IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/transp/v52y2025i5d10.1007_s11116-024-10482-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Multi-purpose pickup and delivery problem for combined passenger and freight transport

Author

Listed:
  • Jonas Hatzenbühler

    (KTH Royal Institute of Technology)

  • Erik Jenelius

    (KTH Royal Institute of Technology)

  • Győző Gidófalvi

    (KTH Royal Institute of Technology)

  • Oded Cats

    (KTH Royal Institute of Technology
    Delft University of Technology)

Abstract

Recent advances in the development of modular transport vehicles allow deploying multi-purpose vehicles, which enable alternate transport of different demand types. In this study, we propose a novel variant of the pickup and delivery problem, the multi-purpose pickup and delivery problem, where multi-purpose vehicles are assigned to serve a multi-commodity flow. We solve a series of use case scenarios using an exact optimization algorithm and an adaptive large neighborhood search algorithm. We compare the performance of a multi-purpose vehicle fleet to a mixed fleet of single-purpose vehicles. Depending on cost parameters, our findings suggest that in certain scenarios, the total costs can be reduced by an average of 13% when multi-purpose vehicles are deployed, while at the same time reducing total vehicle trip duration and total distance traveled by on average 33% and 16%, respectively. The required fleet size can be reduced by 35% on average when operating multi-purpose vehicles. The results can be used by practitioners and policymakers to determine if the combined service of passenger and freight demand flows with multi-purpose vehicles in a given system will yield benefits compared to existing transport operations.

