Maximal Accessibility Network Design in the Public Sector

This paper focuses on designing facility networks in the public sector so as to maximize the number of people benefiting from their services. We develop an analytical framework for the maximal accessibility network design problem that involves determining the optimal number, locations, and capacities of a network of public sector facilities. We assume that the time spent for receiving the service from a facility is a good proxy for its accessibility. We provide a generic model that incorporates both the congestion at the facilities and the customer-choice environment that underlies most of the services offered by the public sector. We devise an ɛ-optimal algorithm for the arising nonlinear integer program. The proposed algorithm performs well in tackling fairly large problem instances. Through a realistic example based on the hospital network of Toronto, we demonstrate the model’s capability in providing policy insights.