Development of an Efficient Genetic Algorithm for the Time Dependent Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows

Abstract

This research considers the time-dependent vehicle routing problem (TDVRP). The time-dependent VRP does not assume constant speeds of the vehicles. The speeds of the vehicles vary during the various times of the day, based on the traffic conditions. During the periods of peak traffic hours, the vehicles travel at low speeds and during non-peak hours, the vehicles travel at higher speeds. A survey by TCI and IIM-C (2014) found that stoppage delay as percentage of journey time varied between five percent and 25 percent, and was very much dependent on the characteristics of routes. Costs of delay were also estimated and found not to affect margins by significant amounts. This study aims to overcome such problems arising out of traffic congestions that lead to unnecessary delays and hence, loss in customers and thereby valuable revenues to a company. This study suggests alternative routes to minimize travel times and travel distance, assuming a congestion in traffic situation. In this study, an efficient GA-based algorithm has been developed for the TDVRP, to minimize the total distance travelled, minimize the total number of vehicles utilized and also suggest alternative routes for congestion avoidance. This study will help to overcome and minimize the negative effects due to heavy traffic congestions and delays in customer service. The proposed algorithm has been shown to be superior to another existing algorithm in terms of the total distance travelled and also the number of vehicles utilized. Also the performance of the proposed algorithm is as good as the mathematical model for small size problems.