A multiple trip vehicle routing approach to ferry service network design

In this paper we propose a model for joint ferry network design and scheduling in archipelago public transport systems. The model uses a multi-trip vehicle routing approach with inbound-outbound and returning trip structures where traffic requirements are implemented as window requirements. A case study is performed scheduling a full day of traffic in the southern archipelago outside of Gothenburg, Sweden. Results indicate that this approach can capture the many different stopping patterns of a line seen in real systems and produce realistic time-tables. Computational performance is shown to be highly dependent on the number of window constraints included.
Funding Agencies|Swedish Transport Administration through project OSKAR [TRV 2019/119584]