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A static mixed bike repositioning problem with both man-powered bikes and e-bikes

Author

Listed:
  • Cui, Jia
  • Szeto, W.Y.
  • Wang, Yue

Abstract

The rapid expansion of bike-sharing systems has significantly enhanced travel convenience and the sustainability of urban development. In addition to man-powered bikes, transport solutions are further enriched with the introduction of electric bicycles (e-bikes) to the existing bike-sharing system to cater to diverse needs. However, managing such a bike-sharing system with both man-powered bikes and e-bikes presents a complex challenge, consisting of addressing the imbalance between bike supply, dock supply, and user demand, as well as recharging low-battery e-bikes. No studies have so far designed efficient rebalancing and recharging schemes to tackle the challenge. Therefore, this study presents a novel static bike repositioning problem that considers both man-powered bikes and e-bikes while allowing low-battery e-bikes to recharge at charging stations. A mixed-integer linear programming model is developed to minimize the total penalty cost due to the deviation from the target inventory of man-powered bikes and e-bikes at each station and the total fixed cost, and the total travel cost of repositioning vehicles within the time budget. Numerical experiments are conducted using a commercial solver on small instances to show the effects of different percentages (or numbers) of usable and low-battery e-bikes initially in the system. An efficient hybrid genetic search framework is also designed to provide good solutions to the problem under large instances. This algorithmic framework is developed based on a Hybrid Genetic Search with Advanced Diversity Control and can incorporate one of the two proposed loading strategies, namely, exact and rebalancing-first-collection-second methods. Computational experiments based on real data validate the performance of the proposed hybrid algorithm with the two loading strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Cui, Jia & Szeto, W.Y. & Wang, Yue, 2025. "A static mixed bike repositioning problem with both man-powered bikes and e-bikes," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transe:v:203:y:2025:i:c:s1366554525003163
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tre.2025.104275
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    References listed on IDEAS

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