Coordinated Multitask Scheduling of Electric Buses in Postdisaster Transportation-Power Distribution Systems

Electric buses (EBs) which can serve as power sources and transportation tools, can improve the resilience of power distribution networks (PDNs) and urban transportation networks (UTNs). This article proposes a coordinated multitask EB scheduling method for the postdisaster operation of transportation-power distribution networks (TDNs). Different from the existing single-task EB scheduling methods, a multitask EB scheduling model is developed by coupling UTN constraints for people evacuation and PDN constraints for power supply. The postdisaster TDN operation with multitask EB scheduling is established as a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) problem, which contains a large number of integer variables associated with EB traveling among assembly points in UTNs. Finally, a division-based solution method, consisting of assembly point division, intrasubset EB scheduling, and intersubset EB scheduling, is proposed to solve the proposed MILP problem efficiently by scheduling EBs in distinct subsets of assembly points. The proposed method is tested on TDNs modified from a real-world UTN. Numerical results show that the proposed solution method is computationally efficiency and accurate for EB scheduling in large-scale TDNs; moreover, The TDN operational performance and EB usage efficiency are both enhanced by the coordinated multitask EB scheduling method as compared with those of single-task EB scheduling methods.