PhD Defence Johann Hartleb
In his dissertation 'Public Transport and Passengers: Optimization Models that Consider Travel Demand' Johann Hartleb presented integrated models to optimize public transport services while estimating the corresponding passenger choices. The first study compares different timetable evaluation functions for consistency and gives further motivation for the integration of passenger choice models into optimization models. In the next two studies, he presented novel optimization models with integrated demand estimation for the steps of timetabling and line planning, respectively. The resulting public transport services are designed for the passenger demand they generate. The second part of this thesis deals with new and more flexible forms of public transport: mobility on demand. In order to assess the consequences of large-scale on-demand services on cities and regions, travel demand models need to be extended to determine the service level of on-demand services. Both studies in this part present solution algorithms for a vehicle scheduling problem of on-demand services to estimate the required vehicle fleet size and distance traveled. Johann defended his dissertation on Friday, 17 September at 10:30h. His supervisors were Prof. Dennis Huisman (ESE), Prof. Markus Friedrich (University of Stuttgart), and Dr Marie Schmidt (RSM). The members of the Doctoral Committee were Prof. Oded Cats (TU Delft), Prof. Anita Schöbel (TU Kaiserslautern), and Prof. Rob Zuidwijk (RSM).
About Johann Hartleb
Johann was born in Coburg, Germany in 1990. He studied Mathematics at the University of Göttingen and obtained his M.Sc. degree from there in 2016. During his studies, Johann visited the Bandung Institute of Technology in Bandung, Indonesia as a freemover in 2013-2014, and worked as a research intern at Technion - Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel in 2015. In 2016, Johann started as a PhD candidate at the Erasmus Research Institute of Management under the supervision of Prof. Leo Kroon, Prof. Dennis Huisman, Prof. Markus Friedrich, and Dr. Marie Schmidt. During his PhD trajectory, Johann worked and conducted his research at both the department of Technology and Operations Management, Rotterdam School of Management and the department for Transportation Planning and Traffic Engineering, University of Stuttgart, Germany. The work on his interdisciplinary and international project was also carried out in close collaboration with the department of Process quality and Innovation of Netherlands Railways.
Johann's research interests include the development of optimization methods to advance public transport. His project dealt with the integration of passenger demand models and public transport optimization models. His work has been presented at several international conferences, including IFORS, EURO, ATMOS, and HEUREKA. In 2021, Johann was awarded the HEUREKA recognition award for his work on estimating the service level of on-demand vehicles within travel demand models. Part of his work is published in various conference proceedings and accepted for publication in scientific journals such as Transportation.
Thesis Abstract
Public transport is an indispensable part of our society. It increases mobility for all, enables efficient transportation in densely populated areas, and protects the environment with lowest emissions per passenger kilometer. To reap its benefits, an effective public transport system must be created attracting large numbers of passengers.
In the first part of this thesis, we present integrated models to optimize public transport services while estimating the corresponding passenger choices. The first study compares different timetable evaluation functions for consistency and gives further motivation for the integration of passenger choice models into optimization models. In the next two studies, we present novel optimization models with integrated demand estimation for the steps of timetabling and line planning, respectively. The resulting public transport services are designed for the passenger demand they generate.
The second part of this thesis deals with new and more flexible forms of public transport: mobility on demand. In order to assess the consequences of large-scale on-demand services on cities and regions, travel demand models need to be extended to determine the service level of on-demand services. Both studies in this part present solution algorithms for a vehicle scheduling problem of on-demand services to estimate the required vehicle fleet size and distance traveled.
