Purpose The paper concerns a transport system for pedestrian\r\nareas, based on a fleet of fully-automated Personal Intelligent\r\nAccessible Vehicles. The following services are provided:\r\ninstant access, open ended reservation and one way trips. All\r\nthese features provide users with high flexibility, but create a\r\nproblemof uneven distribution of vehicles among the stations.\r\nA fully vehicle based relocation strategy is proposed: when a\r\nrelocation is required vehicles automatically move among\r\nstations. The paper focuses on a methodology that allows to\r\nplan the proposed transport system for wide pedestrian areas.\r\nThe methodology aims to determine the fleet dimension and\r\nthe relocation strategy parameters which minimize the system\r\ncost. The system cost takes into account the level of service\r\nand the efficiency. Relocation strategy parameters define\r\nwhen and among which stations relocations should be\r\nperformed.\r\nMethods The problem faced is an optimisation problem\r\nwhere the search space is defined by all the possible fleet\r\ndimensions and relocation strategy parameters. As this cost\r\nfunction could be a multipeak function and since the search\r\nspace is discrete and extremely large, a random search algorithm\r\nhas been adopted. Because of the characteristics of the\r\nproblem, a parallel optimization techniquewas required.Given\r\na fleet dimension and relocation strategy parameters, a\r\nmicrosimulator models the activity of each user, as well as\r\nthe activity of each vehicle over time with the aim of finding\r\nthe level of service and the system efficiency.\r\nResults, conclusions and application The methodology has\r\nbeen applied to planning the proposed transport system for the\r\ncentre of Barreiro, Portugal
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