Modeling the multihop ridematching problem with time windows and solving it using genetic algorithms

In ridesharing systems, drivers and riders decide to share their trips with each other for cost sharing, fun, reducing congenstion, etc. The ridematching problem with time windows consists of matching a set of drivers' offers and a set of riders' requests based on their sources, destinations and timing with detour willingness. If a request can be matched with only one offer, then the problem is called singlehop ridematching. It is called multihop ridematching, if a request can be matched with two offers at different times. In this work, we model the multihop ridematching problem with time windows and provide a genetic algorithm to solve it. Experimentation results on a realistic dataset indicate that the multihop ridematching could increase the number of matched requests as compared with singlehop ridematching.