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Equity based congestion pricing: considering the constraint of alternative path

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Abstract

Congestion pricing is considered as an effective measure to ease urban traffic congestion. This paper develops a bi-level model that designs more equitable congestion pricing with bus subsidies. In the upper-level model, the constraint of alternative path is proposed to ensure that there is at least one non-toll path for any origin–destination (OD) pair. If one link is the only way for an OD pair just like Lidingö, Stockholm, this link should not be tolled. Meanwhile, toll revenue is used to improve the service level of transit system in which transfer fare is subsidized and the frequency of the most crowded bus is improved. The lower-level model is a multimodal transportation network equilibrium model. A shuffled pattern search algorithm and method of successive averages are used to optimize congestion pricing, transfer fare and bus frequency in the bi-level model. The results of the numerical test show that the model can meet the travel demand of travelers after tolling. Moreover, traffic congestion is alleviated while service level of transit is improved.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in National Natural Science Foundation of China 71571026, 51578112 and 51208079, National Basic Research Program of China 2012CB725401, Liaoning Excellent Talents in University LR2015008 and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities 3013-852019.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Traffic and Transportation, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, 100044, People’s Republic of China

    Bin Yu

  2. Transportation Management College, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian, 116026, People’s Republic of China

    Bin Yu, Liu Zhang, Feng Guan & Zixuan Peng

  3. School of Automotive Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, People’s Republic of China

    Baozhen Yao

Authors
  1. Bin Yu
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  2. Liu Zhang
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  3. Feng Guan
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  4. Zixuan Peng
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  5. Baozhen Yao
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Correspondence to Baozhen Yao.

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Yu, B., Zhang, L., Guan, F. et al. Equity based congestion pricing: considering the constraint of alternative path. Oper Res Int J 17, 313–337 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12351-016-0228-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12351-016-0228-y

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