HoneyBees mating optimization algorithm for the static bike rebalancing problem

Abstract

The Bike-Sharing System (BSS) is a wide network composed of a set of stations loaded with a predefined quantity of bicycles. The BSS allowed a self-service bicycle to be hired from any station, used for a short-distance ride and returned at any station within the same system. This study concentrates on BSS operational planning in which the bicycle rebalancing problem (BRP) is addressed for the case of the BSS imbalance. In this paper, we suggest to study BRP using a metaheuristic that simulates the marriage process of honeybees: Honey Bee Mating Optimization (HBMO). Our proposition provides selected strategies to balance the exploitation and exploration of the search space and prevent premature convergence. Based on benchmark instances, experiments proved that the proposed approach is promising especially for large instances size.