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Zonification and pricing in carsharing: Formulations and exact solutions

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  • Deng, Jiali
  • Pantuso, Giovanni

Abstract

In this article we address the problem of partitioning a carsharing business area into pricing zones. We formalize the problem mathematically showing that it forms a special set partitioning problem. For this problem we propose a binary integer programming problem. Tighter reformulations can then be obtained by reformulating certain constraints emerged in the literature as closed assignment constraints. To solve the resulting mixed integer (possibly nonlinear) programming problem we develop an ad-hoc integer Benders decomposition for which we propose effective problem-specific improvements. Extensive tests based on a real-world carsharing system prove the method empirically effective on instances of size comparable to real-life problems. An analysis of the solutions shows that by jointly optimizing prices and pricing zones, the operator can observe a significant profit increase as well as a higher service rate, compared to currently employed zip-code-based partitions.

Suggested Citation

  • Deng, Jiali & Pantuso, Giovanni, 2026. "Zonification and pricing in carsharing: Formulations and exact solutions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 329(2), pages 687-702.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:329:y:2026:i:2:p:687-702
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2025.07.059
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