Suggested Citation

  • Jonas Hatzenbühler & Erik Jenelius & Győző Gidófalvi & Oded Cats, 2025. "Multi-purpose pickup and delivery problem for combined passenger and freight transport," Transportation, Springer, vol. 52(5), pages 1975-2006, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:transp:v:52:y:2025:i:5:d:10.1007_s11116-024-10482-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s11116-024-10482-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11116-024-10482-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11116-024-10482-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stefan Ropke & David Pisinger, 2006. "An Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search Heuristic for the Pickup and Delivery Problem with Time Windows," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(4), pages 455-472, November.
    2. G. B. Dantzig & J. H. Ramser, 1959. "The Truck Dispatching Problem," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 6(1), pages 80-91, October.
    3. Hatzenbühler, Jonas & Jenelius, Erik & Gidófalvi, Gyözö & Cats, Oded, 2023. "Modular vehicle routing for combined passenger and freight transport," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    4. Schröder, Stefan & Liedtke, Gernot Thorsten, 2017. "Towards an integrated multi-agent urban transport model of passenger and freight," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 3-12.
    5. Drexl, Michael, 2013. "Applications of the vehicle routing problem with trailers and transshipments," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 227(2), pages 275-283.
    6. Börjesson, Maria & Eliasson, Jonas, 2014. "Experiences from the Swedish Value of Time study," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 144-158.
    7. Jean-François Cordeau & Gilbert Laporte, 2007. "The dial-a-ride problem: models and algorithms," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 153(1), pages 29-46, September.
    8. Koç, Çağrı & Bektaş, Tolga & Jabali, Ola & Laporte, Gilbert, 2016. "Thirty years of heterogeneous vehicle routing," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 249(1), pages 1-21.
    9. Berbeglia, Gerardo & Cordeau, Jean-François & Laporte, Gilbert, 2010. "Dynamic pickup and delivery problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 202(1), pages 8-15, April.
    10. Dayarian, Iman & Crainic, Teodor Gabriel & Gendreau, Michel & Rei, Walter, 2016. "An adaptive large-neighborhood search heuristic for a multi-period vehicle routing problem," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 95-123.
    11. Militão, Aitan M. & Tirachini, Alejandro, 2021. "Optimal fleet size for a shared demand-responsive transport system with human-driven vs automated vehicles: A total cost minimization approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 52-80.
    12. Li, Baoxiang & Krushinsky, Dmitry & Reijers, Hajo A. & Van Woensel, Tom, 2014. "The Share-a-Ride Problem: People and parcels sharing taxis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 238(1), pages 31-40.
    13. Renaud Masson & Fabien Lehuédé & Olivier Péton, 2013. "An Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search for the Pickup and Delivery Problem with Transfers," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 47(3), pages 344-355, August.
    14. M. W. P. Savelsbergh & M. Sol, 1995. "The General Pickup and Delivery Problem," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(1), pages 17-29, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hatzenbühler, Jonas & Jenelius, Erik & Gidófalvi, Gyözö & Cats, Oded, 2023. "Modular vehicle routing for combined passenger and freight transport," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    2. Stefan Vonolfen & Michael Affenzeller, 2016. "Distribution of waiting time for dynamic pickup and delivery problems," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 236(2), pages 359-382, January.
    3. Bergmann, Felix M. & Wagner, Stephan M. & Winkenbach, Matthias, 2020. "Integrating first-mile pickup and last-mile delivery on shared vehicle routes for efficient urban e-commerce distribution," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 26-62.
    4. Neves-Moreira, F. & Amorim, P. & Guimarães, L. & Almada-Lobo, B., 2016. "A long-haul freight transportation problem: Synchronizing resources to deliver requests passing through multiple transshipment locations," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 248(2), pages 487-506.
    5. Yu, Vincent F. & Anh, Pham Tuan & Baldacci, Roberto, 2023. "A robust optimization approach for the vehicle routing problem with cross-docking under demand uncertainty," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    6. He, Dongdong & Ceder, Avishai (Avi) & Zhang, Wenyi & Guan, Wei & Qi, Geqi, 2023. "Optimization of a rural bus service integrated with e-commerce deliveries guided by a new sustainable policy in China," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    7. Ertan Yakıcı & Robert F. Dell & Travis Hartman & Connor McLemore, 2018. "Daily aircraft routing for amphibious ready groups," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 264(1), pages 477-498, May.
    8. Stefan Vonolfen & Michael Affenzeller, 2016. "Distribution of waiting time for dynamic pickup and delivery problems," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 236(2), pages 359-382, January.
    9. Vincent F. Yu & Putu A. Y. Indrakarna & Anak Agung Ngurah Perwira Redi & Shih-Wei Lin, 2021. "Simulated Annealing with Mutation Strategy for the Share-a-Ride Problem with Flexible Compartments," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(18), pages 1-18, September.
    10. Mahmoudi, Monirehalsadat & Chen, Junhua & Shi, Tie & Zhang, Yongxiang & Zhou, Xuesong, 2019. "A cumulative service state representation for the pickup and delivery problem with transfers," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 351-380.
    11. Wei Zhou & Jane Lin, 2019. "An On-Demand Same-Day Delivery Service Using Direct Peer-to-Peer Transshipment Strategies," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 409-443, June.
    12. Masmoudi, Mohamed Amine & Hosny, Manar & Braekers, Kris & Dammak, Abdelaziz, 2016. "Three effective metaheuristics to solve the multi-depot multi-trip heterogeneous dial-a-ride problem," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 60-80.
    13. Yves Molenbruch & Kris Braekers & An Caris, 2017. "Typology and literature review for dial-a-ride problems," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 259(1), pages 295-325, December.
    14. Lu, Chung-Cheng & Diabat, Ali & Li, Yi-Ting & Yang, Yu-Min, 2022. "Combined passenger and parcel transportation using a mixed fleet of electric and gasoline vehicles," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    15. Bongiovanni, Claudia & Kaspi, Mor & Cordeau, Jean-François & Geroliminis, Nikolas, 2022. "A machine learning-driven two-phase metaheuristic for autonomous ridesharing operations," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    16. Capelle, Thomas & Cortés, Cristián E. & Gendreau, Michel & Rey, Pablo A. & Rousseau, Louis-Martin, 2019. "A column generation approach for location-routing problems with pickup and delivery," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 272(1), pages 121-131.
    17. Baals, Julian & Emde, Simon & Turkensteen, Marcel, 2023. "Minimizing earliness-tardiness costs in supplier networks—A just-in-time truck routing problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 306(2), pages 707-741.
    18. Agatz, Niels & Erera, Alan & Savelsbergh, Martin & Wang, Xing, 2012. "Optimization for dynamic ride-sharing: A review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 223(2), pages 295-303.
    19. Timo Gschwind & Michael Drexl, 2016. "Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search with a Constant-Time Feasibility Test for the Dial-a-Ride Problem," Working Papers 1624, Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
    20. Paul Czioska & Ronny Kutadinata & Aleksandar Trifunović & Stephan Winter & Monika Sester & Bernhard Friedrich, 2019. "Real-world meeting points for shared demand-responsive transportation systems," Public Transport, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 341-377, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:transp:v:52:y:2025:i:5:d:10.1007_s11116-024-10482-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.