The HASTUS Vehicle and Manpower Scheduling System at the Société de transport de la Communauté urbaine de Montréal

Varying service levels during the day and complex work rules make transit scheduling a difficult task. Over the last 10 years, a joint university-S.T.C.U.M.-private enterprise effort has produced HASTUS, a comprehensive set of computer tools that assists in building cost-effective schedules. The HASTUS-Macro decision support system uses linear programming methods to estimate the costs of changes in union contracts and service levels. HASTUS-Bus employs network-flow methods to generate optimal vehicle schedules. HASTUS-Micro generates operator assignments through a combination of specially-formulated heuristics and optimal matching algorithms. Annual savings in excess of $3,000,000 (three percent of operating costs) have been reported in manpower scheduling and $1,000,000 in vehicle scheduling. This success at the S.T.C.U.M. has led to installations in nearly 40 major cities worldwide.