Strategic timing of arrivals to a queueing system with scheduled customers

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Karunarathne, Wathsala, Koopmans, Camiel, Wang, Jiesen
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866912250444382208
author Karunarathne, Wathsala
Koopmans, Camiel
Wang, Jiesen
author_facet Karunarathne, Wathsala
Koopmans, Camiel
Wang, Jiesen
contents This paper examines a single-server queueing system that serves both scheduled and strategic walk-in customers. The service discipline follows a first-come, first-served policy, with scheduled customers granted non-preemptive priority. Each walk-in customer strategically chooses their arrival time to minimize their expected waiting time, taking into account the reservation schedule and the decisions of other walk-in customers. We derive the Nash equilibrium arrival distribution for walk-in customers and investigate the implications of allowing early arrivals. By analysing various appointment schedules, we assess their effects on equilibrium arrival patterns, waiting times, and server idle time. Additionally, we develop an optimisation approach using the Differential Evolution algorithm, which demonstrates measurable improvements in system performance compared to traditional equally-spaced scheduling.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_20105
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Strategic timing of arrivals to a queueing system with scheduled customers
Karunarathne, Wathsala
Koopmans, Camiel
Wang, Jiesen
Probability
This paper examines a single-server queueing system that serves both scheduled and strategic walk-in customers. The service discipline follows a first-come, first-served policy, with scheduled customers granted non-preemptive priority. Each walk-in customer strategically chooses their arrival time to minimize their expected waiting time, taking into account the reservation schedule and the decisions of other walk-in customers. We derive the Nash equilibrium arrival distribution for walk-in customers and investigate the implications of allowing early arrivals. By analysing various appointment schedules, we assess their effects on equilibrium arrival patterns, waiting times, and server idle time. Additionally, we develop an optimisation approach using the Differential Evolution algorithm, which demonstrates measurable improvements in system performance compared to traditional equally-spaced scheduling.
title Strategic timing of arrivals to a queueing system with scheduled customers
topic Probability
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.20105