Communications - Scientific letters of the University of Zilina X:X | DOI: 10.26552/com.C.2026.008

Optimizing Patient Transport under Infection Control Constraints: A MILP-Based Dial-a-Ride Approach

Martin Tóth ORCID...1, Adrián Horváth ORCID...2, *, Tamás Hajba ORCID...3
1 Toma Logistics Kft, Sopron, Hungary
2 Faculty of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Transport Sciences, Szechenyi Istvan University, Gyor, Hungary
3 Faculty of Informatics and Electrical Engineering, Szechenyi Istvan University, Gyor, Hungary

With aging populations and rising healthcare demands, efficient patient transportation has become a critical challenge, particularly in the context of infection control. In this paper is presented an extended mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model for optimizing patient transport in urban environments, with a focus on the separate transportation of infectious and non-infectious individuals. The model incorporates time windows, maximum allowable ride durations, and mandatory vehicle disinfection requirements. Experimental results obtained using CPLEX demonstrate that incorporating infection control measures significantly influences both route planning and computational complexity. The proposed approach provides a scalable foundation for future multi-vehicle extensions and cost-based optimization strategies.

Keywords: Dial-a-Ride problem, patient transportation, mathematical modeling, mixed-integer linear programming
Grants and funding:

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Conflicts of interest:

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Received: October 3, 2025; Accepted: November 18, 2025; Prepublished online: January 16, 2026 

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