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Equilibrium Trip Scheduling in Congested Traffic under Uncertainty

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Transportation and Traffic Theory 2009: Golden Jubilee

Abstract

Whilst traditional modeling and research efforts put emphasis on the effect of congestion on travel choices, recently more and more studies examine the notion of travel time uncertainty on travel decision. In particular, travel time reliability forms an important component in modeling route choice and trip scheduling. This paper considers equilibrium trip scheduling under random travel delay in a single bottleneck. Travelers form a heterogeneous population with distinctive requirements on the probability of punctual arrival and each with a different valuation toward earliness and lateness. The analysis shows that random delay plays a significant role in travel costs and introduces substantial differences in the queuing pattern, departure and arrival times, as compared with the traditional deterministic model.

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Acknowledgments

The study was supported by the Competitive Earmarked Research Grant HKUST6033/01E and HKUST6283/04E of the Research Grants Council of the HKSAR. The authors are grateful for the detailed, constructive comments of the four anonymous referees.

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Siu, B.W., Lo, H.K. (2009). Equilibrium Trip Scheduling in Congested Traffic under Uncertainty. In: Lam, W., Wong, S., Lo, H. (eds) Transportation and Traffic Theory 2009: Golden Jubilee. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0820-9_8

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