Solving stochastic vehicle routing problem with real simultaneous pickup and delivery using differential evolution

Abstract

In this study, Stochastic VRP with Real Simultaneous Pickup and Delivery (SVRPSPD) is attempted the first time and fitted to a public transportation system in Anbessa City Bus Service Enterprise (ACBSE), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It is modeled and fitted with real data obtained from the enterprise. Due to its complexity, large instances of VRP and/or SVRPSPD are hard to solve using exact methods. Instead, various heuristic and metaheuristic algorithms are used to find feasible VRP solutions. In this work the Differential Evolution (DE) is used to optimize bus routes of ACBSE. The findings of the study shows that, DE algorithm is stable and able to reduce the estimated number of vehicles significantly. As compared to the traditional and exact algorithms it has exhibited better used fitness function.