Abstract. This study presents a methodology for selection the route of a truck moving between two points by taking into account multiple factors relevant to transport. The evaluation criteria have been selected so that they take account into the infrastructure road conditions, geographic characteristics of the road, roadside conditions and the weather conditions, on the one hand, and fuel consumption, on the other hand. The study examines four main sets of criteria with fifteenth sub-criteria. As sub-criteria related to the main criteria we have selected the condition of the road surface, the longitudinal and transverse unevenness of the road, inclines on the road, number of turns, restaurants and petrol stations, and others. The methods of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Cost/Benefits have been applied. The AHP method has been used to determine the weights of the criteria and sub-criteria, and the priorities of alternative routes. The Cost/Benefits method has been applied for the selection of the best route of a truck among the alternatives under study. The methodology has been tried out on two variants taking into account the meteorological conditions. The results show that the criterions of the infrastructure road conditions are of great importance. Sub-criteria of great importance are the condition of the road surface, longitudinal and transverse lumpiness of the road, sections of the road under repair, category of road, availability of places to take a rest and parking lots.The decision approach proposed in this paper was tested for a route selection among alternatives for the road network in Bulgaria. The proposed model can help transport managers enhance the effectiveness of the movement of vehicles.Keywords: AHP method, truck, transportation, route selection.
IntroductionTransport processes in automotive companies require the choice of a route, according to the condition of the roads for carriage the goods according to the season. It is necessary for managers of transport companies to take decisions in any situation. These decisions are often made intuitively, on the basis of their experience. To choose the route of the truck between two points it is necessary to adopt a complex approach, which will assess the objective criteria.The multi-criteria decision-making approach Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) has been applied for best routes prioritization and selection. In [1; 2] the authors have studied the problem of multiplecriteria selection of the transportation mode of cargo. The four main criteria characterizing the efficiency of freight transportation and the transportation system, such as the cost for cargo delivery, time of delivery, reliability of cargo transportation and ecological impact, have been defined by the authors. For route selection they have used the AHP method. In [3] the authors examine criteria such as costs, time, risk of freight damage, risk of infrastructure and equipment, risk of other factors for multimodal routes selection. In [4] the AHP method is used to choose the best...