A link-node-based complementarity model for traffic equilibrium with ride-sharing and trunk-sharing

Abstract

ABSTRACT Trunk-sharing (TS), a nascent ride-sharing (RS)-based crowdsourced delivery service, has been reshaping the pattern of urban logistics and the spatial distribution of urban traffic congestion. However, it is not yet clear how RS and TS interact and affect the urban traffic system. To this end, a link-node-based user equilibrium model -is proposed to describe the users’ decisions in the presence of RS and TS program and thereby to forecast the long-term effects of these two modes and of existed policies, such as car restrictions and cordon tolling. The model is formulated as a nonlinear complementarity problem and the existence of equilibria is proven under some mild conditions. Numerical results showed that integrating RS and TS can dramatically decreases the total travel time . Moreover, car restriction- can incentivize more TS to enter the central business districts (CBDs), while cordon tolling- can incentivize more RS participants to enter the CBDs .