Tradable credits for managing car travel: a review of empirical research and relevant behavioural approaches

Recently, there has been a surge of interest in Tradable Credits (TC) as an alternative measure to manage the growth of personal car use. This paper summarises the results and methodologies of studies that have sought to anticipate the behavioural responses to several proposed TC schemes that target personal travel. In a critical reflection on this work and in an attempt to inspire future research, we argue that future empirical studies on TC behaviours can greatly benefit from insights from the fields of behavioural economics and cognitive psychology. Therefore, in the second part of the paper, we bring together behavioural concepts from these fields that are relevant in a TC decision-making context. Based on observations from current TC studies and the behavioural mechanisms identified in the second part of the paper, we propose promising directions for future research on understanding the impact of TC on personal car travel.     

A copula-based approach for estimating the travel time reliability of urban arterial

Estimating the travel time reliability (TTR) of urban arterial is critical for real-time and reliable route guidance and provides theoretical bases and technical support for sophisticated traffic management and control. The state-of-art procedures for arterial TTR estimation usually assume that path travel time follows a certain distribution, with less consideration about segment correlations. However, the conventional approach is usually unrealistic because an important feature of urban arterial is the dependent structure of travel times on continuous segments. In this study, a copula-based approach that incorporates the stochastic characteristics of segments travel time is proposed to model arterial travel time distribution (TTD), which serves as a basis for TTR quantification. First, segments correlation is empirically analyzed and different types of copula models are examined. Then, fitting marginal distributions for segment TTD is conducted by parametric and non-parametric regression analysis, respectively. Based on the estimated parameters of the models, the best-fitting copula is determined in terms of the goodness-of-fit tests. Last, the model is examined at two study sites with AVI data and NGSIM trajectory data, respectively. The results of path TTD estimation demonstrate the advantage of the proposed copula-based approach, compared with the convolution model without capturing segments correlation and the empirical distribution fitting methods. Furthermore, when considering the segments correlation effect, it was found that the estimated path TTR is more accurate than that by the convolution model.     

Modelling the impact of weather conditions on active transportation travel behaviour

Three weather sensitive models are used to explore the relationship between weather and home-based work trips within the City of Toronto, focusing on active modes of transportation. The data are restricted to non-captive commuters who have the option of selecting among five basic modes of auto driver, auto passenger, transit, bike and walk. Daily trip rates in various weather conditions are assessed. Overall, the results confirm that impact of weather on active modes of transportation is significant enough to deserve attention at the research, data collection and planning levels.     

Incorporating the extended theory of planned behavior in a school travel mode choice model: a case study of Shaoxing,China

Travel to and from school can have social, economic, and environmental implications for students and their parents. Therefore, understanding school travel mode choice behavior is essential to find policy-oriented approaches to optimizing school travel mode share. Recent research suggests that psychological factors of parents play a significant role in school travel mode choice behavior and the Multiple Indicators and Multiple Causes (MIMIC) model has been used to test the effect of psychological constructs on mode choice behavior. However, little research has used a systematic framework of behavioral theory to organize these psychological factors and investigate their internal relationships. This paper proposes an extended theory of planned behavior (ETPB) to delve into the psychological factors caused by the effects of adults’ cognition and behavioral habits and explores the factors’ relationship paradigm. A theoretical framework of travel mode choice behavior for students in China is constructed. We established the MIMIC model that accommodates latent variables from ETPB. We found that not all the psychological latent variables have significant effects on school travel mode choice behavior, but habit can play an essential role. The results provide theoretical support for demand policies for school travel.     

