The multi-vehicle covering tour problem is de"ned on a graph G"(<6=, E), where = is a set of vertices that must collectively be covered by up to m vehicles. The problem consists of determining a set of total minimum length vehicle routes on a subset of <, subject to side constraints, such that every vertex of = is within a prespeci"ed distance from a route. Three heuristics are developed for this problem and tested on randomly generated and real data. Scope and purpose In the problem considered in this article, we are given two sets of locations. The "rst set, <, consists of potential locations at which some vehicles may stop, and the second set, =, are locations not actually on vehicle routes, but within an acceptable distance of a vehicle route. The problem is to construct several vehicle routes through a subset of <, all starting and ending at the same locations, subject to some side constraints, having a total minimum length, and such that every loc...
Mondher Hachicha, M. John Hodgson, Gilbert Laporte