A transit-based evacuation model for metropolitan areas

Abstract

This paper develops a decision-support model for transit-based evacuation planning occurring in metropolitan areas. The model consists of two modules executed in a sequential manner: the first deals with determining pick-up locations from candidate locations based on the spatial distribution of the evacuees, and the second plans for the route and schedule for each transit vehicle based on vehicle availability and evacuee demand pattern. An overlapping clustering algorithm is first adopted in allocating the demands to several nearby clusters. Then, an optimization model is proposed to allocate available buses from the depots to transport the assembled evacuees between the pick-up locations and different safety destinations and public shelters. A numerical example based on the city of Baltimore demonstrates the applicability of the proposed model and the advantages compared to state-of-the-art models with overly strict and unrealistic assumptions.