7:30-8:50pm, 16 June, 2022

Tencent Meeting ID: 184-401-756

Title: Early Reservation for Follow-up Appointments in a Slotted-Service Queue

Abstract: We study an appointment-based slotted-service queue with the goal of maximizing service volume. Returning customers prefer to be served by the same service agent as in their previous visit. We consider a simple strategy that a service provider may use to reduce balking among returning customers -- designate some returning customers as high-priority customers. These customers are placed at the head of the queue when they call for a follow-up appointment. In an appointment-based system, this policy can be implemented by booking a high-priority returning customer's appointment right before he or she leaves the service facility. We study an appointment-based slotted-service queue with the goal of maximizing service volume and analyze three systems: an open-access system, a traditional appointment system, and a carve-out system.

Time: 7:30-8:10pm

Speaker: Yichuan Ding 

Brief introduction of the lecturer: Yichuan Ding, doctor of management science and engineering, Stanford University, USA. He is currently an associate professor of McGill University, Canada, and has worked at IBM Research Center in New York, USA before. His main research interests are optimization problems, queuing theory and econometrics. His research applications include health care and other public sectors. He has published many high-level papers on Operations Research, Mathematics of Operations Research, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, and he served as the reviewer of Operations Research, Management Science, Mathematics of Operations Research, ect.

Title: A Structural Estimation of Airport Ground Transport Mode Choice Using Aggregate Data

Abstract: This study aims to identify factors affecting passenger choice of airport ground transportation modes using aggregate data. We develop a structural estimation method adaptable to this data. Our method estimates the ridership of each train and bus based on a structural discrete choice model. This approach essentially converts unobserved individuals choice probability to the observable ridership. The model coefficients are computed by the nonlinear least-squares estimation which minimizes the distance between estimated and observed ridership. The estimation results suggest that passengers who fly Korean airlines or have experienced longer waiting times are less likely to take public transportation, and passengers who fly low-cost airlines are more likely to take public transport. This approach allows counterfactual analysis to estimate how ridership of airport ground transport services would be if the schedules were adjusted.

Time: 8:10-8:50pm

Speaker: Wenyi Xia 

Brief introduction of the lecturer: Wenyi Xia, doctor of transportation and logistics, University of British Columbia, Canada. She is currently an assistant professor of logistics and operation management department of HEC Montreal, Canada. Her main research fields are transportation and logistics, operation management, empirical research, data analysis, data-driven optimization, travel behavior estimation, transportation economy and policy, etc. As the first author, she has published many high-level papers on Transportation Research Part b: Methodology, an international top journal in the field of transportation, and she is the reviewer of Transportation Research Part b: Methodology, Transportation Research Part a: Policy and Practice, etc.