Design of income-equitable toll prices for high occupancy toll lanes in a single toll facility |
| |
Authors: | Chaitanya Paleti Xiaozheng He |
| |
Institution: | 1. School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA;2. NEXTRANS Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA |
| |
Abstract: | Income inequity potentially exists under high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes whereby higher-income travelers may reap the benefits of the facility. An income-based multi-toll pricing approach is proposed for a single HOT lane facility in a network to maximize simultaneously the toll revenue and address the income equity concern, while ensuring a minimum level-of-service on the HOT lanes and that the toll prices do not exceed pre-specified thresholds. The problem is modeled as a bi-level optimization formulation. The upper level model maximizes revenue for the tolling authority subject to pre-specified upper bounds on tolls. The lower level model solves the stochastic user equilibrium problem. An agent-based solution approach is used to determine the toll prices by considering the tolling authority and commuters as agents. Results from numerical experiments indicate that a multi-toll pricing scheme is more equitable and can yield higher revenues compared to a single toll price scheme across travelers. |
| |
Keywords: | Income equity multi-toll high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes bi-level program |
|
|