The allocation problem of electric car-sharing system: A data-driven approach

Car-sharing is an emerging transportation mode with increasing applications of electric vehicles (EVs). One of the important issues for one-way electric car-sharing systems (ECS) is unbalanced vehicle distributions and high relocation costs. To improve its efficiency and overall profit, this research proposes a data-driven optimization model with the consideration of demand uncertainty. Firstly, a large amount of historical order data from an ECS company are analyzed to characterize the dynamics of the vehicles and the behavioral features of the users. An important observation is that the daily demand by users, i.e., pick-ups, follows Poisson distribution; and the arrival rates vary across time exhibiting four major temporal stages. Based on this observation, this research constructs the ECS reallocation problem as a data-driven optimization model which is a combination of a probability expectation model and a linear programming problem with real-time data as input. More importantly, different from existing research, this research formulates the profit as the mathematical expectation of a discrete random variable with uncertain consumer demands. This allows for a comprehensive consideration of all possible future demands. Furthermore, driving range constraint has been considered in the proposed model as EV is the focus of this paper. A linear solution method is proposed to obtain the global optimal. At the end, the model is validated using real data from 30 ECS stations. The results indicate the daily improvement of profit could be as high as 19.05% with an average of 10.16%.     

基于运输需求函数的区域高速公路网交通量预测模型

区域高速公路网是区域社会经济发展的重要基础设施,为预测区域高速公路网交通量,引入经济学中的柯布-道格拉斯生产函数,以人均GDP、人口密度为参数构建运输需求函数,基于运输需求函数构建区域高速公路网交通量预测模型。模型能以简单的因素分析基础,对区域高速公路网交通量进行预测,为区域公路网交通量预测提供了新的思路决策依据。     

拥挤道路收费与停车收费组合优化模型研究

道路拥挤收费和停车收费是交通需求管理中的两大有效手段,合理地实施收费可以达到缓解交通拥挤的目的.文中针对交通网络中私家车用户可以在任意公交站点处发生换乘这一广泛情形,讨论了弹性需求下的路段拥挤收费和停车收费组合优化策略,并给出基于混沌优化方法的启发式算法求解所建立的双层规划模型.结果表明,所建模型有助于个体出行方式和出行路径的决策,且组合收费在使得公众易于接受实施拥挤收费政策的同时,也可以吸引更多出行者选择换乘公共交通方式,这将有利于减轻交通拥挤程度和环境压力.     

Uncertainty in traffic forecasts: literature review and new results for The Netherlands

This paper provides a review of transport model applications that not only provide a central traffic forecast (or forecasts for a few scenarios), but also quantify the uncertainty in the traffic forecasts in the form of a confidence interval or related measures. Both uncertainty that results from using uncertain inputs (e.g. on income) and uncertainty in the model itself are treated. The paper goes on to describe the methods used and the results obtained for a case study in quantifying uncertainty in traffic forecasts in The Netherlands.

Commuters’ acceptance of and behavior reactions to license plate restriction policy: A case study of Tianjin,China

License plate restriction (LPR) policies are currently being implemented in major Chinese cities with the aim of mitigating traffic congestions. Meanwhile, much controversy regarding the effectiveness of the LPR policies is arising. To better understand the impact of the LPR policies, this paper studies commuters’ acceptance of and behavior reactions to the policies after their implementation. A theoretical model was proposed as the first step, followed by a questionnaire survey that was conducted in Tianjin, China, where an LPR policy has been in place since March 2014. Car owners frequently commuting within the restricted area were sampled as respondents, and a multi-variable regression method was employed to analyze the collected survey data. The results indicate that it is necessary to promote public’s acceptance of the LPR policy, because lower acceptance will lead to more negative reactions towards the policy, which may weaken its effectiveness. Main factors affecting the level of acceptance of the policy are also found, which may serve as a reference for transportation authorities seeking to increase commuters’ acceptance of the policy. These findings are beneficial to designing and implementing LPR policies.     

