Integrating line planning, timetabling, and vehicle scheduling: a customer-oriented heuristic

Abstract

Given an existing public transportation network, the classic planning process in public transportation is as follows: In a first step, the lines are designed; in a second step a timetable is calculated and finally the vehicle and crew schedules are planned. The drawback of this sequence is that the main factors for the costs (i.e. the number of vehicles and drivers needed) are only determined in a late stage of the planning process.