Network Equilibrium Models for Urban Transport

Abstract

Methods for the analysis and prediction of travel conforming to macroscopic assumptions about choices of the urban population cut a broad swath through the field of regional science: economic behavior, spatial analysis, optimization methods, parameter estimation techniques, computational algorithms, network equilibria, and plan evaluation and analysis. This chapter seeks to expose one approach to the construction of models of urban travel choices and implicitly location choices. Beginning with the simple route choice problem faced by vehicle operators in a congested urban road network, exogenous constants are relaxed and replaced with additional assumptions and fewer constants, leading toward a more general forecasting method. The approach, and examples based upon it, reflects the author’s research experience of 40 years with the formulation, implementation, and solution of such models.