Schedule-Based Integrated Intercity Bus Line Planning via Branch-and-Cut

Abstract

This work addresses integrated line planning for intercity bus lines, which differs in several respects from line planning in public transit. Passengers in intercity transportation decide on specific timetabled services to get to their destination. This is a contrast to an urban setting with higher frequencies, where it is generally sufficient to choose a line. Furthermore, intercity bus transportation in deregulated markets is usually characterized by fierce competition within and across modes. Customers are highly sensitive to price, time of day, duration, convenient access to stations, and service quality. Hence, bus line operators need to decide thoroughly on every single timetabled service they offer to manage the cost and revenue consequences of network design and timetable. We provide a schedule-based modeling approach integrating aspects of dynamic demand, network planning, and timetabling. For a given line corridor, locations of potential stations and ideal service times are determined simultaneously. We analyze the performance of our branch-and-cut solution approach using data from a German intercity bus carrier operating in a newly deregulated and quickly developing market. Moreover, we show that the integrated and schedule-based line planning often produces insightful new results that differ significantly from conventional approaches.