Vehicle Routing Schedule

Vehicle Routing Schedule problems involve delivering goods to customers with vehicles that have limited capacity. You need to calculate the minimum number of vehicles needed to serve all customers.

10Worksheets
200+Practice Questions
IntermediateDifficulty
2-3 hoursHours to Master

Introduction to Vehicle Routing Schedule

Vehicle Routing Schedule problems involve delivering goods to customers with vehicles that have limited capacity. You need to calculate the minimum number of vehicles needed to serve all customers.

Prerequisites

Capacity constraints Ceiling division Total demand calculation Fleet size
Why This Matters: Vehicle Routing problems appear in 1-2 questions in Banking PO and Railways exams. They test capacity planning and routing concepts.

How to Solve Vehicle Routing Schedule Problems

1

Step 1: Calculate total demand = sum of all customer demands

2

Step 2: Note vehicle capacity

3

Step 3: Minimum vehicles = ceil(total_demand / vehicle_capacity)

4

Step 4: Answer with number of vehicles

Pro Strategy: Lower bound based on total demand and capacity. Routing may require more vehicles, but this is a minimum.

Example Problem

Example: Demands: 5, 3, 7, 2, 4, 6 units. Vehicle capacity 10 units. Minimum vehicles? Solution: Step 1: Total demand = 5+3+7+2+4+6 = 27 Step 2: Vehicles = ceil(27/10) = ceil(2.7) = 3 Answer: 3 vehicles

Pro Tips & Tricks

  • Minimum vehicles = ⌈total demand / capacity⌉
  • This is a lower bound (actual may be higher due to routing constraints)
  • If any customer demand > capacity, impossible with that vehicle
  • For identical vehicles, capacity is same

Shortcut Methods to Solve Faster

Vehicles = (total_demand + capacity - 1) // capacity
If total demand divisible by capacity, exactly total/capacity vehicles
Otherwise, one extra vehicle

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Using floor instead of ceiling
Forgetting that vehicles have capacity limit per trip
Assuming each customer needs separate vehicle
Not considering that one vehicle can serve multiple customers

Exam Importance

Vehicle Routing Schedule is an important topic for various competitive exams. Here's how frequently it appears:

SSC CGL
1-2 questions
BANKING PO
1-2 questions
RAILWAYS RRB
1-2 questions
INSURANCE
1-2 questions

Ready to Master Vehicle Routing Schedule?

Start with Worksheet 1 and work your way up to expert level! Each worksheet includes:

20 practice questions
Detailed solutions
Step-by-step explanations
Start Practicing Now