Traveling Salesman Problem with Optional Bonus Collection, Pickup Time and Passengers

This study introduces a variant of the Traveling Salesman Problem, named Traveling Salesman Problem with Optional Bonus Collection, Pickup Time and Passengers (PCVP-BoTc). It is a variant that incorporates elements of the Prize Collecting Traveling Salesman Problem and Ridesharing into the PCV. The objective is to optimize the revenue of the driver, which selectively defines which delivery or collection tasks to perform along the route. The economic effect of the collection is modeled by a bonus. The model can be applied to the solution of hybrid routing systems with route tasks and solidary transport. The driver, while performing the selected tasks, can give rides to persons who share route costs with him. Passengers are protected by restrictions concerning the maximum value they agree to pay for a ride and maximum travel duration. The activity of collecting the bonus in each locality demands a specific amount of time, affects the route duration, and is interconnected with the embarkment of passengers. Two mathematical formulations are presented for the problem and validated by a computational experiment using a solver. We propose four heuristic algorithms; three of them are hybrid metaheuristics. We tested the mathematical formulation implementations for 24 instances and the heuristic algorithms for 48