基于客流需求的城市轨道交通动态时刻表优化模型

为使城市轨道交通列车运行时刻表更贴合客流需求,依据不断变化的客流需求确定每列车的发车时刻和停站时间,采用多目标优化方法构建以乘客出行时间费用和列车运行时间费用最小为目标、列车发车时刻和停站时间为决策变量的城市轨道交通动态时刻表优化模型,并采用粒子群算法求解。以广州地铁13号线为例进行验证,结果表明优化后的时刻表更满足客流需求,能有效地提高乘客出行效率,具有更好的动态适应性。     

基于Q-learning 的定制公交跨区域路径规划研究

考虑城市大客流通勤者跨区域出行需求，结合城市公交线网中乘客出行密集、客流走向规律等特点，提出一种跨区域定制公交的搭乘方案. 通过改进的Q-learning 模型对公交线路进行优化，为城市通勤者提供更加便捷和高效的出行服务. 通过综合路段拥堵状态、乘客需求及居民小区位置，设定了Q-learning 强化学习的奖惩函数，提升定制公交区域路径的直线系数、满载率、通行时间. 结果表明，所提出的改进方法能够降低通勤者跨区域通行的旅行时间，有效提高髙峰时段定制公交线网的通行效率.     

基于行程时间影响的关键路段识别与查找

从路段实际功能出发，提出基于路段与路径行程时间序列的相关性识别关键路段的方法.借鉴蒙特卡洛思想，以真实数据构造10万条随机路径验证该方法的可行性，并识别出对上海市路网行程时间有关键影响的路段集合.以上述集合为参照，利用模糊聚类及迭代累计平方和算法提取路段行程时间序列特征并构造两个新变量，结合基础属性建立二项Logit模型，从而主动查找关键路段.比较该模型与基础模型、随机分类器查找效果表明：基于最大归一化行程时间曲线聚类，其结果对关键路段识别模型的性能有提升效用；行程时间对数差分序列的结构性变点在路网和路段级别均有明显时间聚集特性，虽然其个数与路段关键性无明显关系，但其与常见波动程度指标相关性小，可保留用于描述行程时间波动常发性和聚集性.     

基于信令数据的出行强度影响因素分析模型

为探究城市交通出行强度影响因素及不同因素的影响程度，本文从土地利用与交通基础设施建设两方面出发，分析包括土地利用混合指数，职住混合率熵指数，公共交通站点 500 m覆盖率，路网可达性等17个指标与出行强度的相关关系；基于相关系数和拟合优度分析，提取7个与出行强度强相关指标，基于所识别指标构建北京市中心城区出行强度多元回归模型.模型结果表明，职住混合率熵指数对出行强度的影响最为显著，公共交通站点覆盖率对出行强度的影响比道路网密度和可达性更为明显.此外，给出单一土地利用/交通基础设施指标对出行强度拟合结果的离群特征分析方法，用于评估不同区域基础设施供给与交通出行需求之间的平衡关系.     

Assessment of factors associated with travel time reliability and prediction: an empirical analysis using probabilistic reasoning approach

Significant efforts have been made in modeling a travel time distribution and establishing measures of travel time reliability (TTR). However, the literature on evaluating the factors affecting TTR is not well established. Accordingly, this paper presents an empirical analysis to determine potential factors that are associated with TTR. This study mainly applies the Bayesian Networks model to assess the probabilistic association between road geometry, traffic data, and TTR. The results from this model reveal that land use characteristics, intersection factors, and posted speed limits are directly associated with TTR. Evaluating the strength of the association between TTR and the directly related variables, the log odds ratio analysis indicates that the land use factor has the highest impact (0.83) followed by the intersection factor (0.57). The findings from this study can provide valuable resources to planners and traffic operators in their decision-making to improve TTR with quantitative evidence.     

Policy packages for modal shift and CO2 reduction in Lille,France

This paper proposes different policy scenarios to cut CO₂ emissions caused by the urban mobility of passengers. More precisely, we compare the effects of the ‘direct tool’ of carbon tax, to a combination of ‘indirect tools’ – not originally aimed at reducing CO₂ (i.e. congestion charging, parking charges and a reduction in public transport travel time) in terms of CO₂ impacts through a change in the modal split. In our model, modal choices depend on individual characteristics, trip features (including the effects of policy tools), and land use at origin and destination zones. Personal “CO₂ emissions budgets” resulting from the trips observed in the metropolitan area of Lille (France) in 2006 are calculated and compared to the situation related to the different policy scenarios. We find that an increase of 50% in parking charges combined with a cordon toll of €1.20 and a 10% travel time decrease in public transport services (made after recycling toll-revenues) is the winning scenario. The combined effects of all the policy scenarios are superior to their separate effects.