Microtransit Dispatch — Cheapest-Insertion Routing

Next-generation intelligent public transportation increasingly means demand-responsive microtransit: shared shuttles that pick up and drop off riders on the fly instead of running a fixed route. This simulator models a small city grid where rider requests arrive in real time and a dispatcher must instantly decide which shuttle should serve each one. It implements the cheapest-insertion heuristic for the dynamic dial-a-ride problem — the same greedy, real-time-feasible strategy used by real microtransit operators — inserting each pickup and dropoff wherever it adds the least extra driving distance to a vehicle's current route, subject to seat capacity. Live readouts track trips served, average rider wait time, the average detour ratio riders experience from being pooled, and how fully the fleet is utilized, so you can see the effect of adding vans, changing seat capacity, or driving up demand.