Abstract
Flows arriving at a hub or a transshipment facility may need to be switched from one path to another to complete their journey. These transfer aspects of hub and spoke systems are widely recognized as a hindrance to efficient completion of transit trips. For example, time-consuming delays at transfer points for bus passengers are a major reason for poor levels of service between some nodes when the origin and destination are on different network lines. Such transfers also arise in multimodal interaction systems. This paper outlines a simple notation and analytical framework for optimizing flows within a hub (i.e. at nodes with transfers) and discusses several variants of the problem. This paper addresses prototype models for the efficient allocation of resources to facilitate the operation of interactions at the hub. The paper is primarily a conceptual and methodological overview, but well-recognized existing optimization models are suggested as being useful for some of the related tasks. Small numerical examples are used to illustrate some of the ideas.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bartholdi JJ III, Gue KR (2000) Reducing labor costs in an LTL crossdocking terminal. Oper Res 48(6):823–832
Bartholdi JJ III, Gue KR (2004) The best shape for a crossdock. Transp Sci 38(2):235–244
Bobzin H (2005) Principles of network economics. Springer, Berlin
Campbell JF (1994) Integer programming formulations of discrete hub location problems. Eur J Oper Res 72:387–405
Chang SKJ, Hsu CL (2001) Modeling passenger waiting time for intermodal transit stations. Transp Res Rec 1753:69–75
Chowdhury SM, Chien SIJ (2002) Intermodal transit system coordination. Transp Plan Technol 25(4):257–287
Crainic TG, Kim KH (2007) Intermodal transportation. In: Barnhart C, Laporte G (eds) Transportation, handbooks in operations research and management science. Elsevier Science, Amsterdam
Fotheringham AS, O’Kelly ME (1989) Spatial interaction models: formulations and applications. Kluwer, Amsterdam
Hall RW (2001) Truck scheduling for ground to air connectivity. J Air Transp Manag 7(6):331–338
Kara BY, Tansel BC (2001) The latest arrival hub location problem. Manage Sci 47(10):1408–1420
Kleinrock L (1964) Communication nets. McGraw Hill, New York
Koopmans TC, Beckmann M (1957) Assignment problems and the location of economic activities. Econometrica 25:53–76
Kuby MJ, Gray RG (1993) The hub network design problem with stopovers and feeders: the case of Federal Express. Transp Res A 27:1–12
Lee K, Lee H-Y (1998) A new algorithm for graph-theoretic nodal accessibility measurement. Geogr Anal 30(1):1–14
Lim A, Rodrigues B, Zhu Y (2005) Airport gate scheduling with time windows. Artif Intell Rev 24(1):5–31
Martello S, Toth P (1990) Knapsack problems: algorithms and computer implementations. Wiley, New York
Nemhauser GL, Wolsey LA (1988) Integer and combinatorial optimization. Wiley, New York
Oh Y, Hwang H, Cha CN (2006) A dock-door assignment problem for the Korean mail distribution center. Comput Ind Eng 51(2):288–296
O’Kelly ME (1986) Activity levels at hub facilities in interacting networks. Geogr Anal 18(4):343–356
O’Kelly ME (1987) A quadratic integer program for the location of interacting hub facilities. Eur J Oper Res 32:393–404
O’Kelly ME, Skorin-Kapov D, Skorin-Kapov S (1995) Lower bounds for the hub location problem. Manage Sci 41:713–721
Ovenden M (2007) Transit maps of the world. Penguin, Baltimore, MD
Pentico DW (2007) Assignment problems: a golden anniversary survey. Eur J Oper Res 176(2):774–793
Reiter S, Sherman GR (1962) Allocating indivisible resources affording external economies or diseconomies. Int Econ Rev 3:108–135
Skorin-Kapov D, Skorin-Kapov J, O’Kelly ME (1996) Tight linear programming relaxations of uncapacitated p-hub median problems. Eur J Oper Res 94(3):582–593
Trietsch D (1993) Scheduling flights at hub airports. Transp Res B Methodol 27(2):133–150
Tsui LY, Chang C-H (1992) An optimal solution to a dock door assignment problem. Comput Ind Eng 23:283–286
Yaman H, Kara BY, Tansel BC (2007) The latest arrival hub location problem for cargo delivery systems with stopovers. Transp Res B 41(8):906–919
Further Reading
Gu JX, Goetschalckx M, McGinnis LF (2007) Research on warehouse operation: a comprehensive review. Eur J Oper Res 177(1):1–21
Lee YH, Jung JW, Lee KM (2006) Vehicle routing scheduling for cross-docking in the supply chain. Comput Ind Eng 51(2):247–256
Lim A, Ma H, Miao ZW (2006a) Truck dock assignment problem with operational time constraint within crossdocks. Lect Notes Comput Sci 4031:262–271
Lim A, Ma H, Miao ZW (2006b) Truck dock assignment problem with time windows and capacity constraint in transshipment network through crossdocks. Lect Notes Comput Sci 3982:688–697
Matisziw T (2003) Spatial aspects of interregional truck-based commodity flow modeling. Unpublished PhD Dissertation Department of Geography, The Ohio State University
McWilliams DL, Stanfield PM et al (2005) The parcel hub scheduling problem: a simulation-based solution approach. Comput Ind Eng 49(3):393–412
Acknowledgment
Comments from Tim Matisziw are acknowledged with thanks. Hyun Kim commented and provided assistance with the diagrams. Thanks also to the editor and referees for very helpful comments and assisting with the clarity of the presentation. The area editor Mike Kuby is especially acknowledged for his very careful reading, comments, and advice.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
O’Kelly, M.E. Routing Traffic at Hub Facilities. Netw Spat Econ 10, 173–191 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11067-008-9061-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11067-008-9061-z