Planning the transport of employees by a fleet of buses

The current national urban mobility scenario is critical. Several problems of transportation and quality of life are faced by Brazilian society, such as high levels of congestion, crowding in public transport, delay in displacement, etc. The transport of passengers by charter emerges as an alternative in facing the transport problems, since it results in less consumption of road space and less emission of pollutants. The present work focuses on the particularities of the transportation of employees of a mining company located in Grande Vitória, Espírito Santo. In this study, it was proposed a mathematical model based on the Open Vehicle Routing Problem (OVRP) to plan the transportation of employees through a fleet of chartered buses aiming the dimensioning of the minimum necessary bus fleet and the reduction of the total traveled mileage. The results obtained by the model indicated a substantial reduction in the transportation cost when compared to that currently practiced by the company studied.