparison of several typical benchmark functions with other counterparts, the effectiveness of KGO-PS has been verified. Moreover, a real-life flex-route transit service is employed to construct the SO problem, and the optimization results show that the proposed algorithm can improve the performance of flex-route transit services under unexpectedly high demand levels.