Dynamic repositioning for vehicle sharing with setup costs

This study considers a multi-period two-region repositioning problem with setup repositioning costs involved for vehicle sharing systems. We find that incorporating such costs can influence the total cost significantly and complicate the structure of the optimal policy. Moreover, we manage to partially characterize the optimal policy, and then develop an easy-to-implement heuristic policy. The performance of the heuristic policy and the influence of setup repositioning costs on policies are assessed numerically.