Operations Research and Public Transportation

Jointly organized by the Landelijk Netwerk Mathematische Besliskunde (LNMB) and the Nederlands Genootschap Besliskunde (NGB)
Conference Center  “De Werelt”, in Lunteren, on January 18, 2007.

The Landelijk Netwerk Mathematische Besliskunde (LNMB) and the Nederlands Genootschap voor Besliskunde (NGB) jointly organize the one-day seminar "Operations Research and Public Transportation", in Conference Center “De Werelt” in Lunteren, on January 18, 2007.  The seminar is the 8th in a series of annual seminars, following the previous successful seminars on “Operations Research & Enterprise Resource Planning” (1999), “Operations Research in Financial Management” (2000), “E-commerce & Operations Research” (2001), “Capacity management – How operations research models support decision makers” (2002), “New developments in Operations Research software” (2003), "On-line methods: Challenges for OR in a real-time world" (2004), "Mathematical Models for Financial Optimization" (2005). and "Operations Research and Health Care" (2006).

Mobility is essential to our hectic existence. Mass public transportation is of the utmost importance. The services offered by train, bus, tram, air or other passenger carriers should be reliable, fast, efficient, and competitively priced. It is therefore understandable that Operations Research cannot be missed. And this is the case in more than just the obvious activities. The Dutch OR Society and the Dutch Network of Operations Research proudly present a collection of presentations which will take the audience through those complex planning activities that cannot be achieved without OR. A dramatic example is clearly the time-table of the Dutch railways. The Dutch railways are extreme users of the railway infrastructure of The Netherlands, undoubtedly among the busiest in the world. 2007 will witness the emergence of a new time-table, which already raised much attention in the media. The attendants will appreciate the magnitude of such a planning achievement. Public transporters search continuously for sources of revenue. Using the vehicles as an advertising medium is a way to generate revenues which can help the companies to improve their service level competitively. However, advertisers also plan and therefore matters become quite interesting when deciding how to rent a few square meters of vehicle surface to place advertisements. Even the revenues generated by the primal activity of a carrier, passenger transportation, are subjected to complex management. The same seat may be - and in fact is - sold for different prices. This requires careful judgment: too cheap leads to loss of revenue, while too expensive to the loss of opportunity. And what happens to all those resources when off-duty? They require cleaning and maintenance. And this requires careful planning which, despite not being perceived by the everyday passenger, is essential to ensure the safety and the comfort of the daily voyages. Of course those complex transportation terminals, such as airports, comprise many activities performed by different professionals. Planning each of them is already a challenge, but higher gains are possible when integrated planning is achieved. And at the moment of execution, when the vehicles are competing with many other vehicles for mobility space, things deviate dramatically from the ideal path which is assumed at the planning table. All these, and more, challenges are present throughout this day to show how this - often invisible but always powerful - science called Operations Research helps make things better for the daily commuters.

The conference language is English. To participate at the seminar, please go to Registration Seminar and send the form before January 8, 2007. The conference fee is 75 Euro for LNMB and NGB members, and 125 Euro for others. You will receive an invoice after your registration form has been received. The conference fee covers lunch, coffee, tea, and the drinks. 

SEMINAR PROGRAM
09.30 - 10.15	Registration and coffee
10.15 - 10.25	Welcome by the chairmen Alexander Rinnooy Kan and Goos Kant
10.30 - 11.10	Leo Kroon: A survey of OR models and techniques for the planning of Public Transportation (click here for the slides of the presentation)
11.20 - 11.50	Marieke de Koning: Making money out of public transportation: performance measurement of bus and tram advertising (click here for the slides of the presentation)
12.00 - 12.30	Gerard Kindervater: Revenue Management in the Airline Passenger Industry (click here for the slides of the presentation)
12.30 - 13.50	Lunch
13.50 - 14.20	Dennis Huisman: Timetable 2007: why and how? (click here for the slides of the presentation)
14.30 - 15.00	Guido Diepen: Planning of busses and gates at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (click here for the slides of the presentation)
15.10 - 15.40	Ramon Lentink: Where do train units stay when they're off duty? (click here for the slides of the presentation)
15.50 - 16.20	Michiel Odijk: Application of OR to settle a major HRM conflict at Dutch Railways (click here for the slides of the presentation)
16.30 - 17.00	Niels van Oort: The moment of execution: real-life monitoring and control of public transport operations in major urban areas (Cancelled by illness of the speaker)
17.00 - 18.00	Drinks

 

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