A heuristic method for analyzing driver scheduling problem

A heuristic approach, ZEST for ESTimator, is developed to analyze bus driver scheduling problems and produce an estimate of the number of drivers required for a bus schedule. Based on the observation that the maximum number of drivers is needed in the morning and afternoon peaks, ZEST divides the driver scheduling problem into morning and afternoon subproblems, solves each subproblem separately, and, finally, combines the solutions. The key techniques in ZEST derive from manual scheduling operations that examine the critical decision points in a bus schedule that are vital for a good driver schedule and use these decision points to develop chains of meal breaks that dovetail one driver's meal break with another driver's. ZEST can be used as a standalone estimator of driver duties or as a component of other driver scheduling approaches