Exact and heuristic methods for public transit circulator design

This work presents a new mixed integer model for a single-route circulator design problem. An exact method that performs well in practice on medium-sized networks is presented that utilizes 1-trees as lower bounds and a stopping criterion relevant in non-Steiner networks. Proof of the correctness of this stopping criterion is provided. A heuristic method is presented for large networks. Both methods are tested on sample networks along a commuter rail line in Austin, TX in several problem variations and results of these tests presented. The practical and theoretical implications of this work are outlined.