Research Team: PI: Mason Porter Team:
About this project:
The project team seeks to help the Student Transportation Operation of the LAUSD better match its capacity with demand. Specifically, UCLA seeks to answer the following stakeholder question: What is the best way to operate their bus service within regulatory and policy guidelines? The proposed project includes incorporation into traveling salesperson problems on networks of (1) dynamic route readjustment, as congestion and accidents affect delays; (2) novel types of constrained optimization (e.g., different types of buses for different types of special needs for students, as well as other constraints; and (3) multiplex network features by generalizing ideas from the new formalism of multilayer networks.
What problem does this research aim to address?
Every regular school day, LAUSD operates over 14,000 hours of service using 1,307 school buses to serve over 38,000 students, who attend more than 300 schools in more than 30 subdistricts, on 1,669 routes over a service area of about 750 square miles. Bus contractors own and operate another 700 school buses to provide service for LAUSD. LAUSD also provides service for midday, athletic events, after-school programs, and on weekends. The buses are subject to traffic conditions — operating both during peak traffic times and during non-peak traffic times — and to changing enrollment patterns. LA’s very large geographic area, as compared to other US cities, makes the problem particularly acute (and also scientifically interesting).
What are the expected impacts and benefits of the research?
Optimizations and savings will be immediately obvious for LAUSD: Student Transportation is 100% funded with general funds, so savings that result from our research can immediately go back into the education system, instead of being used for operations.