The Time Constraint and Formation of Truck Trip-pattern for Circuitous Goods Transportation

The most urban trucks take circuitous routing from a terminal base to deliver goods at one or more destinations. Under the existence of travel-time uncertainty, the truck operator must allow a “safety margin” in order to improve the punctuality of delivering at destinations and returning to a terminal base. This paper evaluates the probability of delay, and shows that three kinds of trip-pattern are formulated by assessing tradeoffs between costs and level of service.