Takuya Maruyama

Difference Between Area-Based and Cordon-Based Congestion Pricing: Investigation by Trip-Chain-Based Network Equilibrium Model with Nonadditive Path Costs

Modeling the effects of congestion pricing has become the focus of many researchers, and several have analyzed the cordon-based congestion pricing problem. However, few have attempted to investigate area-based congestion pricing because it is considered difficult to analyze precisely. Cordon-based pricing can be expressed easily in a traffic assignment procedure by the addition of a charge to the inbound links of a cordon area, but the impedance of area-based pricing cannot be expressed with a linkbased formulation. The objectives of this study are to propose a sound network model for evaluating area-based pricing and to compare the effects of area-based pricing and cordon-based pricing. First, it is pointed out that an exact treatment of area-based congestion pricing requires consideration of the nonadditive trip-chain-based path cost. Such consideration appears complicated, but a simple trip-chain-based network equilibrium model with nonadditive path cost is formulated here, and a convex minimization pr...

Incorporating Trip-Chaining Behavior into Network Equilibrium Analysis

The network equilibrium model is a useful tool for long-term transportation planning and is one promising alternative to the traditional four-step travel forecasting model. However, some issues with the model remain to be considered. For example, almost all variations of the model adhere to the traditional trip-based approach, in which trip chains made by users are treated as separate, independent entities in the analysis. This research aims to develop a simple, tractable model to overcome this problem. One proposed model is based on piston-type trip chaining, and another accommodates any other type of trip chaining and includes congestion phenomena. These proposed models have certain key features: they have been successfully formulated as convex minimization problems, so uniqueness and algorithm convergence are easily proved; traveler behavior is based on theoretically sound random utility models, which allows the benefit of transportation projects to be calculated such that it is consistent with travel demand forecasting; and optimal road pricing can be calculated even in large-scale networks. These models are examined with the use of simple network examples, with special attention paid to the effect of trip-chaining behavior at the level of second-best toll. In a simple two-destination network, the second-best toll of the trip-based model is lower than that of trip chain-based model, indicating one of the biases of the trip-based model.