Optimization of the Mashaer Shuttle-Bus Service in Hajj: Arafat-Muzdalifah Case Study

Abstract

Hajj, the fifth pillar of Islam, is held annually in the month of Dhul Al-Hijjah, the twelfth month, in the Islamic calendar. Pilgrims travel to Makkah and its neighbouring areas—Mina, Muzdalifah, and Arafat. Annually, about 2.5 million pilgrims perform spatiotemporally restricted rituals in these holy places that they must execute to fulfil the pilgrimage. These restrictions make the task of transportation in Hajj a big challenge. The shuttle bus service is an essential form of transport during Hajj due to its easy availability at all stages and ability to transport large numbers. The current shuttle service suffers from operational problems; this can be deduced from the service delays and customer dissatisfaction with the service. This study provides a system to help in planning the operation of the service for one of the Hajj Establishments to improve performance by determining the optimal number of buses and cycles required for each office in the Establishment. We will also present a case study in which the proposed model was applied to the non-Arab Africa Establishment shuttle service. At the same time, we will include the mechanism for extracting the information required in the tested model from the considerably large GPS data of 20,000+ buses in Hajj 2018.