An Effective Hybrid Optimization Algorithm for Static Rebalance Problem of Bicycle-Sharing System

Abstract

Although the bicycle-sharing system plays an important role in easing urban traffic congestion and reducing carbon emissions, it still suffers from the problem of unbalanced bicycle distribution between different stations, which significantly limits the utilization of bicycles. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a novel hybrid optimization algorithm, MixPS, based on the combination of a partheno-genetic algorithm and a simulated annealing algorithm. This algorithm can effectively rebalance the distribution of bicycles. To further improve performance, we design a decimal code to represent a scheduled path and introduce six mutation operators to change the chromosome. The whole evolution is controlled with the simulated annealing process. Moreover, we apply the Metropolis acceptance criterion to effectively reduce the possibility that the population falls into the local optimum. Comprehensive experimental results obtained from both synthetic and real-world data sets show that our proposed MixPS algorithm can achieve better optimization and generate a shorter schedule path scheme in less time. These results confirm the efficiency and effectiveness of our method in solving the static bicycle rebalancing problem with single-vehicle and multiple-access.