A Minimal Technology Routing System for Meals on Wheels

Abstract

A novel routing system based on a new travelling salesman heuristic was successfully implemented to handle the efficient daily routing of a varying number of vehicles to more than 200 delivery points whose locations change daily. The system had to be easily mantained by one person and require no resources (for example, no computer). Our system achieved these objectives, cost less than $50, and, moreover, shortened average travel times by 13% compared to previous performance.