An approach to determine vehicle idle time at unloading points

The paper represents an analysis of current methods for determining the vehicle idle time at loading and unloading points. The features of servicing cargo flows in transport hubs are defined. The total idle time of vehicles at unloading points, which consists of maneuvering time, service queueing time, direct service time, cargo acceptance time and time for paperwork has been formalized in the paper. The factors influencing the components of the total time have been revealed. An approach to queue management at unloading points is presented. It takes into account the existing relative priorities in traffic maintenance. The suggested approach is based on the principles of queuing and scheduling theories. The characteristics of three types of traffic flow with different priorities such as service time, the arrival rate of the traffic flow and workload of the unloading point are determined. According to the results of statistical data processing, it is found that the distribution of service time for vehicles with different priorities is in agreement with the theoretical normal distribution of a random variable with specific parameters. The results of the study can be used for planning the work of road transport and also by specialists in planning the work of the unloading point in terms of optimizing the work to prevent idle time and excessive costs, which will increase the level of enterprise production efficiency.