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Operations Research and Public Transportation
Conference Center “De Werelt”, in Lunteren, on January 18, 2007. The
Landelijk Netwerk Mathematische Besliskunde (LNMB) and
the Nederlands Genootschap voor Besliskunde (NGB) jointly organize the
one-day
seminar "Operations Research and Public Transportation", in
Conference Center “De Werelt” in Lunteren, on January 18, 2007.
The
seminar is the 8th in a series of annual seminars, following the
previous
successful seminars on “Operations Research & Enterprise Resource
Planning”
(1999), “Operations Research in Financial Management” (2000),
“E-commerce &
Operations Research” (2001), “Capacity management – How operations
research
models support decision makers” (2002), “New developments in
Operations
Research software” (2003), "On-line methods: Challenges for OR in a
real-time world" (2004), "Mathematical Models for Financial
Optimization" (2005). and "Operations Research and Health Care" (2006). Mobility is essential to our hectic existence. Mass public transportation is of the utmost importance. The services offered by train, bus, tram, air or other passenger carriers should be reliable, fast, efficient, and competitively priced. It is therefore understandable that Operations Research cannot be missed. And this is the case in more than just the obvious activities. The Dutch OR Society and the Dutch Network of Operations Research proudly present a collection of presentations which will take the audience through those complex planning activities that cannot be achieved without OR. A dramatic example is clearly the time-table of the Dutch railways. The Dutch railways are extreme users of the railway infrastructure of The Netherlands, undoubtedly among the busiest in the world. 2007 will witness the emergence of a new time-table, which already raised much attention in the media. The attendants will appreciate the magnitude of such a planning achievement. Public transporters search continuously for sources of revenue. Using the vehicles as an advertising medium is a way to generate revenues which can help the companies to improve their service level competitively. However, advertisers also plan and therefore matters become quite interesting when deciding how to rent a few square meters of vehicle surface to place advertisements. Even the revenues generated by the primal activity of a carrier, passenger transportation, are subjected to complex management. The same seat may be - and in fact is - sold for different prices. This requires careful judgment: too cheap leads to loss of revenue, while too expensive to the loss of opportunity. And what happens to all those resources when off-duty? They require cleaning and maintenance. And this requires careful planning which, despite not being perceived by the everyday passenger, is essential to ensure the safety and the comfort of the daily voyages. Of course those complex transportation terminals, such as airports, comprise many activities performed by different professionals. Planning each of them is already a challenge, but higher gains are possible when integrated planning is achieved. And at the moment of execution, when the vehicles are competing with many other vehicles for mobility space, things deviate dramatically from the ideal path which is assumed at the planning table. All these, and more, challenges are present throughout this day to show how this - often invisible but always powerful - science called Operations Research helps make things better for the daily commuters. The conference language is English. To participate at the seminar, please go to Registration Seminar and send the form before January 8, 2007. The conference fee is 75 Euro for LNMB and NGB members, and 125 Euro for others. You will receive an invoice after your registration form has been received. The conference fee covers lunch, coffee, tea, and the drinks.
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