Rebalancing Docked Bicycle Sharing System with Approximate Dynamic Programming and Reinforcement Learning

The bicycle, an active transportation mode, has received increasing attention as an alternative in urban environments worldwide. However, effectively managing the stock levels of rental bicycles at each station is challenging as demand levels vary with time, particularly when users are allowed to re...

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Main Authors: Young-Hyun Seo, Dong-Kyu Kim, Seungmo Kang, Young-Ji Byon, Seung-Young Kho
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2022-01-01
Series:Journal of Advanced Transportation
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2022/2780711
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author Young-Hyun Seo
Dong-Kyu Kim
Seungmo Kang
Young-Ji Byon
Seung-Young Kho
author_facet Young-Hyun Seo
Dong-Kyu Kim
Seungmo Kang
Young-Ji Byon
Seung-Young Kho
author_sort Young-Hyun Seo
collection DOAJ
description The bicycle, an active transportation mode, has received increasing attention as an alternative in urban environments worldwide. However, effectively managing the stock levels of rental bicycles at each station is challenging as demand levels vary with time, particularly when users are allowed to return bicycles at any station. There is a need for system-wide management of bicycle stock levels by transporting available bicycles from one station to another. In this study, a bicycle rebalancing model based on a Markov decision process (MDP) is developed using a real-time dynamic programming method and reinforcement learning considering dynamic system characteristics. The pickup and return demands are stochastic and continuously changing. As a result, the proposed framework suggests the best operation option every 10 min based on the realized system variables and future demands predicted by the random forest method, minimizing the expected unmet demand. Moreover, we adopt custom prioritizing strategies to reduce the number of action candidates for the operator and the computational complexity for practicality in the MDP framework. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the proposed model outperforms existing methods, such as short-term rebalancing and static lookahead policies. Among the suggested prioritizing strategies, focusing on stations with a larger error in demand prediction was found to be the most effective. Additionally, the effects of various safety buffers were examined.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2042-3195
language English
publishDate 2022-01-01
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series Journal of Advanced Transportation
spelling doaj-art-b58c49742e4e4aeb977abe96ef436ba92025-08-20T03:39:28ZengWileyJournal of Advanced Transportation2042-31952022-01-01202210.1155/2022/2780711Rebalancing Docked Bicycle Sharing System with Approximate Dynamic Programming and Reinforcement LearningYoung-Hyun Seo0Dong-Kyu Kim1Seungmo Kang2Young-Ji Byon3Seung-Young Kho4School of CivilDepartment of Civil and Environmental EngineeringSchool of CivilDepartment of Civil Infrastructure and Environmental EngineeringDepartment of Civil and Environmental EngineeringThe bicycle, an active transportation mode, has received increasing attention as an alternative in urban environments worldwide. However, effectively managing the stock levels of rental bicycles at each station is challenging as demand levels vary with time, particularly when users are allowed to return bicycles at any station. There is a need for system-wide management of bicycle stock levels by transporting available bicycles from one station to another. In this study, a bicycle rebalancing model based on a Markov decision process (MDP) is developed using a real-time dynamic programming method and reinforcement learning considering dynamic system characteristics. The pickup and return demands are stochastic and continuously changing. As a result, the proposed framework suggests the best operation option every 10 min based on the realized system variables and future demands predicted by the random forest method, minimizing the expected unmet demand. Moreover, we adopt custom prioritizing strategies to reduce the number of action candidates for the operator and the computational complexity for practicality in the MDP framework. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the proposed model outperforms existing methods, such as short-term rebalancing and static lookahead policies. Among the suggested prioritizing strategies, focusing on stations with a larger error in demand prediction was found to be the most effective. Additionally, the effects of various safety buffers were examined.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2022/2780711
spellingShingle Young-Hyun Seo
Dong-Kyu Kim
Seungmo Kang
Young-Ji Byon
Seung-Young Kho
Rebalancing Docked Bicycle Sharing System with Approximate Dynamic Programming and Reinforcement Learning
Journal of Advanced Transportation
title Rebalancing Docked Bicycle Sharing System with Approximate Dynamic Programming and Reinforcement Learning
title_full Rebalancing Docked Bicycle Sharing System with Approximate Dynamic Programming and Reinforcement Learning
title_fullStr Rebalancing Docked Bicycle Sharing System with Approximate Dynamic Programming and Reinforcement Learning
title_full_unstemmed Rebalancing Docked Bicycle Sharing System with Approximate Dynamic Programming and Reinforcement Learning
title_short Rebalancing Docked Bicycle Sharing System with Approximate Dynamic Programming and Reinforcement Learning
title_sort rebalancing docked bicycle sharing system with approximate dynamic programming and reinforcement learning
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2022/2780711
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