A flow-minimizing flow-demand location model and its application to terminal facilities

This paper treats a flow-demand facility location model that minimizes not only total travel distance but also necessary flow for given amounts of trip generation and termination. The proposed model is based on a traditional transportation model as well as a p-median model for flow-demand, and can be solved by mixed integer programming technique. By applying the flow-minimizing flow-demand location model to Tokyo metropolitan area, we find that a larger number of users is seen at facilities in the city centers than at facilities in peripheral areas. We show that optimal location has intermediate pattern of p-median results for origin-based demand and for destination-based demand, and that capacity constraint enforces concentration of terminal facilities at city centers.