Integrierte Ressourceneinsatzplanung im ÖPNV

Under the ongoing privatization of the public transport market in Germany and increasingly deep cuts in public subsidies, efficient resource utilization is vital for many public transport companies. To tackle this complex task, planning tools based on mathematical optimization are being used more frequently. However, such planning tools typically follow a strictly sequential approach: first, vehicle schedules are planned, and based on that, driver services are arranged. This can limit the solution space. In contrast, simultaneous handling of schedule and service planning offers more degrees of freedom and presents additional savings potential. The author describes several models and methods developed during his research activities to solve integrated scheduling and service planning problems. In addition to a complete integration of the two planning problems, a partially integrated approach is presented that delivers significantly better results than the sequential planning commonly used today and is also applicable to large problem instances.