Kota Tsubouchi

Scheduling Algorithm for On-Demand Bus System

On-Demand Bus is a Demand Responsive Transit (DRT) service that passengers will be transported by the vehicles after they reserve a seat. The vehicle won’t move if there is no reservation and the efficiency is expected as a new transportation service. It allows potential passengers to request service via the Internet or mobile phone, with requests for ride being processed by a server computer. The requests compose of pick-up location, delivery location and desired delivery time (or pick-up time). The computer executes two main algorithms which are vehicle-choosing algorithm and routing algorithm. Using the vehicle-choosing algorithm was used for decision about which vehicle will accept the new request. And the routing algorithm was used to design the new route and schedule for the vehicle chosen to serve the new request. After calculation, the system will report to the customer whether the request is accepted or not. If it is accepted, the vehicle will pick up and deliver him to his destination within a guaranteed time – not later than the desired delivery time (or not earlier than pick-up time). We also carried out an experiment to evaluate the developed algorithm worked as we designed.

Development and Evaluation of New Interface for Registration of New Bus Stops for the On-Demand Bus System

On-demand Bus is a new public transportation mode which has flexible schedule and flexible routes. Users can ride the bus only after making reservations. It is difficult for the On-demand Bus system without any operators to realize full demand typed service because there is no interaction between users and drivers to inform the concrete information about waiting spots. This paper proposes the new interface for On-demand Bus system through which users can register new bus stops by themselves. The developed interface, namely the developed system realizes CSCW (computer-supported cooperative work), which is a collaboration with the Internet. By developing the new interface, the full demand typed On-demand Bus service is realized and users evaluate the service positively.

Adapted Scheduling Algorithm for On-Demand Bus System

The problem of the developed Innovative On-demand Bus service with cloud computing technology is that the scheduling algorithm cannot correspond to the complicated request from local government. This is because the same calculation algorithm is introduced to all services. In order to answer the complicated requirement for the On-demand Bus scheduling algorithm from each project, the project adapted scheduling algorithm is developed and evaluated by the computer simulation experiment. According to the result of computer simulation, the proposed scheduling algorithm performed as designed and it is proved that the developed scheduling algorithm can calculate the schedule of the On-demand Bus in answering the complicated requirement from each project by adjusting the parameter.