Solving multi depot school bus routing problem based on simulated annealing algorithm

Abstract

Multi depot school bus routing problem (MDSBRP) refers to the school bus routing problem (SBRP) with multiple depots, which effectively reduces the service cost by adjusting the order of school buses from depot to station. In this paper, a heuristic algorithm based on simulated annealing is proposed to solve the multi depot school bus routing problem. The problem considers the constraints of school time window and school bus capacity. Through the operation adjustment of depots and stations, the number and driving distance of school buses can be effectively reduced. The existing benchmark case set and modified test cases are used to test the algorithm. The experimental results show that the use of multi depot mode can effectively reduce the number of school buses and save operating costs, which shows the effectiveness of the algorithm.