System Time Minimization in Route Guidance with Elastic Market Penetration (original) (raw)

Bilevel Formulation for Optimal Traffic-Information Dissemination

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2003

With the fast-growing telematics market and maturing traffic-information services, telematics devices provide a feasible means with which to manage traffic more efficiently. The provision of traffic information to travelers usually involves different parties that have distinctive objectives: travelers are concerned with benefits of travel-time savings at an affordable service charge, private information service providers (ISPs) seek to provide marketable information services from which they can derive a profit, and traffic management centers (TMCs) have the responsibility to maintain and improve system performance, especially to minimize the total system travel time. How transportation system managers can analyze the trade-offs among these objectives and adjust this new traffic-information flow diagram to improve system performance remains an open question. The trade-offs needed among the conflicting multiple objectives of different parties are studied, and traffic system performanc...

System modeling of demand responsive transportation services: Evaluating cost efficiency of service and coordinated taxi usage

Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 2018

This paper presents a continuum approximation model for the operating cost of demand responsive transit (DRT) systems in large urban networks. Applications of the proposed model shed light on ways demand and characteristics of the DRT system affect major components of cost: fleet, vehicle hours, and vehicle miles traveled. Verifying the relationship with empirical data, results show an accurate approximation of the operating cost for the paratransit system in New Jersey. Furthermore, we develop a systematic approach for evaluating the efficiency of policy implementations for DRTs. Finally, the circumstances where coordinated taxis could be a cost reduction strategy are identified.

Prices, Schedules, and Passenger Welfare in Multi-Service Transportation Systems

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2019

We consider a multi-service transportation system in which passengers are heterogeneous along two dimensions, namely ideal departure time and value of time, leading to both horizontal and vertical differentiation. We investigate the behavior of passengers, and assess how service pricing and scheduling affect their travel choices and welfare. We show that this depends, first, on whether passengers are uninformed or informed about the timetable of services, supplied at different prices, upon arrival at the station. Besides, given the information passengers hold, it also depends on their (individual-specific) value of time. The market segmentation results accordingly, and is found to be finer, in general, when passengers are informed. Our analysis offers policy-makers a scientifically founded tool to make sensible decisions, based on the exact identification of those who would gain and those who would lose from policy changes. The analysis further highlights the potential benefits of information, and points to the importance of facilitating information accessibility to passengers.

A Continuous Model for Coordinated Pricing of Mixed Access Modes to Transit

Transportation Research Procedia, 2019

The land-use pattern for many cities is a central business district surrounded by sprawling suburbs. This pattern can lead to an inefficient and congestion-prone transportation system due to a reliance on automobiles. This is because high-capacity transit is inefficient in low-density areas where insufficient travelers can access transit. This also poses an equity concern as the monetary cost of faster and more expensive travel disproportionately burdens low income travelers, especially when fixed congestion pricing is imposed. This paper presents a deterministic approximation of a discrete choice model for mixed access and mainline transportation modes, meaning that travelers may use different modes to access a mainline system, such as transit. The purpose is to provide a tractable computationally efficient model to address the first/last mile problem using a system-wide pricing policy that can account for heterogeneous values of time; a problem that is difficult to solve efficiently using a stochastic model. The model is structured for a catchment area around a central access point for a mainline mode, approximating choice by comparing modal utility costs. The underlying utility model accommodates both fixed prices (e.g., parking, fixed tolls, and fares) and distance-based unit prices (e.g. taxi fare, bike-share, and distance tolls) that may be set in a coordinated way with respect to value of time. Using numerical analysis to assess accuracy, the deterministic model achieved results within 3% of a stochastic logit-based model, and within 7% of measured values. The optimization of prices using the final model achieved a 22% reduction in generalized travel time and a 30% improvement in the Gini inequity measure from 0.2 to 0.14.

Optimal economic interventions in scheduled public transport

Research in Transportation Economics, 2008

This chapter analyses appropriate regulatory instruments for public transport markets under monopoly and competition, respectively. For the monopoly case, the operator chooses too low supply, compared to welfare optimum. In contrast, for the competition case the operators choose too high supply, at least for the competition model that we have considered most appropriate. It is found that under monopoly a subsidy should be applied, while under competition taxation should be applied.

User cost minimisation and transport subsidy

Economics Letters, 1992

We show that existing user cost models generate levels of optimal subsidy which differ by up to 55% from those produced when using a new, theoretically superior, model based on cost minimisation principles. 2.1. The simple random waiting time model The most widely used model in the subsidy literature is the simple random waiting time model which assumes that passengers arrive at service loading points (e.g. a bus stop) in a random fashion

Models for transportation level of service

Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, 1980

The paper describes the development of models for predicting travel times of door to door trips for both transit and automobile trips. The models for access times have a distribution associated with them and permit a truly disaggregate assignment of travel time components. The equations for linehaul travel time of the highway using modes (bus, auto) are volume dependent and can thus be used in equilibrating travel demand and level of service. All the models are related directly to transportation policy options+hanging bus line spacings, bus headways, number of (priority) lanes, etc.-and translate the effects of such policies into specific values of the level-of-service attributes without the need to code networks and run paths. The use of the models in a practical application is also discussed.

Traffic Mobility Impact of Mileage-Based User Fees on Traveler Route Choice Behavior and Network Performance: Planning-Level Traffic Equilibrium-Based Approach

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2012

User fees based on vehicle miles traveled (VMT) are receiving much attention in policy debates as a means of financing the road infrastructure by eventually replacing the current funding model that uses fuel user fees. By focusing on partially modeling driver response to VMT user fees, this paper aims to investigate the potential traffic mobility effects of such fees from a traffic operational point of view under user equilibrium conditions. On the basis of a nonlinear optimization-based conceptual framework, the proposed traffic assignment model is evaluated by assuming heterogeneous values of time. A simple corridor with a single origin–destination pair is first used to demonstrate the sensitivity of network performance to the VMT user fees in a deterministic capacity environment. The effects of VMT user fees depend significantly on the characteristics of the underlying transportation network, such as the relative length of the alternative paths, the overall traffic demand level, ...

User-Optimal and System-Optimal Route Choices for a Large Road Network

Review of Network Economics, 2000

Solutions to the route choice problem for assumptions of user-optimality and system-optimality are presented for the road network of the Chicago region. Regionwide results show a 5% decrease in total travel time would be achieved during the morning peak period, if a system-optimal solution based on travel times were implemented. Among the costs of this solution is a 1.5% increase in vehicle-miles traveled. Findings for differences in link flows and individual origin-destination pairs complete the paper.