Achieving political acceptability for new transport infrastructure in congested urban regions

This paper analyzes the efficiency and political acceptability of road pricing and infrastructure policies targeted at relieving urban congestion. It combines a stylized transport model of an urban road network with a model of the political process that incorporates interactions between voters, citizen interest groups and politicians to explore the possibilities to reach political acceptability for efficient transport policies. In a numerical illustration, the paper compares a set of pricing and investment policies in terms of efficiency and acceptability. The illustration shows how conflicting interests can lead to non-efficient policies being chosen.     

Will a higher free-flow speed lead us to a less congested freeway?

An approach based on cell transmission model (CTM) is proposed to estimate the impact of variable free-flow speeds (FFS) on the performance of a freeway system. Based on the basic CTM, four typical freeway control strategies consisting of non control, local ramp metering, coordinated ramp metering and global control are first formulated. Then the method of adjusting model parameters to the changed free-flow speeds is presented. Among the adjustments, an experimental function based on Fan and Seibold (2014) is proposed to change the jam density. Several useful measures are defined to estimate and compare the performances of different freeways. The following three main observations are obtained from numerical experiments. (a) With the gradually increasing FFS, the throughput of freeway will increase at the beginning and then change to decrease. (b) With the increasing FFS, the average delay of vehicles will decrease at the beginning and then change to increase. (c) A series of free-flow speeds associate with the best performance of freeway. These observations are theoretically analyzed through investigating the location and capacity of bottleneck. Study shows that in general the actual bottleneck capacity will increase at the beginning and then change to decrease with the continually increasing FFS. In view of the positive correlation between traffic delay and bottleneck capacity, the theoretical analysis confirms the numerical observations. The findings of this study can deepen the understanding of freeway systems and help management agents adopt proper measures to improve the performance of the whole system.     

基于自由流时间的交通拥挤收费费率研究

在分析影响交通拥挤收费费率的交通量大小、道路条件、拥挤持续时间、居民消费心理、排队延误等因素的基础上,给出了拥挤情况下基于自由流时间的广义交通费用函数,根据交通平衡理论,建立了交通拥挤收费的固定需求UE平衡模型,并使用方向搜索法,利用C#和C＋＋编程对模型进行求解,最后通过算例分析,得出结论：对单个路段而言,一味的提高收费费率可以降低其相应的路段拥挤度,而对于整个研究路网而言,一味的提高路段收费费率并不能降低整个路网的拥挤度,可能会引起整个路网更加拥挤,因此,必须制定合理有效的收费费率,才能达到预期的效果。     

基于元胞自动机的轨道交通突发客流拥堵消散演化机理研究

为保证城市轨道交通运输系统在突发客流条件下能够安全高效运营,本文基于元胞自动机建立城市轨道交通突发客流拥堵传播模型.分析突发客流量拥堵传播过程,采用状态参数集反映车站拥挤程度的多样化差异,定义更为准确合理的客流量元胞自动机演化规则.以成都市轨道交通部分线网为例,仿真设置不同量值的突发客流,研究线网客流状态的演化规律.结果表明,随着突发客流量增加,客流状态从区域拥堵演化至线拥堵的速度减缓,从线拥堵演化至点拥堵的速度保持不变或略有加快.此外,大量突发客流会引起拥堵消散速度的减缓,造成更大时空范围的区域性拥堵.     

Urban highway congestion

This article examines urban highway congestion pricing in the instance in which it is not possible to levy a congestion toll on a major portion of the urban road system. This case is pertinent because of technical and/or political constraints. The article uses economic theory and numerical examples to show that the optimum second-best toll can vary appreciably from the optimal tolls in a regime in which efficient tolls can be imposed on all routes.     

Evaluating the benefits of a combined route guidance and road pricing system in a traffic network with recurrent congestion

When drivers do not have complete information on road travel time and thus choose their routes in a stochastic manner or based on their previous experience, separate implementations of either route guidance or road pricing cannot drive a stochastic network flow pattern towards a system optimum in a Wardropian sense. It is thus of interest to consider a combined route guidance and road pricing system. A road guidance system could reduce drivers' uncertainty of travel time through provision of traffic information. A driver who is equipped with a guidance system could be assumed to receive complete information, and hence be able to find the minimum travel time routes in a user-optimal manner, while marginal-cost road pricing could drive a user-optimal flow pattern toward a system optimum. Therefore, a joint implementation of route guidance and road pricing in a network with recurrent congestion could drive a stochastic network flow pattern towards a system optimum, and thus achieve a higher reduction in system travel time. In this paper the interaction between route guidance and road pricing is modeled and the potential benefit of their joint implementation is evaluated based on a mixed equilibrium traffic assignment model. The private and system benefits under marginal-cost pricing and varied levels of market penetration of the information systems are investigated with a small and a large example. It is concluded that the two technologies complement each other and that their joint implementation can reduce travel time more efficiently in a network with recurrent congestion.     

Public financing of private freight rail infrastructure to reduce highway congestion: A case study of public policy and decision making in the United States

As goods movement continues to increase it is expected to outpace infrastructure capacity in the United States. Moving a larger share of goods by rail rather than truck is a potentially cost effective part of a solution. Freight rail not only offers a substitute for truck trips but is a cleaner, more energy efficient, and safer alternative. Recently a number of private freight rail projects have received public funding. The public funds are aimed at increasing freight rail capacity with the goal of diverting some goods currently moved by truck to rail. While the benefits of moving goods by rail are relatively clear, it is unclear if public decision makers can effectively identify strategic rail investments that will achieve their policy goals. This study critically examines the analytical methods, models, and data that are commonly used to support decisions to provide public funds for private freight rail projects. This is accomplished through a case study of California’s Trade Corridors Improvement Fund program which provided $680 million for 11 freight rail projects. The study’s contributions include identifying critical analytical flaws and challenges affecting the benefit estimates that public funding decisions rely on. Improvements to current evaluation methods are also identified as are regulatory reforms and policy interventions that may offer more effective and reliable outcomes.     

New methods of controlling vehicle ownership and usage in Singapore

Over the years Singapore has introduced several fiscal measures aimed at restraining car ownership and usage and thus preventing traffic congestion. Two new methods have recently been added: the Vehicle Quota System which limits the number of new vehicles registered each month and the Weekend Car Scheme which allows cars to be registered for use during off-peak hours only, with substantial financial savings to the owners. The Vehicle Quota System involves monthly public tenders for Certificates of Entitlement needed to register new cars. Over the past 30 months the cost of COE's has been increasing and now constitutes between 12% and 27% of the on-the-road price of a new car. The fluctuations in the COE premiums for different vehicle categories are presented and analysed. The initial problems and the recent modifications made as a result of public pressure are also described. It seems that the increases in COE premiums are likely to continue under strong economic growth conditions as the demand for cars is more income-elastic than price-elastic.     

基于速度特性的城市快速路常发性交通拥堵研究

基于城市快速路浮动车技术,获取北京市快速路瓶颈路段全天交通流运行速度时间序列数据,对快速路常发性交通拥堵形成及消散进行精细化定量分析。首先应用小波分析技术对数据进行降噪处理,依据速度变化特性将快速路瓶颈处交通流运行状态划分为稳定运行态、拥堵形成态、拥堵态及拥堵消散态4种状态,并分析不同状态下的速度表现特征。研究表明,应用速度变化量可以判别交通流所处状态,而后利用统计学方法给出不同状态之间变化的判断阈值,并归纳出快速路常发性交通拥堵形成时刻、消散时刻及持续时间的判别方法。该方法对拥堵特性判别精度可达80%以上,对交通拥堵预测及交通管理具有明显实际应用价值。