A genetic algorithm based approach to vehicle routing problem with simultaneous pick-up and deliveries

► We consider the vehicle routing problem with simultaneous pick-up and deliveries. ► A genetic algorithm based approach is developed. ► Computational experiments are conducted for evaluating the performance of the new approach. ► Genetic algorithm based approach performs well in the computational study. The vehicle routing problem with simultaneous pick-up and deliveries, which considers simultaneous distribution and collection of goods to/from customers, is an extension of the capacitated vehicle routing problem. There are various real cases, where fleet of vehicles originated in a depot serves customers with pick-up and deliveries from/to their locations. Increasing importance of reverse logistics activities make it necessary to determine efficient and effective vehicle routes for simultaneous pick-up and delivery activities. The vehicle routing problem with simultaneous pick-up and deliveries is also NP-hard as a capacitated vehicle routing problem and this study proposes a genetic algorithm based approach to this problem. Computational example is presented with parameter settings in order to illustrate the proposed approach. Moreover, performance of the proposed approach is evaluated by solving several test problems.