VRP Costs for a single route problem

[ElAttar__Ihab]

Hello Everyone,

I am using the VRP solver on ArcGIS Online to help a courier optimize its deliveries. I am currently setting the  time_window_factor to low so that the solver  places more importance on minimizing drive times and less on arriving at stops on time. I had a question regarding the CostPerUnitDistance and CostPerUnitTime route attributes. Would setting those values influence the results when solving the problem for a single driver\route or they only influence the results when you have multiple routes ?

If i set the CostPerUnitDistance to a value higher than the CostPerUnitTime, when solving for  a single driver, will the VRP solver lean more towards  increasing wait times at stops to minimize the costs of travelling longer distances  ?

Regards,

Ihab

[HeatherMoe]

Hi Ihab,

The CostPerUnitDistance and CostPerUnitTime values are used by the VRP solver during its solving both with multiple routes or just a single route in the problem. For the single route case it will be used in the sequencing of orders and for the multi route case it is used in both deciding which route the order is assigned to as well as the sequencing of the routes. 

Yes increasing the CostPerUnitDistance above the CostPerUnitTime will influence the solver towards options with lower distances if possible considering the other constraints in the problem such as time windows and maximum route constraints.

Hope this helps,

Heather