Models and algorithms for integrated special transport services

Abstract: An essential challenge for all societies is to provide efficient and effective means of transporting people. Transport systems and transport infrastructure play an integral part in society both by providing a basis for social and economic development and as the physical structure which defines our environment. As our societies become increasingly interconnected and complex, the demand for personal mobility increases.There is an ongoing trend towards flexible public transport services— in part driven by meeting the flexibility of private automobile use, in part by rapid technological development. Despite this trend, there are segments of the population that have problems with, or are unable to, use the general public transport. One such segment is comprised of people who have impaired mobility due to disabilities or age. Special transport services provide mobility to such people, who would otherwise have difficulties moving around in society, albeit at a high cost to either the users or society.One proposed way of decreasing these high operational costs is that of implementing an integrated special transport service. In an integrated service, certain passengers can perform segments of their trips with the fixed-route public transport. For these passengers, the special transport service vehicles will service the first and last legs of their trips, while the bulk of their trips will be performed with the fixed-route public transport.When implementing or evaluating an integrated special transport service, one aspect crucial to the efficiency and effectiveness of the same is the issue of how to best make use of the available vehicle fleet. This thesis concerns the modelling, evaluation, and operational planning of such services. The thesis contains introductory chapters and three papers, and presents: mathematical models for the routing problem of an integrated service; planning algorithms for both static and dynamic instances of the problem; and evaluations of the suitability of integrated special transport services in both rural and urban environments.The work herein can be helpful for researchers as well as practitioners studying, or wishing to implement, integrated transport services, regardless of whether those services are aimed at the general public or specific segments of the population. Based on the research conducted, potential directions for future research are presented.