A cell-based dynamic congestion pricing scheme considering travel distance and time delay

Abstract

This study introduces the dynamic congestion pricing (DCP) problem with the consideration of the actual travel distance and time delay (i.e. a joint distance and time-delay toll, JDTDT) in a dynamic network, which is more equitable and effective compared with existing tolling scheme. The system dynamics can be reflected in two aspects: (a) travelers' path choice decisions follow the dynamic user equilibrium principle and (b) the joint distance and time-delay toll takes a time-varying pattern. A multiperiod demand scheme is adopted during the entire modeling horizon and a bi-level programming model for the DCP is formulated to obtain the optimal toll value. Numerical results indicate that the percentage reductions of the minimum total system travel time in the dynamic JDTDT scheme are 6.28%, 4.30% and 7.45% compared to that obtained by the static joint JDTDT, the dynamic joint distance and time toll, and the dynamic pure distance toll, respectively.