Looking for suggestion on round trip

[AndrewWeisensel]

Our client is in the person transportation industry.  For each trip, we set each pickup and drop off as a separate [Order] and connect them with OrderPairs.  This serves to keep them on the same [Route] as discussed here: Vehicle Routing Problem Analysis.  The problem we are now encountering however is creating an immediate round trip to keep the passenger on the same [Route]. 

An example would be pick up a customer at their home (Location A), take them to the pharmacy (Location B) where they get their medication with minimal delay, and finally return the customer back to their home (Location A).  Currently we have these as two separate trips and OrderPairs, however the VRP will usually assign the return segment to a different [Route].  Any suggestions as to how to keep these together on the same [Route]?

[NaAn]

Hi Andrew,

If all routes are identical or you know which route will serivce the round trip orders, there is a solution:

• Create a "round trip" specialty.


• Set the two order pairs which represent the round trip orders the "round trip" specialty.


• Set the "round trip" specialty to the route which will service these orders. When routes are identical, you can randomly select any route to use.

Hope this will solve your problem.

Thanks.

Anna