基于需求弹性的城市公交票价优化方法及实证分析

城市公交票价是公交系统健康发展的重要因素,票价制定需兼顾公交企业的市场性和公益性双重属性,在保证服务质量的同时,考虑运营成本和最大限度吸引公交需求,实现经济效益和社会效益的双赢.在本文中,根据用户均衡理论,构建了城市多方式交通出行的需求分析模型,采用灵敏度分析方法给出了城市公交价格—需求弹性的计算方法.在此基础上,充分考虑了各种方式的交通特征、公交需求弹性、公交运营成本及政府限价等因素,提出了城市公交票价优化的数学规划模型,并给出了求解算法.最后,以国内某城市居民出行调查及公交运营数据为基础,分析了不同条件下公交客运需求的变化规律及城市公交票价的优化策略.     

城市公交线网的一票制差异化票价策略优化

针对城市公交系统客流空间分布和线网运力配置不均衡问题,提出公交线路间差异化定价策略,通过价格杠杆调节客流需求分布. 针对我国普遍采用的一票制模式,在分析乘客广义出行费用的基础上,利用基于Logit 的线路间客流分配方法,并以总社会成本最低为目标,以满足输送能力和收费额度等为约束,建立了固定需求下的城市公交线网的差异化票价策略优化模型. 根据模型特点,设计了基于模拟退火算法的模型求解方法,综合优化各线路的票价水平和发车频率. 最后,将提出的模型和算法应用到典型公交线网上,算例结果表明,优化方法在较低的收费额度下即可实现较为明显的网络改善效果.     

中国公路收费经营与政府行业管理相关问题

介绍了中国收费公路的发展历程,针对中国收费公路的情况和特点,分析了公路收费经营者的经营行为,收费经营的目标与结束条件,政府行业管理的原则和方法。     

Exploring relationships between driving events identified by in-vehicle data recorders,infrastructure characteristics and road crashes

There is an increasing interest in technology-based solutions that can assist drivers in reducing their risk of involvement in road crashes. Previous studies showed that driving events produced by in-vehicle data recorders (IVDR) are applicable for identification of unsafe driving patterns, while combined examinations of driving events and road infrastructure characteristics are rare. This study explored the relationship between the IVDR-driving events, road characteristics and crashes, to examine a potential of the events for predicting crashes and identification of high-risk locations on the road network. The study database included 3500 segments of the interurban roads in Israel, for which the automatically produced IVDR events were matched with road infrastructure characteristics and crashes. Negative-binomial regression models were adjusted for the relationships between road characteristics and driving events, and subsequently, between events and crashes, given the exposure. Significant impacts were found, yet various event types showed different relations to the infrastructure characteristics and different effects on crashes, on various road types. Better road conditions were associated with a decrease in “braking” events and an increase in the “speed alert” events, where road layout constraints and junction proximity were associated with an opposite effect on events. “Braking” and total events showed better potential for predicting crashes on single-carriageway roads, with a positive link to crashes, where for other road types the “speed alert” events were stronger related to crashes, but with a negative link. The heterogeneity of findings indicates a need in further research of the above relationship, with a particular focus on definitions of driving events produced by the IVDR or other technologies.     

Crossing the bridge: The effects of time-varying tolls on curbing congestion

This paper estimates the traffic volume and travel time effects of the road congestion pricing implemented on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. I employ both difference-in-differences and regression discontinuity approaches to analyze previously unexploited data for the two years spanning the price change and obtain causal estimates of the hourly average treatment effects of the policy. I find evidence of peak spreading in traffic volume and decreases in travel time during peak hours. I also find suggestive evidence of substitution to a nearby bridge and decreases in travel time variability. In addition, I calculate own- and cross-price elasticities.     

Social welfare analysis of investment public–private partnership approaches for transportation projects

This paper has two objectives: (i) to introduce a new approach in order to gain widespread support for road pricing; and (ii) to develop a detailed social welfare analysis for road pricing schemes. We first describe our novel approach that stimulates public support for road pricing, which we refer to as an investment public–private partnership, or IP3. This approach returns a significant portion of the economic value created by road pricing back to the citizens who own the newly priced facility. We then present a social welfare framework that estimates the benefits and costs of using the IP3 approach on an urban transportation network. A P3 project’s impact on overall social welfare provides a more comprehensive evaluation criterion than the often-used Value for Money (VfM) analysis. Apart from several theoretical studies, a detailed social welfare analysis that includes all major P3 project stakeholders is absent from the literature. We use Fresno, California as our case study in order to conduct a welfare analysis on IP3s. Our results show that system-optimal tolling favors average users, but that government—and consequently taxpayers—should pay for costly tolling systems (negative profits). In contrast, unlimited profit-maximizing tolls raise substantial profits for government, for the infrastructure’s citizen-owners, and for the private sector, but the average user is worse off. From a social-welfare perspective, one should search for a Pareto improvement under which all major stakeholders are better off. Our estimates indicate that a mixed public and private tolling scheme offers such an improvement.     

Electric vehicle park-charge-ride programs: A planning framework and case study in Chicago

In suburban areas, combining the use of electric vehicles (EV) and transit systems in an EV Park-Charge-Ride (PCR) approach can potentially help improve transit accessibility, facilitate EV charging and adoption, and reduce the need for long-distance driving and ensuing impacts. Despite the anticipated growth of EV adoption and charging demand, PCR programs are limited. With a focus on multi-modal trips, this study proposes a generic planning process that integrates EV infrastructure development with transit systems, develops a systematic assessment approach to fostering the PCR adoption, and illustrates a case implementation in Chicago. Specifically, this study develops a Suitability Index (SI) for EV charging locations at parking spots that are suitable for both EV charging and transit connections. SI can be customized for short-term and long-term planning scenarios. SI values are derived in Chicago as an example for (1) commuter rail stations (for work trips), and (2) shopping centers near transit stops as potential opportunities for additional weekday parking and EV charging (for multi-purpose trips/MPT). Furthermore, carbon emissions and vehicle miles travelled (VMT) across various travel modes and trip scenarios (i.e., work trips and MPT) are calculated. Compared to the baseline of driving a conventional vehicle, this study found that an EV PCR commuter can reduce up to 87% of personal VMT and 52% of carbon emissions. A more active role of the public sector in the PCR program development is recommended.     

Model uncertainty and the management of a system of infrastructure facilities

The network-level infrastructure management problem involves selecting and scheduling maintenance, repair, and rehabilitation (MR&R) activities on networks of infrastructure facilities so as to maintain the level of service provided by the network in a cost-effective manner. This problem is frequently formulated as a Markov decision problem (MDP) solved via linear programming (LP). The conditions of facilities are represented by elements of discrete condition rating sets, and transition probabilities are employed to describe deterioration processes. Epistemic and parametric uncertainties not considered within the standard MDP/LP framework are associated with the transition probabilities used in infrastructure management optimization routines. This paper contrasts the expected costs incurred when model uncertainty is ignored with those incurred when this uncertainty is explicitly considered using robust optimization. A case study involving a network-level pavement management MDP/LP problem demonstrates how explicitly considering uncertainty may limit worst-case MR&R expenditures. The methods and results can also be used to identify the costs of uncertainty in transition probability matrices used in infrastructure management systems.     

An assessment of the political acceptability of congestion pricing

There is renewed interest in implementing congestion pricing in metropolitan areas throughout the US. This paper reviews changes in the transportation policy environment that have led to this renewed interest and identifies the major interest groups that support congestion pricing. A case study is used to demonstrate that significant barriers to congestion pricing implementation continue to exist. The paper concludes with some suggestions for developing politically acceptable pricing alternatives.