Motorist Information in Networks with Multiple OD-Pairs

Abstract

The models presented in the previous chapters have yielded much insight into the key factors that influence the usefulness of information provision. However, an often mentioned drawback of these type of theoretical models is their lack of realism. This lack of realism has been taken for granted by the desire to answer policy questions related to information provision by using transparent analytical models rather than simulation models of more realistic networks that generate “black-box” type of answers. Nevertheless, one of the more serious restrictions in the theoretical models is the assumption of a single origin-destination (OD) pair and very simple network structures (either one or two-link networks); more complicated network structures are mathematically difficult to handle. The simplicity of these network structures might, however, seriously cloud the impacts of information provision in realistic networks.

This chapter is based on Emmerink, Verhoef, Nijkamp and Rietveld (1996c) forthcoming in Regional Science and Urban Economics.