DRT

drtOnline.py#

The drtOnline.py tool allows you to simulate shared demand responsive transport (DRT). The tool uses TraCI and the taxi device to control the requests and the drt vehicles. Requests arrive dynamically and are handled by a dispatcher that seeks to combine multiple requests in order to maximize the number of requests served while minimizing the mileage of the entire fleet of vehicles.

If you don't need to simulate a shared service, you can directly use the taxi device in sumo and don't need this tool. See Taxi and the respective Taxi service tutorial .

The tool requires python3 and the python LP (Linear Programming) modeler PuLP at least in version 2.0. Please do not install the python3-pulp package on ubuntu 20.04 (or earlier) use pip instead.

The minimal call is:

python tools/drt/drtOnline.py -n <net-file> -r <route-file> --taxi <vehicle-file>

The route file contains the requests, which are defined as persons with ride elements with the lines of the drt vehicles. For example:

<routes>
    <person id="0" depart="0.00">
        <ride from="edgeStart" to="edgeEnd" lines="taxi"/>
    </person>
</routes>

The vehicle file contains the drt vehicles, which must be equipped with a taxi device. The file should looks like:

<routes>
    <vType id="taxi" vClass="taxi">
        <param key="has.taxi.device" value="true"/>
    </vType>
    <trip id="taxiA" depart="0.00" type="taxi" personCapacity="12">
        <stop lane="edge0" triggered="person"/>
    </trip>
</routes>

You can change the capacity as well as other attributes of the vehicles just like in sumo. See vehicle attributes.

As output a tripinfo.xml file is generated with information about each request or person and vehicle. Persons who have as result the attribute <vehicle="NULL">, represent orders that could not be served and therefore were rejected.

The tool has different options to adapt the drt service. The most relevant are: the --max-wait option which defines the maximum waiting time for pick-up the requests (default 900 s). With --sim-step the step time to collect new reservations is defined (default 30 seconds). The --drf option defines the direct route factor that is used as an auxiliary to set the maximum travel time with the drt service that a person can accept. The maximum travel time with the drt service cannot be greater than the direct travel time multiplied by this factor, which by default has a value equal to 2.

darpSolvers.py#

This is an auxiliary tool used by the drtOnline.py that contains the algorithms available for the routing of the drt vehicles.

drtOrtools.py#

The tool drtOrtools.py models demand responsive transport (DRT) in SUMO via TraCI and uses ortools to solve the vehicle routing problems.

As with drtOnline.py, requests arrive dynamically and multiple requests are combined in order to maximize the number of requests served while minimizing the mileage (or duration) of the entire vehicle fleet.

The tool requires Python and the packages numpy and ortools. The minimum call is:

python drtOrtools.py -s example.sumocfg

with example.sumocfg being a valid SUMO configuration file which refers to a network file, routes etc.

For further help on the command line arguments run:

python drtOrtools.py --help

The solver requires a matrix with costs to travel between drop-off locations, pick-up locations and current vehicle positions. Costs can be distances or travel times depending on the option --cost-type. The costs are obtained during simulation by calls to traci.simulation.findRoute(). In a regular interval (option --interval), open requests are assigned to vehicles of the DRT fleet and the cost matrixed is passed to the auxiliary file ortools_pdp.py, where the vehicle routing problem is solved using ortools.