A Modified Genetic Algorithm for the Postal Vehicle Scheduling Problem

The postal vehicle scheduling problem plays an important role in the post services management. Firstly, the formulation of the postal vehicle scheduling problem is proposed. Secondly, a modified genetic algorithm is put forward. In the algorithm, an encoding ways with trip delimiters are designed. Roulette selection method integrated with elitist strategy is used to select the better chromosomes to generate a new population. The crossover procedure and the mutation procedure are discussed to satisfy the special encoding ways. Finally, the experiment with the benchmark instances shows the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed approach with which the postal vehicle scheduling problem can be solved easily.