Open Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Deadlines: Solution Methods and an Application

Abstract

In the open route version of the well-known vehicle routing problem, vehicles are not required to return to the depot; or if they are required, then they return by traveling the same route back. In this study, we present a modified Clarke-Wright parallel savings algorithm, a nearest insertion algorithm and a tabu search heuristic for the open vehicle routing problem with time deadlines. Some random test problems and a real-life school bus routing problem are solved by these heuristics, and results are compared.