Probabilistic Maximal Covering Location-Allocation Models with Constrained Waiting Time or Queue Length for Congested Systems

Abstract

When dealing with the design of service networks, such as health and EMS services, banking or distributed ticket selling services, the location of service centers has a strong influence on the congestion at each of them, and consequently, on the quality of service. In this paper, several models are presented to consider service congestion. The first model addresses the issue of the location of the least number of single--server centers such that all the population is served within a standard distance, and nobody stands in line for a time longer than a given time--limit, or with more than a predetermined number of other clients. We then formulate several maximal coverage models, with one or more servers per service center. A new heuristic is developed to solve the models and tested in a 30--nodes network.