Files
Abstract
Car-sharing offers an environmentally sustainable, socially responsible and economically feasible
mobility form in which a fleet of shared-use vehicles in a number of locations can be accessed and
used by many people on as-needed basis at an hourly or mileage rate. To ensure its sustainability,
car-sharing operators must be able to effectively manage dynamic and uncertain demands, and
make the best decisions on strategic vehicle allocation and operational vehicle reallocation both
in time and space to improve their profits while keeping costs under control. This paper develops
a stochastic optimization method to optimize strategic allocation of vehicles for one-way carsharing
systems under demand uncertainty. A multi-stage stochastic linear programming model
is developed and solved for use in the context of car-sharing. A seven-stage experimental network
study is conducted. Numerical results and computational insights are discussed.