Explaining “peak car” with economic variables

Many western countries have seen a plateau and subsequent decrease of car travel during the 21st century. What has generated particular interest and debate is the statement that the development cannot be explained by changes in traditional explanatory factors such as GDP and fuel prices. Instead, it has been argued, the observed trends are indications of substantial changes in lifestyles, preferences and attitudes to car travel; what we are experiencing is not just a temporary plateau, but a true “peak car”. However, this study shows that the traditional variables GDP and fuel price are in fact sufficient to explain the observed trends in car traffic in all the countries included in our study: the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Sweden and (to a large extent) Australia and Germany. We argue that the importance of the fuel price increases in the early 2000s has been underappreciated in the studies that shaped the later debate. Results also indicate that GDP elasticities tend to decrease with rising GDP, and that fuel price elasticities tend to increase at high price levels and during periods of rapid price increases.     

Predicting short-term bus passenger demand using a pattern hybrid approach

This paper proposes an Interactive Multiple Model-based Pattern Hybrid (IMMPH) approach to predict short-term passenger demand. The approach maximizes the effective information content by assembling the knowledge from pattern models using historical data and optimizing the interaction between them using real-time observations. It can dynamically estimate the priori pattern models combination in advance for the next time interval. The source demand data were collected by Smart Card system along one bus service route over one year. After correlation analysis, three temporal relevant pattern time series are generated, namely, the weekly, daily and hourly pattern time series. Then statistical pattern models are developed to capture different time series patterns. Finally, an amended IMM algorithm is applied to dynamically combine the pattern models estimations to output the final demand prediction. The proposed IMMPH model is validated by comparing with statistical methods and an artificial neural network based hybrid model. The results suggest that the IMMPH model provides a better forecast performance than its alternatives, including prediction accuracy, robustness, explanatory power and model complexity. The proposed approach can be potentially extended to other short-term time series forecast applications as well, such as traffic flow forecast.     

The concept and impact analysis of a flexible mobility on demand system

This paper introduces an innovative transportation concept called Flexible Mobility on Demand (FMOD), which provides personalized services to passengers. FMOD is a demand responsive system in which a list of travel options is provided in real-time to each passenger request. The system provides passengers with flexibility to choose from a menu that is optimized in an assortment optimization framework. For operators, there is flexibility in terms of vehicle allocation to different service types: taxi, shared-taxi and mini-bus. The allocation of the available fleet to these three services is carried out dynamically so that vehicles can change roles during the day. The FMOD system is built based on a choice model and consumer surplus is taken into account in order to improve passenger satisfaction. Furthermore, profits of the operators are expected to increase since the system adapts to changing demand patterns. In this paper, we introduce the concept of FMOD and present preliminary simulation results. It is shown that the dynamic allocation of the vehicles to different services provides significant benefits over static allocation. Furthermore, it is observed that the trade-off between consumer surplus and operator’s profit is critical. The optimization model is adapted in order to take into account this trade-off by controlling the level of passenger satisfaction. It is shown that with such control mechanisms FMOD provides improved results in terms of both profit and consumer surplus.     

道路交通系统演化的非线性动力模型

为揭示各类交通规划管理政策和先进技术对道路交通系统的影响，构建了描述能源储备 量、机动车保有量和路网面积动态演化的三维非线性动力模型，重点对均衡解的存在性、唯一性 和稳定性进行分析。同时，通过数值试验验证了所得结论的正确性。结果表明：若所有变量及参 数为正，则有实际意义的均衡解唯一且稳定；若满足可供机动车行驶的能源增长率降低城镇开发 边界扩大、共享泊位供给量增加、机动车的平均能源消耗量增加中任一条件，则均衡平均车速提 高；当满足一定条件时，路网面积和路网容量的换算系数增加会提高均衡平均车速；存在最优行 驶机动车比例，可使均衡路网饱和度达到最低。     

时间社会学视角下老年人对家庭出行行为的影响研究

为阐述家庭微观社会情境中老年人与同住成员之间的行为交互对个体出行决策的影响，本文从时间社会学视角出发，以昆明市有老年人家庭为分析单元，用家庭贡献度量化老年人家务活动的分担程度，构建结构方程模型揭示老年人对家庭成员日常活动时间结构的影响，进而剖析成员间的活动交互影响机理.结果表明：老年人家庭贡献度增加时，成员间在非通勤活动上的交互效用减弱；由于女家长在时间结构上呈现隐形的“时间贫困”特征，其在活动—出行模式上受老年人家庭贡献度的影响显著高于男家长；与此同时，老年人作用下女家长在非通勤活动出行决策时优先考虑家务活动的时间安排，而男家长则优先考虑自由活动的安排.